Massachusetts's Criminal Justice System

Additional Book Details

Massachusetts's Criminal Justice System takes a historic look at crime, justice, and societys response to crime. The criminal justice system in the commonwealth of Massachusetts has a long and storied history. British common law, a fugitive slave trial, the origins of probation, a high-profile execution, and first-in-the-nation policing efforts all help to guide what is now policy and practice in the criminal justice system in Massachusetts.

This book introduces students to the beginnings of policing and how it has developed into multi-jurisdictional agencies, and recounts the history of the department of corrections and the various levels of the court system in Massachusetts. The book also explains the basic foundations of criminal justice, including the evolution of the criminal justice system and crime trends in Massachusetts. The main text is supplemented with profiles of prominent practitioners and their views of the commonwealths criminal justice system.

Also included in this book is an overview of the juvenile justice system, victims rights, and a comprehensive look at the very real threat of terrorism and its evolution in Massachusetts. The terrorism chapter includes an overview of ideologies and the outlook of "do-it-yourself" terrorists, as well as overall trends and patterns. The book concludes with a discussion of employment trends and the future of criminal justice in Massachusetts. This book will help students become critical consumers of information as they map out their future as change agents in the criminal justice system.