The American Criminal Justice System

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The American Criminal Justice System How It Works, How It Doesn't, and How to Fix It

Gerhard Falk

ISBN: 0-313-38347-2

ISBN-13: 978-0-313-38347-2

240 pages

Praeger Publishers

Publication: 3/31/2010

List Price: $44.95 (UK Sterling Price: £31.95)

Availability: Not yet published. (Estimated publication date, 3/31/2010)

Media Type: Hardcover

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Description: The American Criminal Justice System: How It Works, How It Doesn't, and How to Fix It calls attention to a criminal justice system that needs improvement. Author Gerhard Falk shows that the police themselves often violate the law; that prosecutors send innocent citizens to prison and even to death row; that defense attorneys take on cases they are not prepared to handle; that juries vote guilt or innocence on the basis of emotion, not facts; that judges are often failed attorneys or unscrupulous politicians; and that jails and prisons are too frequently warehouses of the poor.

As background for his analysis, Falk discusses the history of the police, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges, as well as the history of prisons and "the prison industrial complex." He also offers a devastating analysis of the death penalty and its practitioners. The book ends with recommendations for the improvement of our criminal justice system so that America can truly be, as our Supreme Court proclaims, a land of “Equal Justice under Law.”

Title Features:
• Provides an extensive bibliography including books, journal articles, newspaper accounts, and government documents
• Includes a chronology

About the Author: Gerhard Falk, PhD, is professor of sociology at the State University of New York, College at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY.


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