The text aims to acquaint undergraduate students with the police, courts, and corrections and to help them understand those components. It also aims to help them prepare for subsequent courses in criminal justice education programs. The first chapter explains the origins of current laws, the meaning and functions of law, the definition of crime and criminal responsibility, crime measurement, crime patterns, offender characteristics, and emerging issues in criminal justice. Subsequent chapters explain the organization of the criminal justice system, goals of the criminal justice system, the United States Supreme Court interpretation of selected rights, rules of criminal procedure, defenses for criminal conduct, and criminal law reforms. Additional chapters discuss the forms, functions, and history of law enforcement; police operations and procedures; the structure and process of court organization; pretrial procedures, juries and trial procedures, and the sentencing process. Further chapters discuss the forms and functions of correctional institutions; corrections operations and issues; probation, parole, and intermediate sanctions. The final chapter discusses juvenile delinquency, juvenile status offenses, the juvenile justice system, differences between juvenile and criminal courts, juvenile corrections, the legal rights of minors, and current issues in juvenile justice. Figures, tables, photographs, lists of main terms for each chapter, chapter review questions, lists of suggested readings, glossary, list of cases cited, author index, subject index, and approximately 800 references