The American criminal justice system
Subtitle: how it works, how it doesn't work, and how to fix it
By: Gerhard Falk.
Publisher: Praeger
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Santa Barbara, Calif
Language: eng
Number of pages: 250
ISBN-13: 9780313383472; 9780313383489
Subjects: Criminal justice, Administration of -- United States
Description: This work calls attention to a criminal justice system that needs improvement. The author 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, he 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 an 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."
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The American police; title: A brief history of criminal prosecution in America; title: Prosecuting violent crime and sex offenses; title: Prosecuting "white collar" crime; title: Defending the accused; title: The American jury; title: Courts and judges; title: The prison-industrial complex; title: Probation and parole; title: The death penalty : non omnis moriar.