NCJ Number
174725
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Education Volume: 8 Issue: 2 Dated: Fall 1997 Pages: 145-162
Date Published
1997
Length
18 pages
Annotation
The authors examined the coverage of court cases in 23 introductory criminal justice textbooks published between 1986 and 1995, identified the 30 cases received the most coverage, and ranked the 30 cases by the amount of attention each received.
Abstract
The unit of analysis was based on inches of print. The coverage of court cases in each textbook was analyzed by recording the amount of space devoted to individual cases and the total coverage of court cases. When textbooks highlighted cases, they normally chose U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Further, the coverage of court cases in textbooks was reasonably comprehensive. Prominently covered court cases included Chimel v. California and Miranda v. Arizona for law enforcement, Gideon v. Wainwright and Powell v. Alabama for courts, and Furman v. Georgia and Wolff v. McDonnell for corrections. Later court decisions that established new interpretations of the law received much more attention in textbooks than earlier decisions that were extended, amended, or overturned. Textbooks varied widely by the percentage of coverage devoted to court cases, by the total number of pages devoted to court cases, and by the number of court cases covered in 1 inch or more of print. In terms of coverage of the 30 landmark cases, textbooks differed widely with respect to the number and percentage of cases covered: 1 case dealt with inmate rights, 2 with probation and parole, 2 with the death penalty, 5 with juvenile justice, and 20 with other criminal procedures. Annotations for the 30 landmark cases in criminal justice textbooks are appended. 80 references, 10 footnotes, and 3 tables