Owen, Foundations of Criminal Justice 3e

Rather than simply giving students an overview of the elements of the criminal justice system—police, courts, and corrections— Foundations of Criminal Justice delves into the interdisciplinary ideas underlying those elements. Its core user base is strongly supportive of this approach to teaching introduction to criminal justice. Foundations of Criminal Justice asks important questions often ignored in the intro course: Why is our justice system the way it is? How do we decide which actions are crimes? How is policy made? What is justice and how is it achieved? Having tackled these concepts and understood the ideas and motivations underlying our justice system, students are better prepared to understand what the police, courts, and corrections do and why—and to think critically about the decisions they will face should they go on to work in the field.