The American Court System

Marilyn McShane

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781135633295
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Criminology
• Index: Law

Depending on whom one talks to, today's criminal courts are either the savior or the demon of our social order. While everyone seems to have an answer about what needs to be done, the solutions are neither simple, nor within our current allocation of resources. Media hype and political posturing emotionally dilute the reality of what motivates crime and what constitutes effective punishment. The essays and research in this anthology give the reader a realistic view of complex problems affecting our juvenile and adult courts and, consequently, the rest of the criminal justice system. Topics include sentencing disparity, sentencing reform, and wrongful convictions. Some traditionally controversial issues are covered, such as the insanity defense and the death penalty as well as the more recent "three-strikes-and-you're-out" movement and mandatory minimums. This series will be of great utility to students, scholars, and others with interests in the literature of criminal justice and criminology.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Series Introduction
• Volume Introduction
• The Dimensions of Capital Murder
• Hands-off, Hands-on, Hands-semi-off: A Discussion of the Current Legal Test Used by the United States Supreme Court to Decide Inmates' Rights
• A Contemporary Look at the Effects of Rape Law Reform: How Far Have We Really Come?
• Three Strikes and You're Out!: The Political Sentencing Game
• Do More Conservative States Impose Harsher Felony Sentences? An Exploratory Analysis of 32 States
• Measuring the Effects of the Guilty but Mentally 111 (GBMI) Verdict: Georgia's 1982 GBMI Reform
• The Death of the Fourth Amendment Under the Rehnquist Court: Where Is Original Intent When We Need It?
• Gender, Crime, and the Criminal Law Defenses
• Juvenile (In)Justice and the Criminal Court Alternative
• Themes of Injustice: Wrongful Convictions, Racial Prejudice, and Lawyer Incompetence
• The Triumph of Vengeance Over Retribution: The United States Supreme Court and the Death Penalty
• Race and Imprisonment Decisions
• Culpability and the Sentencing of Corporations
• Twenty Years of Sentencing Reform: Steps Forward, Steps Backward
• The Lex Talionis Before and After Criminal Law
• Should Penal Rehabilitation Be Revived?
• Mandatory Minimums and the Betrayal of Sentencing Reform: A Legislative Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Acknowledgments