Why is the composition of the prison population substantially different from that of the larger society? Why is corporate crime so neglected by the criminal justice system? What have been the results of the "war on drugs"? Crime, Justice, and Society explores these and other significant questions in a compelling introduction to criminology.

Highlighting issues    More >

Through case studies of two prison systems—the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Dutch prison system—Arjen Boin identifies the challenges and opportunities that confront public managers who want to reorient correctional policy and make prisons more effective.

Crafting Public Institutions contrasts the two prison systems to show how focused leadership—or its    More >

This new edition of Tabloid Justice reveals that, although the media focus on high-profile criminal trials is thought by many to have diminished in the years since the September 11 terrorist attacks, the polarized, partisan coverage of these trials has in fact continued unabated. The authors investigate the profoundly negative impact of the media's coverage of the criminal justice    More >

Crime has gone global. Conventional explanations point to ways in which criminals have exploited technological innovations, deregulation, and free markets to triumph over state sovereignty. Crime and the Global Political Economy reveals a more complex reality.

Taking as a point of departure the reality that state and societal actors are challenged by—and complicit    More >

Sex in prison remains a taboo topic, largely ignored by scientists and society alike. This comprehensive volume explores prison sex, presenting original research on consensual and nonconsensual intercourse, as well as the effects of conjugal visitation policies, HIV/AIDS management, and the treatment of sexually assaulted inmates. The authors also shed light on the sexual hierarchies that form in    More >

Traditional homicide indicators are based on male violence—and do little to predict when, or whom, women will kill. Vickie Jensen shows that gender equality plays an important role in predicting female homicide patterns.

Jensen's analysis of the occurrence of women's homicide reveals that lethal violence is most likely when severe gender inequalities exist in the family group. Her    More >

Sentencing guidelines, adopted by many states in recent decades, are intended to eliminate the impact of bias based on factors ranging from a criminal’s ethnicity or gender to the county in which he or she was convicted. But have these guidelines achieved their goal of “fair punishment”? And how do the concerns of local courts shape sentencing under guidelines? In this    More >

Taking another person's life is the crime for which every society reserves the strongest of punishments. But why (and when) is the act of killing sometimes defined as murder—as inexcusable—and other times considered a justifiable, or even righteous, act? Grappling with this ambiguity, Tony Waters sheds light on the sociology of murder.  

This innovative text draws    More >

Today's prisons are increasingly filled with poor, dark-skinned, single mothers locked up for low-level drug involvement—with serious ramifications for the corrections system. Women Behind Bars offers the first comprehensive exploration of the challenges faced by incarcerated women in the United States. 

Young and Reviere show conclusively that serving time in    More >

It is old news that the conditions and policies of women's prisons are different from those of incarcerated men. Less evident, however, is how gender differences shape those policies, and how gender identity and roles shape women's adaptation and resistance to prison culture and control. Women in Prison explores how the gender-based attitudes that women bring to prison frame how they    More >