Introduction to Criminal Justice

by Robert M. Bohm, Keith N. Haley

Introduction to Criminal Justice is the perfect text for students interested in pursuing a career in criminal justice and for those who simply want to learn more about this important social institution. The authors' more than 50 years of combined experience in teaching introduction to criminal justice as well as working in the field -- Bohm as a correctional officer and Haley as a police officer -- come through in their accessible yet comprehensive presentation. They make it easy for readers to understand that much of what the public "knows" about criminal justice in the United States is myth, and help students to learn the truth about the U.S. criminal justice system.

Genres: Nonfiction

624 pages, Hardcover

First published January 2, 1996

Reviews

[Darrien Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I had to read this book for a college course, and it honestly wasn’t the worse, but the last chapter kind of felt like it just took a sudden turn into a lens through “the Jetsons” tv show. It was pretty interesting and informative in a majority of the chapters though.

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

As textbooks go, this one was pretty good. It's comprehensive enough to give students a good basic understanding of the history, theory, and practice of criminal justice in the United States. One feature of this book that I especially liked was the "Careers in Criminal Justice" blurbs throughout; various specific jobs in the field are described by people who actually hold those positions. This included what the job entails, what they like best and what they like the least, an outline of their own education, and usually a recommendation as to what someone may want to study or do if they are interested in pursuing that particular job as well. This is something I think should be a feature included throughout any introductory textbook; it would potentially be helpful to students who are unsure of what direction they may want to take, simply because they don't really know what kinds of jobs are really available.

[Carolyn Fuentes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides short description of the historical development of criminal law by breaking down some theories of victimization, criminal responsibility, measuring crimes and how they are reported, explanation of the criminal justice system, touches some basis on terrorism and cyber-crime, etc. Basically it covers fundamentals of the justice system.

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read this for my Intro to Criminal Justice class. It was really just a lot of statistics so it was pretty boring. But there were some surprising and interesting things which were discussed.

[Julie Strawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting :)