This accessible book identifies and evaluates the major competing theories used to guide the goals, policies, and practices of the correctional system. The authors demonstrate that changes in theories can legitimize changing ways of treating and punishing offenders, and they help readers understand how changes in the social and political context of U.S. society impact correctional theory and policy. Designed to motivate readers to become sophisticated consumers of correctional information, the book emphasizes the importance of using evidence-based information to guide decisions, rather than relying on nonscientific commonsense or ideology-based beliefs.

Product Description: The Origins of American Criminology is an invaluable resource. Both separately and together, these essays capture the stories behind the invention of criminology’s major theoretical perspectives. They preserve information that otherwise would have been lost...read more