Demystifying Crime and Criminal Justice

Demystifying Crime and Criminal Justice aims to debunk commonly held myths about crime and the criminal justice system--for instance, that punishment reduces crime, or that minimum-security prisons are little worse than country clubs, or that strict rules of evidence allow many criminals to go free. This new edition is composed of an introduction by Bohm and Walker and 29 chapters, each on a particular myth and each written by a leading scholar in that area. Chapters conform to a strict format developed by the editors: Introduction, Kernel of Truth, truth or Facts, Interests Served by the Myth, and Policy Implications of Belief in the Myth. These chapters are organized into four parts, which trace a logical progression through the criminal justice process: Crime, Law Enforcement, Administration of Justice, and Corrections.

Robert M. Bohm is Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida. Jeffery T. Walker is Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology and Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.