Crime and Criminal Justice

Description

Crime is that form of deviance that involves an infraction of the criminal law. Not all laws are 'criminal'. Lawyers recognize civil law, constitutional law, and various other categories of legal norm. Civil law, for example, concerns relations among private individuals, such as the contractual relations involved in such areas as employment relations and consumer purchasing. Criminology is the study of crime and criminal behavior, informed by principles of sociology and other non-legal fields, including psychology, economics, statistics, and anthropology. Psychological theories of crime begin with the view that individual differences in behaviour may make some people more predisposed to committing criminal acts. These differences may arise from personality characteristics, biological factors, or social interactions. Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have committed crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other crimes, and moral support for victims. The primary institutions of the criminal justice system are the police, prosecution and defense lawyers, the courts and prisons. Criminal justice systems in developed Western countries are much alike in form, structure, and function. They encompass written criminal codes; professional police, prosecution, and judicial systems; and a variety of pretrial, community, and custodial corrections programs and institutions. The uniqueness of this book hence lies in the author's way of reconstructing the chapter under review by delving deep into the areas of the subject.