Introduction to Criminal Justice: The Essentials (Aspen Criminal Justice Series)

Designed for today’s student, Introduction to Criminal Justice: The Essentials, Third Edition offers balanced coverage in a teachable format

Student-centric and informative without being encyclopedic, the revised Third Edition of Introduction to Criminal Justice: The Essentials, is a seamlessly original text that focuses on understanding how the nation’s criminal justice system functions. Drawing from deep wells of teaching experience, this author team has created the text that they’ve always wanted for their own classes. Students are able to grasp the material intuitively, while still being challenged to think, read, and write critically.

New to the Third Edition:

• Thoroughly updated, addressing current concerns in criminal justice. New and expanded topics include:
  • Examination of police use of deadly force
  • Challenges to qualified immunity
  • The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the corrections system
  • Discussion of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol
  • Meanings of “Defunding the Police”
  • The Black Lives Matter movement and its impact on police
• New Uniform Crime Reports and transitioning to the National Incident-Based Reporting System
• Updated crime figures and other criminal justice-related statistics.

Professors and students will benefit from:

• In-depth coverage of key topics, thoughtfully presented in a readable, understandable format
• Text boxes, tables, and other visual aids that convey information with perfect economy
• Critical reading, thinking, and writing tools, built right into the text
• An analytical and evidence-based approach
• Unvarnished, balanced, and current insights into how the system should function and how it does function.
• Comparative criminal justice perspective that informs discussions throughout the text

Teaching materials include:

• Instructor’s Manual
• Test Bank
• PowerPoints