NCJ Number
156542
Editor(s)
R J Bidinotto
Date Published
1994
Length
320 pages
Annotation
Polls indicate that crime is the number one concern of the American public, and contributors to this book believe the criminal justice system has failed to deal adequately with crime because it has abandoned the concept of individual responsibility.
Abstract
The book is organized in three parts: (1) criminal responsibility and the criminal mind; (2) the flight from responsibility; and (3) the restoration of responsibility. Contributors explore myths about crime and punishment, crime in the welfare state, the subversion of justice, plea bargaining as an unnecessary evil, and the paradox of the exclusionary rule. They also look at confessions, the insanity defense, moral retribution, crime reduction, incarceration, truth in sentencing, and community supervision. The final article explores how to restore individual responsibility, given the varied objectives of punishment, retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, moral education, and rehabilitation. Footnotes, tables, and figures