In a substantially revised eighth edition, Criminal Justice Today continues to set the standard by which all other introductory criminal justice textbooks are measured.

The hallmark features that have made Criminal Justice Today the most widely read college criminal justice textbook form the core of this new edition. They include:

A thematic approach that contrasts the justice system's twin goals of ensuring public order and safety while guaranteeing individual rights. The book's theme, present since the first edition, is more relevant today and continues to significantly influence the direction of American society.

Timely content, including current issues such as efforts to enhance homeland security, concerns about restrictions on individual freedoms in the face of terrorist threats, corporate crime, identity theft, high-technology crime, and special issues such as policing an ever-changing multicultural society.

A futures orientation, including a special chapter on the future of criminal justice that points the way to and helps students appreciate the unchanging foundation upon which American criminal justice rests.

Accessible technology, including easy-to-use digital tools that make it simple to stay abreast of the latest news, research reports, and government-sponsored studies of relevance to the study of criminal justice.

The eighth edition also brings exciting new features to Criminal Justice Today. Among them are:

Expanded police coverage, including an entirely new chapter on police organization and management.

The criminal justice system's response to terrorism, including broad coverage of homeland security issues, the impact of domestic and international terrorism on criminal justice practices and procedures, individual rights in the face of enhanced security; and terrorism prevention, response, and control.

Detailed coverage of corporate crime, including possible criminal activities of companies such as Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, Vivendi Universal, Kmart, Global Crossing, Tyco International, and London-based auction house Sotheby's.

Crime mapping, predictive, and enforcement technologies, including CompStat and CopLink software, wearable augmented reality devices, and biometrics.

Expanded coverage of crime scene investigative strategies and techniques, with special graphics provided by the Massachusetts State Police.

The best-selling introduction to criminal justice book of all time, Criminal Justice Today 9/e, continues to set the standard with its hallmark features of theme, technology, and time.  The strengths of the book rest in the application of theoretical perspectives to current real world activities related to criminal justice issues.  New technology and cases are also incorporated, bringing the book and reader together in current issues. CJ Ethics and Professionalism Boxes stress the importance of ethical behavior for the criminal justice professional.  New Juvenile Justice chart details the flow of events in the juvenile justice system.  An added CD provides additional and in-depth coverage of important issues and background material found in book.  Also includes full opinions of important U.S. Supreme Court cases covered in the chapters.  Criminal justice professionals.

Crime mapping, predictive, and enforcement technologies, including Comp Stat and Cop Link software, wearable augmented reality devices, and biometrics. It contains expanded coverage of crime scene investigative strategies and techniques, with special graphics provided by the Massachusetts State Police.

Frank Schmalleger, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. He holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame and Ohio State University, having earned both a master's (1970) and a doctorate in sociology (1974) from Ohio State University with a special emphasis in criminology. From 1976 to 1994, he taught, criminology and criminal justice courses at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. For the last 16 of those years, he chaired the university's Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice. The university named him Distinguished Professor in 1991.

Schmalleger is also the Director of the Justice Research Association (JRA), a private consulting firm and think tank focusing on issues of crime and justice. The JRA serves the needs of the nation's civil and criminal justice planners and administrators through workshops, conferences, and grant-writing and program-evaluation support. JRA also sponsors the Criminal Justice Distance Learning Consortium (CJDLC), which resides on the Web at http://www.cjdlc.org.

Schmalleger has taught in the online graduate program of the New School for Social Research, helping to build the world's first electronic classrooms in support of distance learning through computer telecommunications. As an adjunct professor with Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, Schmalleger helped develop the university's graduate program in security administration and loss prevention. He taught courses in that curriculum for more than a decade. An avid Web surfer, Schmalleger is also the creator of a number of award-winning Web sites, including one that supports this textbook (http://www.cjtoday.com).

Schmalleger is the author of numerous articles and many books, including the widely used Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction (Prentice Hall, 2004); Criminology Today (Prentice Hall, 2004); Criminal Law Today (Prentice Hall, 2002); The Definitive Guide to Criminal Justice and Criminology on the World Wide Web (Prentice Hall, 2002); Corrections in the Twenty-first Century (with John Smykla; McGraw-Hill, 2005); Crime and the Justice System in America: An Encyclopedia (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1997); Trial of the Century: People of the State of California vs. Orenthal James Simpson (Prentice Hall, 1996); Career Paths: A Guide to Jobs in Federal Law Enforcement (Regents/Prentice Hall, 1994); Computers in Criminal Justice (Wyndham Hall Press, 1991); Criminal Justice Ethics (Greenwood Press, 1991): Finding Criminal Justice in the Library (Wyndham Hall Press, 1991); Ethics in Criminal Justice (Wyndham Hall Press, 1990); A History of Corrections (Foundations Press of Notre Dame, 1983); and The Social Basis of Criminal Justice (University Press of America, 1981).

Schmalleger is also founding editor of the journal The Justice Professional. He has served as editor for the Prentice Hall series Criminal Justice in the Twenty-first Century and as imprint adviser for Greenwood Publishing Group's criminal justice reference series.

Schmalleger's philosophy of both teaching and writing can be summed up in these words: "In order to communicate knowledge we must first catch, then hold, a person's interest—be it student, colleague, or policymaker. Our writing, our speaking, and our teaching must be relevant to the problems facing people today, and they must in some way help solve those problems." Visit the author's website at http://www.schmalleger.com.

(NOTE: Each chapter begins with an Introduction and concludes with a Summary, Discussion Questions, Web Quest, and Library Extras.)

I. CRIME IN AMERICA.

II. POLICING.

III. ADJUDICATION.

IV. CORRECTIONS.

V. SPECIAL ISSUES.