Although this text covers the traditional topics of police, courts, and corrections, it is distinctive in its coverage of plea bargaining, legal and ethical values, and capital punishment.

This text is unique in its critical thinking approach: student as decision maker, student as problem solver, student as working professional. Pat Anderson examines the system from the point of view of the men and women who run it; from the cop on the beat to the prison warden to the Supreme Court justice. The reader steps into their shoes to weigh the ethical ramifications and often contradictory issues that surround the choices they make.