A comprehensive and accesible overview of the operation of the American criminal justice system, The Oxford Handbook of Crime and Criminal Justice covers a wide range of issues, making it an important reference for students and scholars in criminal justice, law, and public policy.

List of Contributors ; 1. Crime and Criminal Justice (Michael Tonry) ; 2. Crime Trends (Eric Baumer) ; 3. Evidence-based Crime Policy (Brandon C. Welsh and David P. Farrington) ; Purposes and Functions ; 4. Punishment (Michael Tonry) ; 5. Crime Prevention (Brandon C. Welsh) ; 6. Treatment and Rehabilitation (Frank T. Cullen and Paula Smith) ; 7. General Deterrence (Robert Apel and Daniel Nagin) ; 8. Reparation and Restoration (Kathy Daly and Gitana Proietti-Scifoni) ; 9. Reassurance, Reinforcement, and Legitimacy (Matt Matravers) ; Problems and Priorities ; 10. Drugs and Crime (Jonathan P. Caulkins and Mark A. R. Kleiman) ; 11. Race, Ethnicity, and Crime (Cassia Spohn) ; 12. Sex, Gender, and Crime (Rosemary Gartner) ; 13. Immigrants and Crime (Sandra Bucerius) ; 14. Guns and Crime (Charles Wellford) ; 15. Work and Crime (Aaron Chalfin and Steven Raphael) ; Police and Policing ; 16. Police Organization (Stephen D. Mastrofski and James J. Willis) ; 17. Police and Crime Control (Lawrence W. Sherman) ; 18. Community and Problem-oriented Policing (Michael D. Reisig) ; 19. Legitimacy and Lawful Policing (Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovic) ; Juvenile Justice ; 20. Juvenile Justice (Barry C. Feld and Donna M. Bishop) ; Prosecution and Sentencing ; 21. Prosecution (Candace McCoy) ; 22. Sentencing (Brian Johnson) ; 23. Mandatory Penalties (Michael Tonry) ; 24. Capital Punishment (Ray Paternoster) ; Community and Institutional Corrections ; 25. Jails and Pretrial Release (Brandon Applegate) ; 26. Probation and Community Penalties (Stan C. Proband) ; 27. Drug and Other Specialty Courts (Ojmarrh Mitchell) ; 28. Prisons (Yvonne Jewkes) ; 29. Women's Prisons (Candace Kruttschnitt) ; 30. Parole and Prisoner Reentry (Joan Petersilia)

"[The Handbook] provides an invaluable resource for beginning to understand criminology and criminal justice's history in order to better understand its present. It also illuminates avenues into the future-paths criminologists can take to avoid the pitfalls of the past and learn from its lessons Finally, the authors of the chapters almost always bring their discussion back to the present. This is important, as it connects the past to the present. In this way, criminology and criminal justice can proceed with a strong foundation of what has happened in the field, why it might have happened the way it did, and what we can do better moving forward."-- Contemporary Sociology

Selling point: This handbook is an accessible, high-quality, and comprehensive introduction to and overview of the operation of the American criminal justice system. Selling point: It provides contributions on hot-button topics, from immigration, terrorism, and racial profiling, as well as bread and butter issues like jails, drugs, and police strategy.

Selling point: This handbook is an accessible, high-quality, and comprehensive introduction to and overview of the operation of the American criminal justice system. Selling point: It provides contributions on hot-button topics, from immigration, terrorism, and racial profiling, as well as bread and butter issues like jails, drugs, and police strategy.