"Revolutionary love, revolutionary memory and revolutionary analysis are at work in every page written by Mumia Abu-Jamal ...His writings are a wake-up call. He is a voice from our prophetic tradition, speaking to us here, now, lovingly, urgently. Black man, old-school jazz man, freedom fighter, revolutionary--his presence, his voice, his words are the writing on the wall."--Cornel West, from the foreword From the first slave writings to contemporary hip hop, the canon of African American literature offers a powerful counter-narrative to dominant notions of American culture, history and politics. Resonant with voices of prophecy and resistance, the African American literary tradition runs deep with emancipatory currents that have had an indelible impact on the United States and the world. Mumia Abu-Jamal has been one of our most important contributors to this canon for decades, writing from the confines of the U.S. prison system to give voice to those most silenced by chronic racism, impoverishment and injustice. Writing on the Wall is a selection of more than 100 previously unpublished essays that deliver Mumia Abu-Jamal's essential perspectives on community, politics, power, and the possibilities of social change in the United States. From Rosa Parks to Edward Snowden, from the Trail of Tears to Ferguson, Missouri, Abu-Jamal addresses a sweeping range of contemporary and historical issues. Written mostly during his years of solitary confinement on Death Row, these essays are a testament to Abu-Jamal's often prescient insight, and his revolutionary perspective brims with hope, encouragement and profound faith in the possibility of redemption. "Greatness meets us in this book, and not just in Mumia's personal courage and character. It's in the writing. This is art with political power, challenging institutional injustice in the U.S. while catalyzing our understanding, memory and solidarities for liberation and love. Writing on the Wall can set the nation aflame--yes, for creating new possible worlds." --Mark Lewis Taylor, Professor of Theology and Culture, Princeton Theological Seminary Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award-winning journalist and author of two best-selling books, Live From Death Row and Death Blossoms. Johanna Fernandez is a Fulbright Scholar and Professor of History at Baruch College in New York City. Cornel West is a scholar, philosopher, activist and author of over a dozen books including his bestseller, Race Matters. He appears frequently in the media, and has appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher, The Colbert Report, CNN and C-Span as well as Tavis Smiley.

Corruption is a problem in prisons about which we hear very little, except when there is an escape from custody or other scandal that makes the media. The closed nature of correctional institutions has made the activities that go on within them less visible to the outside world. While some persons might be inclined to dismiss correctional corruption as an issue, this view ignores the scale of criminality and misconduct that can go on in prison and the impact it can have upon not just the good order of the prison or the rights of prisoners but on the prospects for successful reintegration of ex-prisoners into society. This book is the first to examine the phenomenon in any detail or to suggest what might be done to reduce its incidence and the harms that can arise from it. Andrew Goldsmith, Mark Halsey and Andrew Groves argue that it is not enough to tackle corruption alone. Rather there should be a broader attempt to promote what the authors call 'correctional integrity'.

In his engaging narrative history of the rise and workings of America's first juvenile court, David S. Tanenhaus explores the fundamental and enduring question of how the law should treat the young. Sifting through almost 3,000 previously unexamined Chicago case files from the early twentieth century, Tanenhaus reveals how children's advocates slowly built up a separate system for juveniles, all the while fighting political and legal battles to legitimate this controversial institution. Harkening back to a more hopeful and nuanced age, Juvenile Justice in the Making provides a valuable historical framework for thinking about youth policy.

Short-term prisoners have exceptionally high reconviction rates, fuelled by major social problems. Growing recognition of this, and of deficiencies in prison-probation coordination, has accelerated 'resettlement' of ex-prisoners up the penal agenda. The 'Resettlement Pathfinders' tested several new partnership-based approaches. This report evaluates three probation-led projects which combined practical assistance with interventions to improve motivation and capacity to change. Their key feature was the delivery of a cognitive-motivational programme ('FOR - A Change') specially designed for short-termers. The study found this produced significant changes in attitude, as well as greater 'continuity' (voluntary post-release contact between offenders and project staff) than previous approaches. It also found evidence of association between continuity and reduced reconviction. Overall, the findings support resettlement strategies based on fostering and nurturing offenders' motivation to change, facilitating access to services, and 'through the gate' contact with staff or volunteers with whom a relationship has already been built. The research offers findings and insights of practical value to probation and prison officers, as well as staff of other agencies that work with prisoners and ex-prisoners. The report should also be read by penal policy-makers, criminology/criminal justice academics and students, and those engaged in staff training.

"Relying on recent work by a virtual who's who in the study of gender and crime, this book does exactly what is needed to significantly advance our thinking about the structure of the gender-crime nexus."
--Valerie Jenness, coauthor of Making Hate a Crime: From Social Movement to Law Enforcement

"Gender and Crime is an exceptionally strong collection that focuses on the deep intersection of criminological theory and gendered violence. Through multiple lenses of sociological inquiry, this volume gifts us with a wealth of new perspectives on gendered violence."
--Jeffrey Fagan, co-editor of "The Changing Borders of Juvenile Justice: Transfer of Adolescents to the Criminal Court "

While rates of violent victimization have declined, women are still much more likely than men to be attacked by an intimate partner. Simultaneously, women's involvement in the criminal justice system, as arrestees and sentenced offenders, is increasing. Criminologists are struggling to understand these patterns of offending and victimization and how they can be prevented. Composed of original contributions by many of the top scholars in criminology, these essays will help to transform our understanding of women's relation to crime.

Composed of original contributions by many of the top scholars in criminology, these essays will help to transform our understanding of women's relation to crime.

Contributors: Jennifer L. Castro, Stephen A. Cernkovich, Sarah Curtis-Fawley, Kathleen Daly, Laura Dugan, Jill A. Dienes, Rosemary Gartner, Carole Gibbs, Peggy C. Giordano, Karen Heimer, Gwen Hunnicutt, Candace Kruttschnitt, Gary LaFree, Janet L. Lauritsen, Ross Macmillan, Bill McCarthy, Jody Miller, Christopher W. Mullins, Callie Marie Rennison, Nancy Rodriguez, Sally S. Simpson, Hilary Smith, Stacy Wittrock, Halime Anal, and Marjorie S. Zatz.

It is a key aim of current youth justice policy to introduce principles of restorative justice and involve victims in responses to crime. This is most evident in the referral order and youth offender panels established by the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999. However, the challenges involved in delivering a form of restorative youth justice that is sensitive to the needs of victims are considerable. This report provides an illuminating evaluation of the manner in which one Youth Offending Service sought to integrate victims into the referral order process. The study affords in-depth insights into the experiences and views of victims and young people who attended youth offender panel meetings. It places these in the context of recent policy debates and principles of restorative justice. The report tracks a 6 month cohort of cases in 2004; provides an analysis of in-depth interviews with victims, young offenders and their parents; highlights the challenges associated with integrating victims into restorative youth justice; offers recommendations with regard to the involvement of victims in referral orders. This timely report will be of great value to youth justice policy-makers and practitioners, researchers and students of criminology and criminal justice, as well as all those interested in restorative interventions and the role of victims in the justice process.

Can offenders be rehabilitated? Can this be done in ways that benefit the community as a whole, as well as offenders? This book is about the history, theory, practice and effectiveness of rehabilitation. It shows how different beliefs about the value of rehabilitation and about 'what works' have influenced criminal justice policy and practice at different times, and it identifies a number of promising approaches for the future. Everyone interested in the rehabilitation of offenders should read this book.

American Juvenile Justice is a definitive volume for courses on the criminology and policy analysis of adolescence. The focus is on the principles and policy of a separate and distinct system of juvenile justice. The book opens with an introduction of the creation of adolescence, presenting a justification for the category of the juvenile or a period of partial responsibility before full adulthood. Subsequent sections include empirical investigations of the nature of youth criminality and legal policy toward youth crime. At the heart of the book is an argument for a penal policy that recognizes diminished responsibility and a youth policy that emphasizes the benefits of letting the maturing process continue with minimal interruption. The book concludes with applications of the core concerns to five specific problem areas in current juvenile justice: teen pregnancy, transfer to criminal court, minority overrepresentation, juvenile gun use, and youth homicide.

Sexual offenders - arguably the most hated and feared of all offenders - commit their crimes in our communities and are then hidden from public view as they serve long prison sentences. However, despite the public's understandable anxiety, our criminal justice systems hold to the premise that almost all offenders have the right to hope for rehabilitation, even redemption. Therefore the majority of sexual offenders return to live in our communities, closely monitored by criminal justice agencies and subject to rigorous controls. This book provides an authoritative guide to working with sexual offenders, with a focus on managing those who are reintegrating into the community. It includes those with the most striking histories of trauma and psychological difficulty, and those who have previously failed in their attempts at resettlement. It covers helpful theoretical ideas, such as attachment theory and models of desistance, as well as the latest evidence base for good quality risk assessment. The book supports practitioners on the front line of this work by providing them with evidence-based guidance. It presents a multitude of case examples and practice tips that can support effective decision making and achieve safe outcomes, as well as help such offenders build worthwhile community lives.

This highly topical book integrates theory and practice about children and their education provision in secure accommodation. Bridging the fields of education, health, and youth justice, it provides a unique interdisciplinary perspective outlining the importance of taking a holistic approach to the education and rehabilitation of children who are 'locked up'. The book has brought together contributors from across the UK and beyond to share their academic research, practical knowledge, and experiences working with children and young people. Shedding light on the intricacies and realities of working in the context of secure settings, the book is divided into the following five parts: Contextualising the field Practice insights Case examples and models of practice Inclusion and voice Recommendations from research Children and Their Education in Secure Accommodation unravels the complexity of the topic and offers 'whole-system' perspectives, as well as a child-centred view, on the issue of educating and rehabilitating children and the needs and rights of children in such settings. With unique and valuable insights from those involved in policy or provision, this book will be an essential text for researchers, practitioners, and students in this interdisciplinary field.

Privatisation was introduced into the probation service on the 1st June 2014 whereby work with medium and low risk offenders went to a number of private and voluntary bodies, work with high risk offenders remained with the State. The National Probation Service (NPS) covered State work whilst the 35 existing Probation Trusts were replaced by 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs). Staff were allocated to either side of the divide but all remained as probation officers. The effect was that the existing probation service lost control of all but 30,000 of the most high risk cases, with the other 220,000 low to medium risk offenders being farmed out to private firms. Privatisation was justified as the only available way of achieving important policy objectives of extending post release supervision to offenders on short sentences, a group who are the most prolific offenders with high reconviction rates yet who receive no statutory support. This book describes the process by which the probation service became privatised, assessing its impact on the probation service itself, and on the criminal justice system generally. It considers both the justifications for privatisation, as well as the criticisms of it, and asks to what extent the probation service can survive such changes, and what future it has as a service dedicated to the welfare of offenders. It demonstrates how the privatisation of probation can be seen as a trend away from traditional public service in criminal justice towards an emphasis on efficiency and cost effectiveness. This book is essential reading for criminology students engaged with criminal justice, social policy, probation, punishment and working with offenders. It will also be key reading for practitioners and policy makers in jurisdictions where there is an interest in extending their own privatisation practice.

At a time when Europe is witnessing major cultural, social, economic and political challenges and transformations, this book brings together leading researchers and experts to consider a range of pressing questions relating to the historical origins, contemporary manifestations and future prospects for juvenile justice. Questions considered include: How has the history of juvenile justice evolved across Europe and how might the past help us to understand the present and signal the future? What do we know about contemporary juvenile crime trends in Europe and how are nation states responding? Is punitivity and intolerance eclipsing child welfare and pedagogical imperatives, or is 'child-friendly justice' holding firm? How might we best understand both the convergent and the divergent patterning of juvenile justice in a changing and reformulating Europe? How is juvenile justice experienced by identifiable constituencies of children and young people both in communities and in institutions? What impacts are sweeping austerity measures, together with increasing mobilities and migrations, imposing? How can comparative juvenile justice be conceptualised and interpreted? What might the future hold for juvenile justice in Europe at a time of profound uncertainty and flux? This book is essential reading for students, tutors and researchers in the fields of criminology, history, law, social policy and sociology, particularly those engaged with childhood and youth studies, human rights, comparative juvenile/youth justice, youth crime and delinquency and criminal justice policy in Europe.

At a time when Europe is witnessing major cultural, social, economic and political challenges and transformations, this book brings together leading researchers and experts to consider a range of pressing questions relating to the historical origins, contemporary manifestations and future prospects for juvenile justice. Questions considered include: How has the history of juvenile justice evolved across Europe and how might the past help us to understand the present and signal the future? What do we know about contemporary juvenile crime trends in Europe and how are nation states responding? Is punitivity and intolerance eclipsing child welfare and pedagogical imperatives, or is 'child-friendly justice' holding firm? How might we best understand both the convergent and the divergent patterning of juvenile justice in a changing and reformulating Europe? How is juvenile justice experienced by identifiable constituencies of children and young people both in communities and in institutions? What impacts are sweeping austerity measures, together with increasing mobilities and migrations, imposing? How can comparative juvenile justice be conceptualised and interpreted? What might the future hold for juvenile justice in Europe at a time of profound uncertainty and flux? This book is essential reading for students, tutors and researchers in the fields of criminology, history, law, social policy and sociology, particularly those engaged with childhood and youth studies, human rights, comparative juvenile/youth justice, youth crime and delinquency and criminal justice policy in Europe.

Juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice are two essential topics in the criminal justice curriculum. Sanborn and Salerno's The Juvenile Justice System: Law and Process is dedicated solely to explaining juvenile justice.
This text explores the many differences between the juvenile justice and the criminal justice systems, both those that benefit youths and those that are arguably unfair to them. The book concentrates, describes, and explains the unique traits of juvenile justice and what makes it so different from criminal justice.
The Juvenile Justice System specifically addresses what actually happens during the court process, devoting an entire chapter to the adjudicatory hearing as well as all other major decision-making stages. A unique feature is its in-depth coverage of plea bargaining. Also featured are topics such as parental role in the juvenile justice system, school searches, and the origin of juvenile court.
Another unique benefit of this text is the Numbers section at the end of several chapters, detailing how many youths have been affected by various decisions made in the juvenile justice system (such as arrest, detention, transfer to adult court, adjudication, being placed on probation, or committed to residential placement). In addition, the appendices identify juvenile justice standards for all 50 states and Washington, DC, as well as the federal jurisdiction. These standards apply to all decisions made within the juvenile justice system, including arrest, detention, diversion, intake, transfer, adjudication, disposition, and postdispositional stages.
The text is written in a conversational, reader-friendly style. Each chapter describes and analyzes, step by step, what young alleged offenders experience in each successive stage of the court process. For each chapter, outlines of key terms and concepts aid student comprehension and serve as a starting point for class discussion. Each chapter also features discussion questions designed to stimulate students' critical thinking.
A comprehensive Instructor's Manual/Testing Program is available, and an interactive Student Study Guide is included with each copy of the book.

This book provides a comprehensive and thought-provoking introduction to the juvenile justice system in the United States. It begins by tracing the historical origins of the legal concept of juvenile delinquency and the institutional responses that developed, and analyzes the problem of delinquency, including its patterns, correlates, and causes. With this essential foundation, the greater part of the book examines the full range of efforts to respond to delinquency through both informal and formal mechanisms of juvenile justice. Core coverage includes: The history and transformation of juvenile justice, The nature and causes of delinquency, Policing juveniles, Juvenile court processes, Juvenile probation and community-based corrections, Residential placement and aftercare programs, Delinquency prevention, Linking systems of care. This book is designed as a core text for courses on juvenile justice. Each chapter begins with a compelling case study and learning objectives that draw attention to the topics discussed. Each chapter ends with one or two readings that introduce readers to the literature on juvenile justice. In addition, "critical thinking questions" invite analysis of the material covered in the chapter. A companion website offers an array of resources for students and instructors. For students, this includes chapter overviews, flashcards of key terms, and useful website links. The instructor site is password protected and offers a complete set of PowerPoint slides and an extensive test bank for each chapter-all prepared by the authors.

This field study features intensive personal interviews of more than four hundred young people who have left home and school and are living on the streets of Toronto and Vancouver. The study examines why youth take to the streets, their struggles to survive there, their victimization and involvement in crime, their associations with other street youth, especially within "street families," their contacts with the police, and their efforts to rejoin conventional society. Major theories of youth crime are analyzed and reappraised in the context of a new social capital theory of crime.

Ten years ago there were no faith-based units in prisons outside South America. Today, they are spreading all over the world, including the United States, Europe and the Commonwealth. My Brother's Keeper is the first major study of a global phenomenon. Exploring the roots of faith-based units in South America, it explains why the Prison Service of England and Wales set up the first Christian-based unit in the western world in 1997 - and its rapid expansion. It also explains how, at exactly the same time, the United States introduced Christian-based units - and why they were complimented by interfaith and multifaith initiatives. At the heart of My Brother's Keeper is an interior account of life inside four Christian-based prison units in England. It draws on the findings of a detailed evaluation conducted by the authors for the Home Office, Prison Service and Kainos Community between 2000 and 2001, including an updated reconviction study. It is an authoritative account of an innovative programme. Its analysis of what works and what doesn't in faith-based units around the world makes My Brother's Keeper a valuable roadmap for all who care about improving prison conditions. It presents a vision of justice that is not just concerned with building more prisons but with rebuilding more prisoners. It argues that by making prisons more human and punishment more humane, faith-based units can be of value - and keep faith in prisons.

In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in the role of the prison as a source of political ideas and site of political engagement, as well as in the prisoner's quest for citizenship. The rising number of prisoners has increased fiscal burdens, which has meant that imprisonment has become a more important political issue. There is also greater interest in the prison as a site of political activism and in the generation of radical political ideas within the prison context and the formation of political networks within prison which extend beyond the prison walls. This book considers the prison as a site of political protest, discusses the quest for citizenship and the denial or negation of citizenship in prison, examines the discovery of politics in prison and the role of the prison in increasing political awareness, explores the treatment of political prisoners and reflects on the prisoner as a political problem for politicians negotiating pressures from the media and the public when addressing prisoners' demands. Drawing on a range of contemporary and historical topics such as prison riots, radicalisation and the denial of voting rights, and including discussion of cases from the UK, US and Russia, this book examines the prison as a political institution and as a site of both politicisation and political protest. This book will be of interest to students and academics engaged with prisons, penology, punishment and corrections.

Why do youths commit crimes? Delinquency and Crime contains essays by nine leading criminologists that seek to answer this question by describing current theories of crime and the research evidence that supports them. The contributors offer perspectives on antisocial peer socialization, social development, interactional theory, behavior genetics, and community determinants. Each essay explores the practical implication of the authors' theoretical work for crime prevention and control.

Why is crime persistent over generations, within families and within certain individuals? Is crime the manifestation of an inherited latent trait or the result of a failure of socialization and norm-setting processes? Why do youths commit crimes? Delinquency and Crime contains essays by nine leading criminologists that seek to answer these and other questions by describing current theories of crime and the research evidence that supports them. The authors' views on crime causation go beyond traditional criminological theories of strain, cultural deviance, social control, differential association and social learning to present emerging and integrated models of the origins of crime, including antisocial peer socialization, social development, interactional theory, behavior genetics, and community determinants. Each essay explores the practical implication of the authors' theoretical work for crime prevention and control.

Assessing Risk: A Relational Approach offers the practitioner a novel framework for understanding the complex and subtle issues involved in assessing and managing risks related to violence and sexual offending. The authors draw on their considerable experience working with high risk individuals in assessment and treatment. They have for many years consulted to practitioners in forensic mental health services and the criminal justice system and taught renowned courses at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust. This book outlines a comprehensive model of risk which draws on mainstream empirical research, threat assessment, developmental psychopathology, attachment theory, and a relational model derived from psychoanalysis. The framework incorporates intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions and is designed to enhance the reader's capacity to make a thorough risk formulation. The approach highlights the significance of childhood development in understanding violent and sexually violent acts, and the complicated interpersonal processes involved in managing individuals who have a propensity to violent enactment. These dynamic processes between people impact on risk and risk perception, and can distort judgement if not recognised and understood. Assessing Risk will be of practical use in enhancing the skills of professionals to assess and manage risk in a comprehensive and effective way, and will appeal to all those mental health and criminal justice practitioners working with risky individuals.

Over the past three decades, the victim movement worldwide has agitated for an enhanced role for victims in the criminal justice system. In this book Heather Strang argues that, despite some progress towards that goal, structural as well as political factors may mean that victims have won as much as they are likely to gain from conventional justice processing. She asks whether restorative justice can offer them more justice than they receive from the formal court-based system. Drawing on a five-year study of the impact of a restorative justice programme on victims of both property and violent crime, Strang presents empirical evidence to show that the restorative alternative of conferencing more often than court-based solutions has the capacity to satisfy victims' expectations of achieving a meaningful role in the way their cases are dealt with as well as delivering restoration, especially emotional restoration, from the harm they have suffered.

Scholarly exploration into how and why people stop offending (desistance from crime) has focused on the impact of internal and external factors in processes of desistance. Prior research has, in general, been undertaken within one nation and neglected the fact that desistance processes are situated within a broad social context which shapes an individual's perceptions and actions. This book begins to fill this gap by exploring how societies and cultures shape desistance processes and experiences. Desistance and Societies in Comparative Perspective offers findings from a cross-national comparative mixed-method study of desistance processes in England and Israel: two countries with different social-political systems and distinct cultural attributes. The study is the first of its kind in criminology, both in terms of its key objectives and the methods utilised. The findings uncover how social structures and cultures shape individual-level experience. In particular, the findings illustrate how external and internal mechanisms in desistance processes were 'oriented' in particular ways, in accordance with contextual factors. The book outlines five contextual factors which were key in shaping the dynamics of desistance across societies and cultures. These are: cultural scripts; social climates; shared values and norms; social interactions and encounters; and distinct cultural characteristics. These five factors provide a contextual framework within which to understand the role of cultures and social structures in shaping agency and experiences in processes of desistance, and with which to account for variances and similarities across societies and cultures. Written in a clear and direct style, this book will appeal to students and scholars in criminology, sociology, cultural studies, social theory and those interested in learning about why and how people desist from crime.

There are more than 20 theories that explain crime. Each theory has weaknesses, and no scholar knows which theory is best. To remedy this unsatisfactory situation a new research program of comparative theory testing is proposed. Comparing the theories with each other has not yet been successful. The alternative, suggested in this book, is to show how criminological theories must be modified if they are compared with a general behavioral theory. The book shows under which conditions the major criminological theories provide valid explanations of crime. The latter thus become integrated as parts of the general theory. The general theory that is chosen is a version of the theory of rational action. This is not the problematic version discussed in the literature, but states the real conditions of decision making and, thus, explains when people actually violate the law or remain law-abiding. The general theory is a component of a theoretical approach that explains individual behavior in interaction with societal (macro) conditions. This micro-macro approach is summarized in a proposed structural-cognitive model. This is part of the new program of Analytical Criminology. It suggests empirical theory comparison, process explanations, and micro-macro explanations. The book is not only written for readers who are interested in theories of crime and deviant behavior. It is also a treatise in "analytical" (i.e., rigorous) theory construction and empirical theory comparison.

Is it time to give up on rehabilitating criminals? Record numbers of Americans are going to prison, and most of them will eventually return to society with a high chance of becoming repeat offenders. But a decision to abandon rehabilitation programs now would be premature warns Ann Chih Lin, who finds that little attention has been given to how these programs are actually implemented and why they tend to fail. In Reform in the Making, she not only supplies much-needed information on the process of program implementation but she also considers its social context, the daily realities faced by prison staff and inmates. By offering an in-depth look at common rehabilitation programs currently in operation--education, job training, and drug treatment--and examining how they are used or misused, Lin offers a practical approach to understanding their high failure rate and how the situation could be improved.

Based on extensive observation and over 350 interviews with staff and prisoners in five medium-security male prisons, the book contrasts successfully implemented programs with subverted, abandoned, or neglected programs (those which staff reject or which do not teach prisoners anything useful). Lin explains that staff and prisoners have little patience with programs aimed at long-range goals when they must face the ongoing, immediate challenge of surviving prison life. Finding incentives to make both sides participate fully in rehabilitation is among the book's many contributions to improving prison policy.