This book should be made a part of any college level library that features holdings in social sciences. . . . Americans View Crime and Justice presents a national public opinion survey and its results on the issues. These edited results of a survey conducted in 1995 examine such issues as gun control, capital punishment, and juvenile crime, offering public opinion along with the analyses of a panel of criminologists. –The Midwest Book Review Readable and carefully edited, Americans View Crime and Justice reports and analyzes results from the recent National Crime and Justice Survey (NCJS), the richest and most wide-ranging investigation of public opinion on crime and justice issues in more than a decade. Conducted in June 1995, the survey features responses from 1, 000 adults in the United States on now-volatile issues such as fear of crime, gun control, capital punishment, juvenile crime, and additional related topics of national concern. A distinguished panel of criminologists analyzes the collected data in this volume to present a comprehensive report on the development and current status of public opinion on these timely issues. Divided into three sections—context and framework; findings; and opinion, policy, and science—this authoritative volume also analyzes the implications of the survey data. Providing interesting insights and timely quantification of Americans′ view of crime and justice, this volume offers a unique view of public opinion particularly important to the work of researchers, law enforcement personnel, policy makers, public officials, and students of criminology and criminal justice, law, and political science.
Cuprins
Public Opinion on Crime and Justice – Timothy J Flanagan
History, Development, and Trends
America′s Fear of Crime – Bahram Haghighi and Jon Sorensen
Support and Confidence – W S Wilson Huang and Michael Vaughn
Public Attitudes toward the Police
Bringing the Offender to Heel – Laura Myers
Views of the Criminal Courts
Just and Painful – Jurg Gerber and Simone Engelhardt-Greer
Attitudes toward Sentencing Criminals
Reform or Punish – Timothy J Flanagan
Americans′ Views of the Correctional System
The Ultimate Weapon – Dennis Longmire
Capital Punishment
Self-Protection – Kenneth Adams
Guns and Gun Control
The Modern Plague – Myrna Cintron and W Wesley Johnson
Controlling Substance Abuse
The Growing Threat – Ruth Triplett
Gangs and Juvenile Offenders
Public Opinion and Public Policy in Criminal Justice – Timothy J Flanagan
The Art and Science of Opinion Measurement – James A Dyer
The National Opinion Survey on Crime and Justice – 1995 – Barbara Sims