Justice is on trial in the United States. From police to prisons, the justice system is accused of overpunishing. It is said that too many Americans are abused by the police, arrested, jailed, and imprisoned. But the denunciations are overblown. The data indicates, contrary to the critics, that we don’t imprison too many, nor do we overpunish. This becomes evident when we examine the crimes of prisoners and the actual time served. The history of punishment in the United States, discussed in vivid detail, reveals that the treatment of offenders has become progressively more lenient. Corporal punishment is no more. The death penalty has become a rarity. Many convicted defendants are given no-incarceration sentences. Restorative justice may be a good thing for low-level offenses, or as an add-on for remorseful prisoners, but when it comes to major crimes it is no substitute for punitive justice. The Myth of Overpunishment presents a workable and politically feasible plan to electronically monitor arrested suspects prior to adjudication (bail reform), defendants placed on probation, and parolees.

Rogue Prosecutors explains the origins, beliefs, playbook, funding, and real-life consequences of the “progressive prosecutor” movement—a group of newly elected prosecutors, their allies, and backers that refuse to prosecute crimes, hold criminals accountable, and seek justice for victims. Told through true crime stories from eight different cities, the authors explore how a radical movement funded and conceived by George Soros—and ostensibly designed to “reverse engineer” the criminal justice system as we know it—has succeeded in replacing law and order prosecutors with pro-criminal, anti-victim zealots. Weaving together extensive interviews with victims, law enforcement officers, lawyers, and judges, Rogue Prosecutors offers a searing portrait of the devastation caused by the policies of these hand-picked activists, how their hands-off approach to prosecution has encouraged lawlessness and eviscerated the relationship with law enforcement, and why minorities have suffered the most in cities with “progressive prosecutors.” In story after story, the authors underscore that justice and public safety require prosecutors to hold all criminals accountable, and that the best choice for district attorney is not necessarily based on partisan politics, but between those who believe in law and order and those who don’t.

This book explains Japan’s unique Prosecution Review Commission (PRC) which is composed of eleven lay people selected randomly from voter registration lists. Each of the country’s 165 PRCs reviews non-charge decisions made by professional prosecutors and determines which cases should be reinvestigated or charged. PRCs also provide prosecutors with general proposals and recommendations for improving their policies and practices. The book analyzes the history and operations of the PRC and uses statistics and case studies to examine its various impacts, from legitimation and shadow effects to kickbacks and mandatory prosecution. More broadly, this book explores a problem that is common in many criminal justice systems: how to hold prosecutors accountable for their non-charge decisions. It discusses the potential these panels have for improving the quality of criminal justice in Japan and other countries, and it will appeal to scholars and students studying prosecution and democracy, criminal justice, criminology, lay participation, justice reform, and Japanese studies.

Sanaz Alasti leaves the mainstream alternatives to incarceration to examine a different, seemingly archaic approach, physical (but non-carceral) punishment—corporal punishment. This book ignites debates about the history, persistence, and use of corporal punishment in criminal justice systems. Alasti compares penological practices in in Western societies, represented by the United States, and Islamic societies, represented by Iran, to analyze which practices are more deterrent, less costly, and most humane. While Alasti does not suggest this should be the norm, she does present intriguing questions. Which is more barbaric? Is judicial corporal punishment a more humane and effective form of punishment compared to incarceration? Is corporal punishment a less cruel alternative to spending years behind bars in primitive and punitive jails and prisons? This book would be of interest to those studying criminology, criminal justice, history, law, and sociology.

The Civil War fascinates Americans like no other war in their history. Many Americans are still fighting some of the war’s issues in an Odyssey that stretches back to the first settlement and will persist until the end of time. The war itself was an Iliad of brilliant generals like Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan for the Union, or Lee, Jackson, and Forrest for the Confederacy; epic battles like Gettysburg and Chickamauga; epic sieges like Vicksburg and Petersburg; and epic naval combats such as Monitor versus Merrimack, or Kearsarge versus Alabama. It was America’s most horrific war, with more dead than all others combined. Around 625,000 soldiers and 125,000 civilians died from various causes, bringing the total to 750,000 people. Of 31 million Americans, 2.1 million northerners and 880,000 southerners donned uniforms. Why did eleven states eventually ban together to rebel against the United States? President Jefferson Davis began an answer when he said: ‘If the Confederacy falls, there should be written on its tombstone, Died of a Theory.’ That theory justified the enslavement of blacks by whites as a natural right and duty of a superior race over an inferior race; a theory, it was believed, that morally and economically elevated both races. Although slavery was the Civil War’s core cause, there were related chronic conflicts over the nature of government, citizenship, liberty, property, equality, wealth, race, identity, justice, crime, voting, power, and history – some of which issues have never entirely gone away. America’s Unending Civil War is unique among thousands of books on the subject. None before has explored the Civil War’s related and enduring conflicts of ideas and principles through four centuries of a nation’s history.

Justice is on trial in the United States. From police to prisons, the justice system is accused of overpunishing. It is said that too many Americans are abused by the police, arrested, jailed, and imprisoned. But the denunciations are overblown. The data indicates, contrary to the critics, that we don't imprison too many, nor do we overpunish. This becomes evident when we examine the crimes of prisoners and the actual time served. The history of punishment in the United States, discussed in vivid detail, reveals that the treatment of offenders has become progressively more lenient. Corporal punishment is no more. The death penalty has become a rarity. Many convicted defendants are given no-incarceration sentences. Restorative justice may be a good thing for low-level offenses, or as an add-on for remorseful prisoners, but when it comes to major crimes it is no substitute for punitive justice. The Myth of Overpunishment presents a workable and politically feasible plan to electronically monitor arrested suspects prior to adjudication (bail reform), defendants placed on probation, and parolees.

With contributions from leading experts in the field, this timely Research Handbook reconsiders the theories, assumptions, values and methods of comparative criminal justice in light of the challenges and opportunities posed by globalisation, deglobalisation and transnationalisation.

"A wonderfully coherent, comprehensive, groundbreaking, and thoroughly engaging study” of how the director of Psycho and The Birds used music in his films (Sidney Gottlieb, editor of Hitchcock on Hitchcock). Alfred Hitchcock employed more musical styles and techniques than any film director in history, from Marlene Dietrich singing Cole Porter in Stage Fright to the revolutionary electronic soundtrack of The Birds. Many of his films—including Notorious, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Psycho—are landmarks in the history of film music. Now author and musicologist Jack Sullivan presents the first in-depth study of the role music plays in Hitchcock’s films. Based on extensive interviews with composers, writers, and actors, as well as archival research, Sullivan discusses how Hitchcock used music to influence his cinematic atmospheres, characterizations, and even storylines. Sullivan examines the director’s relationships with various composers, especially Bernard Herrmann, and tells the stories behind some of their now-iconic musical choices. Covering the entire director’s career, from the early British works up to Family Plot, this engaging work will change the way we watch—and listen—to Hitchcock’s movies.

This book, based on papers presented at the 5th international conference held at Leuven, Belgium in 2002, aims to provide an overview of recent experience of restorative justice.