NCJ Number
144616
Date Published
1993
Length
288 pages
Annotation
Intended mainly as an introductory text for an undergraduate course, this text presents an overview of the various factors that make up the relationships between the community and the criminal justice system.
Abstract
The discussion emphasizes the ways in which different components of the criminal justice system can successfully use the community and its resources to aid in crime prevention. The text examines basic concepts of human relations, including relationships between individuals and relationships between groups, and details the community relations scenarios that now exist between the criminal justice system and the community. Community misunderstandings and the lack of cooperation and mistrust that can paradoxically result from the criminal justice system's efforts to make the community safer are also discussed. Public relations efforts designed to elicit cooperation from an often-hostile community are described as well. The analysis also considers the structure and elements of a community; interactions between citizens and the police, the courts, and corrections; minority groups and the criminal justice system; and formal and informal power structure in the community; and emerging criminal justice issues in the 1990's. Figures, tables, illustrations, chapter discussion questions, and index