Criminology For Dummies

Introduction 1 Part 1: Defining and Measuring Crime 5 Chapter 1: Entering the World of Crime 7 Chapter 2: What Is Crime? 21 Chapter 3: How Crime Is Measured and Why It Matters 33 Chapter 4: Helping Those in the Wake of Crime: Victims 45 Part 2: Identifying Types of Crime 57 Chapter 5: Getting Violent: Crimes of Force 59 Chapter 6: Hitting You in the Pocketbook: Property Crimes 79 Chapter 7: Dressing Sharp and Stealing Big: White-Collar Crimes 93 Chapter 8: A Group Effort: Organized Crime and Gangs 107 Chapter 9: Tackling a Worldwide Problem: The Narcotics Trade 131 Chapter 10: Front-Page News: Terrorism 147 Part 3: Figuring Out Who Commits Crimes and Why 161 Chapter 11: What Factors Lead to Crime? 163 Chapter 12: Regarding Crime as a Rational Decision: Rational Choice Theory 179 Chapter 13: Looking at Society's Role in Crime 193 Chapter 14: Can Your Mind or Body Make You a Criminal? 203 Chapter 15: Critical Criminology: Theories off the Beaten Path 213 Part 4: Fighting Crime 223 Chapter 16: Battling Crime at the Local Level 225 Chapter 17: Tackling Crime at the Federal Level 241 Chapter 18: Solving Crimes: The Process 253 Part 5: Prosecuting and Punishing Crime 273 Chapter 19: Seeking Justice in Court: The Players and Their Roles 275 Chapter 20: Finding the Truth: Pleading Guilty or Going to Trial 293 Chapter 21: Punishing the Guilty: Why and How Society Does It 313 Chapter 22: Examining the Juvenile Justice System 339 Part 6: The Part of Tens 351 Chapter 23: Ten Jobs to Consider in Criminal Justice 353 Chapter 24: Ten Notorious, Unsolved Crimes 365 Index 377

Steven Briggs is a nationally recognized expert on crime. He has worked in the judicial and executive branches of government, prosecuted cases at the local, state, and federal level, and run a statewide law enforcement agency. He has lectured internationally on a variety of criminal justice topics, and in his spare time is an award-winning writer of crime fiction.