This OER textbook is designed for an “introduction to criminal justice” class or a similar course. It is designed to provide a survey of the field, including police, courts, and corrections to students with no background in criminal justice.
Note that this introductory criminal justice text is designed to be accompanied by another text, Fundamental Cases in Criminal Justice.
This work is licensed under an Open Educational Resource-Quality Master Source (OER-QMS) License.
Table of Contents
Prefatory Materials
[ Preface ]Chapter I: The Criminal Justice System
[ Chapter Introductory Text ]Section 1.1: Major Components
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 1.2: Roles, Objectives, and Limits in Criminal Justice
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 1.3: Measuring Crime
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 1.4: The Criminal Justice Process
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 1.5: The Criminal Justice Process (Continued)
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Chapter II: The Political and Legal Environment of Criminal Justice
[ Chapter 2 Introductory Text ]Section 2.1: Dual Federalism
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 2.2: Politics in Criminal Justice
[ Text | Learning Resources ]
Section 2.3 The Supreme Court
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 2.4: The Civil Rights Revolution
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section: 2.5: Theories of Punishment
Section 3.1: Sources of the Criminal Law
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 3.2: Substantive Criminal Law
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 3.3: Elements of Crimes
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 3.4: Legal Defenses
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 3.5: Substantive Offenses
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Chapter IV: Law Enforcement
[ Chapter Introductory Text ]
Section 4.1: Early History of Policing
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 4.2: Structure and Nature of Policing
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 4.3: Police Methods
[ Text | Learning Resources ]
Section 4.4: Investigations and Specialized Units
[ Text | Learning Resources ]4.5: Legal Environment of Policing
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Chapter V: Courts and Sentencing
[ Chapter Introductory Text ]Section 5.1: State and Federal Courts
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 5.2: Prosecution and Defense
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 5.3: Pretrial Process
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 5.4: The Criminal Trial
[ Text | Learning Resources ]
Chapter VI: Prisons, Jails, and Community Corrections
[ Chapter Introductory Text ]Section 6.1: Jails
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 6.2 Prisons
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 6.3: Prisoner’s Rights
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 6.4: Probation
[ Text | Learning Resources ]Section 6.5: Parole
[ Text | Learning Resources ]
Appendix A: The Constitution of the United States
Appendix B: The Bill of Rights
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