Criminal Courts: A Contemporary Perspective

Written by three leaders in the field, this comprehensive and accessible text for undergraduate courses explores all conventional topics (court structure, courtroom actors, and the trial and appeal process) as well as others seldom covered. The text first reviews the judicial function, the role and purpose of law, sources of law, the various types of law, and the American court system structure and operations, both state and federal. The participants in the system are discussed next, followed by the pretrial, trial, and posttrial processes. A wealth of pedagogical tools adds valuable related content, ranging from the points of view of court process participants to comparative information to hotly debated topics.

Key Features:

• Thorough coverage of topics typically omitted or treated briefly elsewhere, including judicial decision making, specialized courts, and comparative court systems
• View From the Field features topics from the perspective of a participant in the process, from a criminal defense attorney to a U.S. District Court judge
• Controversial Issues boxes provide balanced views of current issues, encouraging classroom discussion and sparking student interest
• Comparative Courts inserts provide students with a glimpse of how courts around the world approach a topic discussed in the chapter
• Current Research boxes present current social science research and show how research can help policymakers and those in the court system evaluate and implement processes and programs

Craig Hemmens holds a J.D. from North Carolina Central University School of Law and a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University. He is the Director of the Honors College and a Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Boise State University, where he has taught since 1996. He has previously served as Academic Director of the Paralegal Studies Program and Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice. Professor Hemmens has published ten books and more than one hundred articles on a variety of criminal justice-related topics. His primary research interests are criminal law and procedure and corrections. He has served as the editor of the Journal of Criminal Justice Education. His publications have appeared in Justice Quarterly, the Journal of Criminal Justice, Crime and Delinquency, the Criminal Law Bulletin, and the Prison Journal.

Cassia Spohn is a Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University, where she also serves as the Director of Graduate Programs. Prior to joining the ASU faculty in 2006, she was a professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She is the co-author of three books: The Color of Justice: Race, Ethnicity, and Crime in America: Courts: A Text/Reader and Rape Law Reform: A Grassroots Movement and Its Impact. Dr. Spohn has published extensively on prosecutors’ charging decisions in sexual assault cases, the effect of race/ethnicity and gender on sentencing decisions, sentencing of drug offenders, and the deterrent effect of imprisonment.