Criminal justice professionals and the media have noted the rise of juvenile crime rates nationwide and a growing surge in youth violence. This in turn has highlighted the debate over juvenile transfers to adult courts. Proponents of treating violent juvenile offenders as adults argue that juvenile offenders should be held accountable and receive punishment that is appropriate to the seriousness of their offences and that society must be protected by their removal from law abiding communities. They urge that young offenders must be held accountable for both lesser and more serious crimes, especially when the former offences, if unpunished, may lead offenders to commit the latter. Opponents of treating violent juveniles offenders as adults argue that harsh punishment of juvenile offenders is counterproductive, creating recidivism. Their contention is that youths who are committing crimes should still be tried in juvenile courts rather than adult courts, for a greater effect. This informative book presents all the current issues, problems, ideas, as well as some background on the controversies surrounding juvenile crime.

There are many controversial aspects of our criminal justice system, and this encyclopedia examines the most significant controversies throughout American history with emphasis on current debates, trends, and issues. Arranged alphabetically, approximately 100 entries cover background, explanations, notable cases and events, various sides of an issue, and what to expect in the future. Entries are objective and factual, allowing readers to formulate their own conclusions. Sidebars and case examples help to illustrate each entry, and sources for further reading point readers to other important materials. Given the prevalance of controversial criminal justice topics in the news, this timely reference is an important resource for anyone interested in crime and justice. Entries include: Boot Camps, Corporal Punishment, DNA Evidence, Domestic Violence, Expert Testimony, Eye Witness Identifications, Gun Control, Homeland Security, International Criminal Court, Legalization of Marijuana, Mental Health and Insanity, Police Brutality, Prison Violence, Racial Profiling, School Violence, Sex Offender Laws, Stalking Laws, Supermax Prisons, Three Strikes, Treating Juveniles as Adults, War on Drugs, and more.

Discusses the juvenile court system and recent trends toward sentencing juveniles as adults.

The five countries examined are the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

This book explores education for juvenile offenders in relation to Passages Academy, which is both similar to and representative of many school programs in juvenile correctional facilities. Examining the mission and population of this school contributes to an understanding of the ways in which the teachers think about and ultimately act with respect to their detained juveniles students, and particularly illustrates how the tension between punishment and rehabilitation is played out in school policies and design. By calling attention to the decisions that surround juvenile detention education, the extant research concentrates on three main areas: first, the social, political, and pedagogical forces that determine who enters the juvenile justice systems; second, how these court-involved youths are educated while they are in the system; and third, the practical problems and the social justice issues youths encountered when transitioning back to their community schools. “I Hope I Don’t See You Tomorrow is both heartwarming and heartbreaking: its vast empathy for the students that L. A. Gabay teaches is edifying, while its unsparing examination of the forces that push youth into detention is soul shearing. Gabay is at once Tocqueville and Kozol: he brilliantly guides us through the educational territory that is foreign to most of us, even as he paints a searing portrait of teachers who shape lesson plans for students who must learn under impossible conditions. Gabay’s haunting and eloquent missive from the front lines of pain and possibility couldn’t be more timely as the nation’s first black president seeks to lessen the stigma of nonviolent ex-offenders in our society. Gabay’s book confronts the criminal justice system at its institutional roots: in the economic misery and racial strife of schooling that compounds the suffering of poor youth as they are contained by a state that often only pays attention to them when they are (in) trouble. Gabay opens eyes and vexes minds with this stirring and sober account of what it means to teach those whom society has deemed utterly expendable.” – Michael Eric Dyson, author of The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America “As a beneficiary of Lee Gabay and his colleague’s patience, discipline, and compassionate teaching at the school, this timely book beautifully decrypts the pedagogical framework within the juvenile justice system. As America comes to term with its zeal for incarceration, policymakers, educators, government officials, parents and advocates should take advantage of this carefully written book and use it as reflection and pause as we prepare our young court-involved students towards adulthood.” – Jim St. Germain, Advisory counsel on President Obama’s Taskforce on Police & Community Relations and Mayor Bloomberg’s Close to Home initiative

Criminology has experienced tremendous growth over the last few decades, evident, in part, by the widespread popularity and increased enrollment in criminology and criminal justice departments at the undergraduate and graduate levels across the U.S. and internationally. Evolutionary paradigmatic shift has accompanied this surge in definitional, disciplinary and pragmatic terms. Though long identified as a leading sociological specialty area, criminology has emerged as a stand-alone discipline in its own right, one that continues to grow and is clearly here to stay. Criminology, today, remains inherently theoretical but is also far more applied in focus and thus more connected to the academic and practitioner concerns of criminal justice and related professional service fields. Contemporary criminology is also increasingly interdisciplinary and thus features a broad variety of ideological orientations to and perspectives on the causes, effects and responses to crime. 21st Century Criminology: A Reference Handbook provides straightforward and definitive overviews of 100 key topics comprising traditional criminology and its modern outgrowths. The individual chapters have been designed to serve as a "first-look" reference source for most criminological inquires. Both connected to the sociological origins of criminology (i.e., theory and research methods) and the justice systems′ response to crime and related social problems, as well as coverage of major crime types, this two-volume set offers a comprehensive overview of the current state of criminology. From student term papers and masters theses to researchers commencing literature reviews, 21st Century Criminology is a ready source from which to quickly access authoritative knowledge on a range of key issues and topics central to contemporary criminology. This two-volume set in the SAGE 21st Century Reference Series is intended to provide undergraduate majors with an authoritative reference source that will serve their research needs with more detailed information than encyclopedia entries but not so much jargon, detail, or density as a journal article or research handbook chapter. 100 entries or "mini-chapters" highlight the most important topics, issues, questions, and debates any student obtaining a degree in this field ought to have mastered for effectiveness in the 21st century. Curricular-driven, chapters provide students with initial footholds on topics of interest in researching term papers, in preparing for GREs, in consulting to determine directions to take in pursuing a senior thesis, graduate degree, career, etc. Comprehensive in coverage, major sections include The Discipline of Criminology, Correlates of Crime, Theories of Crime & Justice, Measurement & Research, Types of Crime, and Crime & the Justice System. The contributor group is comprised of well-known figures and emerging young scholars who provide authoritative overviews coupled with insightful discussion that will quickly familiarize researchers, students, and general readers alike with fundamental and detailed information for each topic. Uniform chapter structure makes it easy for students to locate key information, with most chapters following a format of Introduction, Theory, Methods, Applications, Comparison, Future Directions, Summary, Bibliography & Suggestions for Further Reading, and Cross References. Availability in print and electronic formats provides students with convenient, easy access wherever they may be.

A diverse, critical analysis of racial and ethnic disparities within the American criminal justice system that encourages critical thinking by providing various sides to the issues. Low-income African Americans, Latin Americans, and American Indians bear the statistical brunt of policing, death penalty verdicts, and sentencing disparities in the United States. Why does this long-standing inequity exist in a country where schoolchildren are taught to expect "justice for all"? The original essays in this two-volume set not only examine the deep-rooted issues and lay out theories as to why racism remains a problem in our prison system, but they also provide potential solutions to the problem. The work gives a broad, multicultural overview of the history of overrepresentation of ethnic minorities in our prison system, examining white/black disparities as well as racism and issues of ethnic-based discrimination concerning other ethnic minorities. This up-to-date resource is ideally suited for undergraduate students who are enrolled in criminal justice or racial/ethnic studies classes and general readers interested in the U.S. criminal justice system.