American Criminal Justice Policy examines many of the most prominent criminal justice policies on the American landscape and finds that they fall well short of achieving the accountability and effectiveness that policymakers have advocated and that the public expects. The policies include mass incarceration, sex offender laws, supermax prisons, faith-based prisoner reentry programs, transfer of juveniles to adult court, domestic violence mandatory arrest laws, drug courts, gun laws, community policing, private prisons, and others. Optimistically, Daniel P. Mears argues that this situation can be changed through systematic incorporation of evaluation research into policy development, monitoring, and assessment. To this end, the book provides a clear and accessible discussion of five types of evaluation - needs, theory, implementation or process, outcome and impact, and cost-efficiency. It identifies how these can be used both to hold the criminal justice system accountable and to increase the effectiveness of crime control and crime prevention efforts.
- Provides a critical assessment of a wide range of prominent criminal justice policies
- Provides an accessible description of evaluation research and how it can contribute to accountable and effective criminal justice policy
- Identifies specific strategies that can be taken to increase and improve the use of research to create more accountable and effective criminal justice policies
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Product details
- Date Published: April 2010
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9780521746236
- length: 334 pages
- dimensions: 234 x 156 x 19 mm
- weight: 0.48kg
- contains: 17 b/w illus. 8 tables
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Irrational criminal justice policy
3. A solution for improving criminal justice policy: evaluation research
4. Needs evaluations
5. Theory evaluations
6. Implementation evaluations
7. Outcome evaluations and impact evaluations
8. Cost-efficiency evaluations
9. Conclusion.
Look Inside
Instructors have used or reviewed this title for the following courses
- Administration of Criminal Justice
- Advanced Criminal Justice Administration
- Advanced Criminal Justice Policy
- Advanced Criminological Theory
- Advanced Forensic Social Work Policy
- Advanced Policy in Forensic Social Work
- Advanced Seminar: Crime Policy Evaluation
- American Crime Policy
- American Legal System
- American Policing and Criminal Justice Policy & Evaluation
- CJ policy
- Contemporary Issues
- Correction and society
- Corrections Policy Analysis
- Corrections and Deviant Behavior
- Courts and Criminal Justice Policy
- Crim Justice Program Evaluation
- Crime Law and Public Policy
- Crime Policy
- Crime Policy Analysis
- Crime and Criminal Behavior
- Crime and Public Policy
- Crime, Law, and Public Policy
- Criminal Justice Administration
- Criminal Justice Administration and Crime Problem
- Criminal Justice Internship & Research
- Criminal Justice Management and Policy
- Criminal Justice Policy Analysis
- Criminal Justice Policy Issues
- Criminal Justice Process
- Criminal Justice Program Evaluation
- Criminal Justice Seminar
- Criminal Justice Social Policy
- Criminal Justice System in Society
- Criminal Justice and Public Policy
- Criminal Justice/Social Policy
- Criminal Law and the Constitution
- Criminal Theory
- Critical Analysis of Justice Administration
- Current Criminal Justice Systems
- Current Issues in CJ
- Evaluating Criminal Justice Policies & Programs
- Evaluation and Research Methodologies
- Extent of Crime
- Homeland Security and the Legal System
- Innovation and Evaluation in CJ
- Institutional Corrections
- Introduction to Criminal Justice
- Issues in Administration and Management of the Criminal Justice System
- Issuses in Criminal Justice
- Justice Issues and Public Policy
- Justice Policy and Planning
- Justice Theory, Research and Policy
- Law & Policy
- Organization and Administration in Criminal Justice
- Paradigms of Justice Policy
- Planned Change in Criminal Justice
- Police Administration
- Police Community Relations / Intro to LE
- Police Systems and Practices
- Policy Analysis and Program Evaluation
- Policy Analysis in Criminal Justice
- Policy Formation and Implementation
- Policy Issues in Criminal Justice
- Policy Research & Program Evaluation in CJ
- Policy and Decision Making in Criminal Justice
- Policy, Professionalism and Ethics
- Policy, Professionalism, Ethics
- Politics of Crime
- Politics of Justice CJ 4935
- Punishment and Corrections
- Punishment and Public Policy
- Seminar in Social Research
- Sociology of Crime
- Substantive Criminal Law
- Survey of the Criminal Justice System
- The Role of Law Enforcement in American Society
- The Role of Social Science in Informing Criminal Justice Policy
- Theories of Crime
Author
Daniel P. Mears, Florida State University
Daniel P. Mears is a Professor at the Florida State University College of Criminology and Criminal Justice. He has published widely in criminology, including more than 80 articles, chapters, and reports, and has examined a wide range of criminal justice policies. His work has appeared in Criminology, the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, the Law and Society Review and other journals, and his views, including editorials, have been frequently cited in such media outlets as the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, and USA Today.