The initial emphasis is placed on putting crime in the United States into historical perspective. Special attention is paid to major problems and issues related to crime and criminal justice, including the quality of official crime data, biological versus social and psychological crime causes, substance abuse and crime, sentencing reform, prison overcrowding, alternative sentencing, community policing, community corrections, white- collar crime, organized crime, punishment, prisons, and correctional processes. The textbook is divided into four parts: (1) nature of the crime problem in the United States; (2) criminology theories; (3) criminal justice and corrections; and (4) forces of social change and future crime. References, tables, and figures