NCJ Number
145564
Date Published
1994
Length
135 pages
Annotation
This book documents the frequency and constancy of various types of crimes committed by professionals within the criminal justice system; remedies are suggested.
Abstract
The first two chapters place the examination of criminal justice professionals' behavior in a broad institutional context. Chapter one uses President Kennedy's assassination as a case illustration of how various components of the criminal justice system could behave illegally. The second chapter compares and contrasts the causal theories of public corruption. A paradigm provides the conceptual basis for analysis of wrongdoing within the criminal justice system. Chapters three, four, and five examine types of illegal and unethical behaviors by criminal justice practitioners. These are classical graft or corruption, abuses of authority, and occupational and nonoccupational deviance. The authors analyze the behaviors in a conceptual context to allow deductions that yield policy solutions. The chapter on occupational and nonoccupational deviance examines deviant behavior that ranges from administrative policy violations to murder. Although some of these behaviors are idiosyncratic, others are systemic. Chapter six reviews the book's findings and conclusions, followed by a research agenda. The final chapter draws policy implications and suggests measures that will address wrongdoing within the criminal justice system. Chapter notes