Waubonsee Community College

Demystifying crime and criminal justice, [edited by] Robert M. Bohm, Jeffrey T. Walker

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Demystifying crime and criminal justice

bibliography

60835320

[edited by] Robert M. Bohm, Jeffrey T. Walker

This thought-provoking volume addresses many of the American public's misconceptions about crime and criminal justice. Many of these understandings are inaccurate and based on myths. Each of the anthology's 27 articles demystifies or debunks one of these current myths, setting the record straight. The book is organized to follow a logical progression through the criminal justice process. Part One addresses myths about crime; Part Two examines myths about law enforcement; Part Three investigates myths about the administration of justice; and Part Four focuses on myths about punishment and corrections. Each chapter opens with a brief section introducing a myth or a set of myths about a particular topic. Next follows the "The Kernel of Truth" section, in which accurate aspects of the myth or myths are identified because for myths to be believable and accepted, they generally must contain at least a kernel of truth. In the third section, "The Truth or Facts," the authors debunk the myth or myths by providing evidence, followed by "Interests Served by the Myth," which illuminates how the interests of specific individuals or groups are promoted by the creation and perpetuation of the myths. Finally, "Policy Implications of Belief in the Myth" highlights some of the practical and often undesirable consequences of belief in the myth or myths. - Publisher

Ch. 1. The myth that crime and criminality can be measured / Hal Pepinsky -- ch. 2. The myth that mental illness causes crime / Jennifer L. Bullock and Bruce A. Arrigo -- ch. 3. The myth that white-collar crime is only about financial loss / David O. Friedrichs -- ch. 4. The myth of race and crime / Katheryn Russell-Brown -- ch. 5. The myth that serial murderers are disproportionately white males / Joseph B. Kuhns III and Charisse T.M. Coston -- ch. 6. The myth of drug users as violent offenders / Henry H. Brownstein -- ch. 7. The myth of drug decriminalization / Barbara Sims and Michael Kenney -- ch. 8. Demystifying terrorism : "crazy Islamic terrorists who hate us because we're free?" / Paul Leighton -- ch. 9. The myth that the role of the police is to fight crime / David E. Barlow and Melissa Hickman Barlow -- ch. 10. The myth of a monolithic police culture / Eugene A. Paoline III -- ch. 11. The myth of policewomen on patrol / Kim Lersch -- ch. 12. The myth of racial profiling / Michael Buerger -- ch. 13. The myth that science solves crimes / Gary Cordner and Kathryn E. Scarborough -- ch. 14. The myth that COMPSTAT reduces crime and transforms police organizations / James J. Willis, Stephen D. Mastrofski, and David Weisburd -- ch. 15. The myth of positive differentiation in the classification of dangerous offenders / Dennis R. Longmire, Jacqueline Buffington-Vollum, and Scott Vollum -- ch. 16. The myth that the exclusionary rule allows many criminals to escape justice / Richard Janikowski -- ch. 17. The myth that harsh punishments reduce juvenile crime / Donna M. Bishop -- ch. 18. The myth that public attitudes are punitive / Russ Immarigeon -- ch. 19. The myth that the death penalty is administered fairly / Brandon Applegate -- ch. 20. The myth of closure and capital punishment / James R. Acker -- ch. 21. The myth that punishment reduces crime / Raymond Michalowski -- ch. 22. The myth that imprisonment is the most severe form of punishment / Peter B. Wood -- ch. 23. The myth of prisons as country clubs / Marilyn McShane, Frank P. Williams III, and Beth Pelz -- ch. 24. The myth that prisons can be self-supporting / Mary Parker -- ch. 25. Correctional privatization and the myth of inherent efficiency / Curtis Blakely and John Ortiz Smykla -- ch. 26. The myth that the focus of community corrections is rehabilitation / Mark Jones -- ch. 27. The myth that correctional rehabilitation does not work / Francis T. Cullen and Paula Smith