Criminal justice theory can be divided into two main categories. The first includes works that seek to explain the operation of the criminal justice system. Most of these contributions have grappled with the core reality of American criminal justice: its rising embrace of punitiveness and the growth of mass imprisonment. The second category focuses on works that identify theories that have often guided efforts to reduce crime. The issue here focuses mainly on the effects of certain theoretically guided criminal justice interventions. The current volume is thus organized into these two categories: explanations and effects.
The result is an innovative and comprehensive book that not only serves researchers by advancing scholarship but also is appropriate for advanced undergraduate or graduate classroom use.
Cecilia Chouhy is an Assistant Professor in the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University.
Joshua C. Cochran is an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati.
Cheryl Lero Jonson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Xavier University.