Key Ideas in Criminology and Criminal Justice by Pratt, Travis C.; Gau, Jacinta M.; Franklin, Travis W.;

Short description:

Integrates the most salient research within the interconnected fields of criminology and criminal justice.

Long description:

Explores the key contributions to the fields of criminology and criminal justice from the late 18^th century to today— and the conditions that led to their prominence

The development of both criminology and criminal justice has been characterized by different theories and ideas that capture academic (and sometimes political) imaginations and send the discipline veering in entirely new directions. Why did these ideas catch on? What about them attracted and held scholars' attention and on occasion caused them to impact policy considerations? Why do they still have value today? These are the questions addressed in Key Ideas in Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Key Ideas in Criminology and Criminal Justice is an innovative, fascinating treatment of some of the seminal theories in criminology and key policies in criminal justice, offering a detailed and nuanced picture of these core ideas. With a fluid, accessible, and lively writing style, this brief text is organized around major theories, ideas, and movements that mark a turning point in the field, and concludes with a discussion of the future of criminology and criminal justice. Readers will learn about the most salient criminological and criminal justice research and understand its influence on theory and policy. They will also understand the surrounding socio-political conditions from which the ideas sprang and the style and manner in which they were disseminated, both of which helped these scholarly contributions become cornerstones in the fields of criminology and criminal justice.

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Key Idea: Rational Offending and Rational Punishment
The Social Context of Criminal Punishment
Beccaria’s Proposal
Why it Caught On
Influence: The Rise of the Classical School of Criminology
Empirical Analyses and Critiques of Free Will, Rationality, and Deterrence
3. Key Idea: The Science of Criminal Behavior
The Social Context: A Time Without Criminology
The Road to Lombroso
Lombroso and the Body of the Criminal
The Dissemination of Lombroso’s Theories
Criticisms of Lombroso’s Theories
Lombroso’s Influence
4. Key Idea: Understanding Crime and Society
The Social Context of the Early Twentieth Century
Social Disorganization and Anomie/Strain Theories
Rejecting Individualism
The Legacy of Anomie/Strain and Social Disorganization Theories
5. Key Idea: Hirschi’s Social Bond/Social Control Theory
The Social Context of the 1960s
Social Bond/Social Control Theory
The Marketing of Social Bond/Social Control Theory
The Legacy of Social Bond/Social Control Theory
6. Key Idea: Rehabilitation is Dead
The Martinson Report
Social Context
Getting the Word Out
The Influence of the Martinson Report
7. Key Idea: Crime Control Through Selective Incapacitation
The Context: Criminology, Criminal Justice Policy, and Society in the 1970s
James Q. Wilson’s Thinking About Crime
Why it Caught on
Selective Incapacitation’s Effect on Criminal Justice and Criminology: Empirical Tests, Empirical Critiques, and Ethical Dilemmas
8. Key Idea: The Police Can Control Crime
The Context of Criminology and Policing
Broken Windows Theory: Revamping the Police Role
How Broken Windows Theory Reached its Audience
The Influence of Broken Windows Theory
Empirical Tests and Critiques of Broken Windows Theory and Policing
9. Key Idea: The War on Drugs
Winning the War is Easy — Just Say No!
The 1980s in Context
The Magic in “Just Say No”
The Impact of “Just Say No”
10. Key Idea: Rehabilitation—Not Dead Yet
The Principles of Risk, Need, and Responsivity
Social Context
Disseminating the Principles of Effective Rehabilitation
The Impact of Meta-Analysis and the Principles of Effective Rehabilitation
11. Key Idea: Crime and the Life Course
The Criminological Context of the Early 1990s
Life Course Theories in Criminology
Constructing Testable Theories
Life Course Theory Catches On
12. Looking Back, Looking Forward: Conclusions
Looking Back: The Glaring Omissions?
The Legitimate Contenders
Looking Forward: The Future of Criminology and Criminal Justice