NCJ Number
192684
Date Published
2000
Length
314 pages
Annotation
This volume contains an overview of the American justice system.
Abstract
The book is a collaborative effort which draws on the expertise of scholars with extensive experience in publishing, teaching, and actual field practice in the topics they have written about. It is also interdisciplinary, with authors trained in law, criminal justice, sociology, political science, and biology. The book introduces the idea of law and justice. It discusses philosophy, history, sociology, and evolutionary biology, in an attempt to determine what law and justice is, where it comes from, how it has been conceived in the past, and its function in society. The book examines making law, the Federal and State court systems, criminal law, criminal procedure, and civil law. In addition, it studies the law and social control, the law and social change, comparative law, and women and the law. The book seeks to provide an understanding of the role of law in society; a basic understanding of the courts, lawmaking, and criminal substantive and procedural law; an appreciation of the concept of the rule of law; and an understanding of comparative law. The book includes special terms and discussion questions. Cases cited, table, figures, references, index