Criminology, Second Edition
Leonard Glick, Community College of Pennsylvania
J. Mitchell Miller, University of Texas, San Antonio
Criminology, Second Edition is the most accessible, hands-on introductory textbook on the market. The authors use a unique method for organizing the material in this manageable, 14-chapter textbook.
This book offers students a unique opportunity to examine strong yet very readable competing views on twenty of the major issues in contemporary criminal justice. It features the works of major writers in the discipline and explores the ideas, orientations and arguments driving the field. Each essay quickly draws readers into the debate using accompanying questions and encourages readers to assess arguments and determine their own conclusions. Where to Find More sections highlight additional resources that can be used to explore each issue in more detail.
For anyone interested in the criminal justice system
The Concept of Law is the most important and original work of legal philosophy written this century. First published in 1961, it is considered the masterpiece of H.L.A. Hart's enormous contribution to the study of jurisprudence and legal philosophy. Its elegant language and balanced arguments have sparked wide debate and unprecedented growth in the quantity and quality of scholarship in this area—much of it devoted to attacking or defending Hart's theories. Principal among Hart's critics is renowned lawyer and political philosopher Ronald Dworkin who in the 1970s and 80s mounted a series of challenges to Hart's Concept of Law. It seemed that Hart let these challenges go unanswered until, after his death in 1992, his answer to Dworkin's criticism was discovered among his papers.
In this valuable and long-awaited new edition Hart presents an Epilogue in which he answers Dworkin and some of his other most influential critics including Fuller and Finnis. Written with the same clarity and candor for which the first edition is famous, the Epilogue offers a sharper interpretation of Hart's own views, rebuffs the arguments of critics like Dworkin, and powerfully asserts that they have based their criticisms on a faulty understanding of Hart's work. Hart demonstrates that Dworkin's views are in fact strikingly similar to his own. In a final analysis, Hart's response leaves Dworkin's criticisms considerably weakened and his positions largely in question.
Containing Hart's final and powerful response to Dworkin in addition to the revised text of the original Concept of Law, this thought-provoking and persuasively argued volume is essential reading for lawyers and philosophers throughout the world.
"...Because it is so well-crafted,... it serves to stimulate sophisticated thought on the nature and function of a legal system."--Michele M. Moody-Adams
There are two kinds of knowledge law school teaches: legal rules on the one hand, and tools for thinking about legal problems on the other. Although the tools are far more interesting and useful than the rules, they tend to be neglected in favor of other aspects of the curriculum. In The Legal Analyst, Ward Farnsworth brings together in one place all of the most powerful of those tools for thinking about law.
From classic ideas in game theory such as the “Prisoner’s Dilemma” and the “Stag Hunt” to psychological principles such as hindsight bias and framing effects, from ideas in jurisprudence such as the slippery slope to more than two dozen other such principles, Farnsworth’s guide leads readers through the fascinating world of legal thought. Each chapter introduces a single tool and shows how it can be used to solve different types of problems. The explanations are written in clear, lively language and illustrated with a wide range of examples.
The Legal Analyst is an indispensable user’s manual for law students, experienced practitioners seeking a one-stop guide to legal principles, or anyone else with an interest in the law.
We are all familiar with the image of the immensely clever judge who discerns the best rule of common law for the case at hand. According to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a judge like this can maneuver through earlier cases to achieve the desired aim—"distinguishing one prior case on his left, straight-arming another one on his right, high-stepping away from another precedent about to tackle him from the rear, until (bravo!) he reaches the goal—good law." But is this common-law mindset, which is appropriate in its place, suitable also in statutory and constitutional interpretation? In a witty and trenchant essay, Justice Scalia answers this question with a resounding negative.
In exploring the neglected art of statutory interpretation, Scalia urges that judges resist the temptation to use legislative intention and legislative history. In his view, it is incompatible with democratic government to allow the meaning of a statute to be determined by what the judges think the lawgivers meant rather than by what the legislature actually promulgated. Eschewing the judicial lawmaking that is the essence of common law, judges should interpret statutes and regulations by focusing on the text itself. Scalia then extends this principle to constitutional law. He proposes that we abandon the notion of an everchanging Constitution and pay attention to the Constitution's original meaning. Although not subscribing to the "strict constructionism" that would prevent applying the Constitution to modern circumstances, Scalia emphatically rejects the idea that judges can properly "smuggle" in new rights or deny old rights by using the Due Process Clause, for instance. In fact, such judicial discretion might lead to the destruction of the Bill of Rights if a majority of the judges ever wished to reach that most undesirable of goals.
This essay is followed by four commentaries by Professors Gordon Wood, Laurence Tribe, Mary Ann Glendon, and Ronald Dworkin, who engage Justice Scalia's ideas about judicial interpretation from varying standpoints.
Combining detailed theoretical discussions with real-world examples, Law in Our Lives: An Introduction, Third Edition, presents a broad analysis of the nature of law in contemporary society. Author David O. Friedrichs employs an exceptionally lucid writing style that makes the complex subject matter as student friendly as possible. Numerous pedagogical features—including boldfaced key terms, discussion questions, and appendices on case briefing, law in films, and relevant websites—further enhance the text's accessibility.
Providing students with an interdisciplinary framework through which to understand law and society, Law in Our Lives, Third Edition, is ideal for courses that introduce law or address law and society.
NEW TO THIS EDITION
* Updated throughout with relevant scholarship and important news events including law in relation to recent environmental catastrophes, the socio-legal consequences of the 2008 presidential election, and the political/legal response to the financial crisis of 2008 and subsequent economic recession
* Addresses a wide range of new law-related developments including those relating to civil litigation, new technology infringing on citizens' privacy rights, health care reform, same-sex marriage, medical use of marijuana, and the current status of employee rights
* Discusses many new topics throughout:
» Current controversies over constitutional interpretation and judicial review
» Harvard Law School's new curriculum
» The marketplace for new lawyers in a tough economy
» The rapidly expanding impact of the internet and social media on law
» The impact of Google and Twitter on juries
» Neuroscience research and evolving views on criminal responsibility
» Foreign law referrals in American court opinions
» Law in the New China, and in Vietnam and Cambodia today
» Post-9/11 debates on Sharia'h law in Islamic countries
» The "cultural defense" in criminal cases
» The latest trends on declining support for legal services for the poor
* Includes a new section on the methodology of law and society research
* Presents completely new boxes on a diverse range of topics including: "Can Law Promote Happiness?"; "Texting and Sexting: New Legal Initiatives"; "The Virginia Tech Shooting Massacre and Privacy Law"; "The Jurisprudence of Harry Potter"; and "Lowering the Bar: Lawyer Jokes"
This anthology of classical, contemporary, philosophical and legal essays/cases focuses on legal philosophy as its own subject—rather than being a part of social/political philosophy or applied ethics. The essays within this reader focus on how law is organized and the particular philosophical issues that it raises. The book requires students to think through actual debates–many of them still currently in the courts.
This is not a comforting book — it is a book about disturbing issues that are urgently important today and enduringly critical for the future. It rejects both "merit" and historical redress as principles for guiding public policy. It shows how "peace" movements have led to war and to needless casualties in those wars. It argues that "equality" is neither right nor wrong, but meaningless.
The Quest for Cosmic Justice shows how confused conceptions of justice end up promoting injustice, how confused conceptions of equality end up promoting inequality, and how the tyranny of social visions prevents many people from confronting the actual consequences of their own beliefs and policies. Those consequences include the steady and dangerous erosion of the fundamental principles of freedom — and the quiet repeal of the American revolution.
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