California's Criminal Justice System

California's Criminal Justice System, 2nd Edition, shares the history, purpose, structure and procedures of California's criminal justice system. It begins with conversations about the state of crime in California, the demographics of crime, and the practices of legislative actions and direct democracy in creating state laws. The book includes discussions of criminal justice policies as well as criminal justice institutions such as policing, courts, corrections, and the juvenile justice system. Each chapter is authored by an expert in the field and highlights some of the current issues, challenges, and controversies facing California's criminal justice system. The authors also highlight some of the current criminal justice policies and controversies within the state, including gun policy, sex crime policy, drug policy, capital punishment, realignment, gangs, and victims' rights. In addition, the authors include discussions on a variety of different employment opportunities related to criminal justice and the occupational outlook for these positions. This text is appropriate for undergraduate students in introductory courses on criminal justice, law and government and can be used either as a supplemental text or as a stand-alone resource for students. New in the second edition: * Two completely new chapters on crime policies and the demographics of crime in California. * Updated information and statistics in every chapter. * Reorganized chapters that more accurately correspond to classroom lectures. Specifically, constitutional issues are now contained within the direct democracy chapter and realignment is contained within the corrections chapter. * New material in many chapters, including: new policies in Chapter Three; discussions of ethics and education in Chapter Five; a discussion of risk factors, a status check of California's use of evidence- based programs for juveniles, and new statistics throughout Chapter Nine; and a new section on restorative justice in Chapter Twelve. PowerPoint slides are available upon adoption. Sample slides from the full, 264-slide presentation are available to view here. Email [email protected] for more information. "Christine Gardiner and Pamela Fiber-Ostrow have succeeded in developing the most comprehensive discussion of the California criminal justice system to date. Contemporary explanations of the California justice system emerge from a strong historical context, providing the reader with a road map of challenges and system responses. This is an important text for any criminal justice student." -- Mary Maguire, Professor and Chair, Division of Criminal Justice California State University, Sacramento "There are many books available on criminal justice in the United States -- but few that look closely and in detail at how the justice system works in specific states. This book provides an indispensable introduction to one of the largest, and most unique, criminal justice systems in America." -- Elliott Currie, Ph.D., Professor of Criminology, Law and Society University of California, Irvine