The Criminal Justice System: An Introduction, Fifth Edition incorporates the latest developments in the field while retaining the basic organization of previous editions which made this textbook so popular. Exploring the police, prosecutors, courts, and corrections, including probation and parole, the book moves chronologically through the different agencies in the order in which they are usually encountered when an individual goes through the criminal justice process.

New in the Fifth Edition:






A complete updating of charts and statistics to reflect the changes the FBI has made to the Unified Crime Reports System
Expanded material on the history of law enforcement
Additional information on terrorism, homeland security, and its effect on the police
New approaches to policing such as Problem-Oriented Policing and Intelligence-Led Policing
Cyber crime, identity theft, accreditation, and new approaches to crime analysis
New information on prosecution standards, community prosecution, and prosecutorial abuse
New emphasis on the concept of jurisdiction and the inter-relation between the courts’ functions and the other branches of the criminal justice system
An examination of the dilemma for the courts caused by the intersection of politics, funding, media, and technology
New discussions on prisoner radicalization

Pedagogical features:






Each chapter begins with an outline and a statement of purpose to help students understand exactly what they are supposed to master and why
Illustrations to assist in the clarification and further development of topics in the text
Each chapter ends with a summary, a list of key terms, and a series of discussion questions to stimulate thought
Appendices with the United States Constitution, a glossary of criminal justice terminology, and websites useful in gaining knowledge of the criminal justice system
Access to a free computerized learning course based on the book