American Justice: Research of the National Institute of Justice

• NCJ Number: 119707
• Author(s): National Institute of Justice
• Date Published: January 1990
• Length: 269 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored

Annotation

This text presents a collection of 36 crime-related research materials published by NIJ and is intended for use as a supplement in courses on criminology or criminal justice.

Abstract

The materials reflect the broad range of topics usually covered in the basic introductory course in these topic areas. The first part focuses on crime and criminality. It contains selections from NIJ research reports dealing with the causes of crime and delinquency, victims and victimization, and drugs and crime. The second part focuses on the operations of the criminal justice system: the police and law enforcement, the court system, probation and alternative sanctions, and correctional institutions and practices. Individual selections focus on repeat offenders, biology and crime, television violence, gun control, victim services, interviews of child victims, neighborhood watch programs, drug testing, drug-involved offenders, and drug trafficking. Other selections focus on police responses to special populations, AIDS and law enforcement officers, the role of criminal court judges in confronting domestic violence, the impact of Federal sentencing guidelines, the use of fines as criminal sanctions, house arrest, intensive probation supervision, restitution, electronic monitoring of offenders, efforts to relieve jail crowding, and private prisons. Discussion questions for each selection, data tables, figures, and reference notes are included.