Crime, Justice and Literature

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The criminal justice system is about storytelling: by the victim, the suspect, the officer, the prosecutor, and the defense attorney. For many the justice system is not necessarily about justice or fairness: it may simply be about whose story is believed. 

Crime, Justice, and Literature: A Reader emphasizes storytelling by using literature as a tool to help students understand the theories, concepts and models taught in an introductory criminal justice class. Recognizing that criminal justice is an interdisciplinary field, Crime, Justice, and Literature uses short stories and poetry to integrate seamlessly the humanities into the criminal justice core. 

Introduction

SECTION 1 Overview of the Criminal Justice System

Chapter 1 Introduction to Criminal Justice

What Is Crime?

“The Hill” and “Hod Putt” from Spoon River

Anthology—Edgar Lee Masters

History of the Criminal Justice System in America

“Mrs. Hutchinson”—Nathaniel Hawthorne

Chapter 2 Criminal Behavior

Routine Activities Theory

“The Purloined Letter”—Edgar Allan Poe

Sociological Theories of Crime: Subcultural Theory

“Some of Us Have Been Threatening Our

Friend Colby”—Donald Barthelme

Sociological Theories of Crime: General Theory of Crime

“My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover”—Robert Browning

Sociological Theories of Crime: Differential Association

and Learning Theory

“Barn Burning”—William Faulkner

Sociological Theories of Crime: Social Control Theory

“For All the Rude People”—Jack Ritchie (John George Reitci)

Chapter 3 Criminal Law

Defenses—Necessity

“Rosalie Prudent”—Guy de Maupassant

Policy Choices, Politics, and Ideology

“Before the Law” and “The Problem of Our Laws”—Franz Kafka

SECTION 2 The Policing of Crime

Chapter 4 The Policing of Crime

History of Policing in the United States

“Andy the Night-Watch,” “The Town Marshal,”

and “Jack McGuire” from Spoon River

Anthology—Edgar Lee Masters

Policing in the South: Conflict Theory, Mob Violence,

Vigilantism, Lynch Mob

“A Party Down at the Square”—Ralph Ellison

“The Lynching of Jube Benson”—Paul Dunbar

* “Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi

Mother Burns Bacon” and * “The Last Quatrain of the

Ballad of Emmett Till”—Gwendolyn Brooks

Local and State-Level Policing: Homelessness

“The Death of the Hired Man”—Robert Frost

Local and State-Level Policing: LGBT Profiling

“Café: 3 am” (1951)—Langston Hughes

Local and State-Level Policing: Racial Unrest

“Death in Yorkville (James Powell,

Summer, 1964)”—Langston Hughes

Chapter 5 Policing: Roles, Functions, and Challenges

Controversial Police Roles

* “The Majesty of the Law”—Frank O’Connor (Michael

Francis O’Donovan)

Order Maintenance

* “Shooting an Elephant”—George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair)

Undercover Investigations: Ethical Issues

“Crimes of Conscience”—Nadine Gordimer

Authoritarianism

* “An Apology”—Bernard Malamud

Cynicism

“Hardened”—Stephen D. Rogers

Police Discretion

“The Hidden Law”—W. H. Auden

Police Discretion: Friends and Family

“After Twenty Years”—O. Henry (William Sydney Porter)

SECTION 3 The American Court System

Chapter 6 The Court System

Presumption of Innocence?

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland—an excerpt—Lewis

Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)

Ethics and Professionalism: Vagrancies of Justice

* “An Act of Prostitution”—James Alan McPherson

“The Lottery”—Shirley Jackson

Chapter 7 Inside a Courtroom

Witness Testimony

* “Witness for the Prosecution”—Agatha Christie

The Prosecution and the Defense

“The Lawyers Know Too Much”—Carl Sandberg

“The Lawyer’s Ways”—Paul Laurence Dunbar

The Defense

“The Corpus Delicti”—Melville Post

Ethics and Professionalism: Defense Attorneys

* “The Letter”—W. Somerset Maugham

The Jury: Deliberations and Beyond

* “Beyond Any Doubt”—Robert O’Neil Bristow

Chapter 8 Sentencing and Judgment

Goals of Sentencing

Merchant of Venice“Quality of Mercy” Speech

—William Shakespeare

Types of Sentences 209

* “A Wasted Day”—Richard Harding Davis

To Execute or Not to Execute

“Too Dear!”—Leo Tolstóy

Race and Gender: Class

* “Happy Event”—Nadine Gordimer

SECTION 4 The Consequences of Crime: Corrections

Chapter 9 Prisons and Jails

Corrections

“The Cop and the Anthem”—O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) 231

Chapter 10 Prison Life

Adjusting to Prison Life

“The Beast”—Victor Hassine

“The Prisoner”—Elizabeth Browning

Female Inmates

“The Prisoner: A Fragment”—Emily Bronte

Chapter 11 Special Issues in Corrections

Return to Society

“The Prison Librarian”—Sonia Tabriz and Victor Hassine

SECTION 5 Special Topics in Criminal Justice

Chapter 12 Juvenile Justice

Delinquency

* “We Real Cool”—Gwendolyn Brooks

* “Thank You, Ma’am”—Langston Hughes

Problematic Issues in Juvenile Justice

“Hard to Be Good”—Bill Barich

Chapter 13 Victimology and Victim’s Rights

The Path from V ictim Justice System

to Criminal Justice System

“A Jury of Her Peers”—Susan Glaspell

“Closure”—Stephen D. Rogers

Chapter 14 Future of Criminal Justice

Case Study

“Harrison Bergeron”—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Lawrence Karson
Claudia Slate
Saulsbury Rebecca

The criminal justice system is about storytelling: by the victim, the suspect, the officer, the prosecutor, and the defense attorney. For many the justice system is not necessarily about justice or fairness: it may simply be about whose story is believed. 

Crime, Justice, and Literature: A Reader emphasizes storytelling by using literature as a tool to help students understand the theories, concepts and models taught in an introductory criminal justice class. Recognizing that criminal justice is an interdisciplinary field, Crime, Justice, and Literature uses short stories and poetry to integrate seamlessly the humanities into the criminal justice core. 

Introduction

SECTION 1 Overview of the Criminal Justice System

Chapter 1 Introduction to Criminal Justice

What Is Crime?

“The Hill” and “Hod Putt” from Spoon River

Anthology—Edgar Lee Masters

History of the Criminal Justice System in America

“Mrs. Hutchinson”—Nathaniel Hawthorne

Chapter 2 Criminal Behavior

Routine Activities Theory

“The Purloined Letter”—Edgar Allan Poe

Sociological Theories of Crime: Subcultural Theory

“Some of Us Have Been Threatening Our

Friend Colby”—Donald Barthelme

Sociological Theories of Crime: General Theory of Crime

“My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover”—Robert Browning

Sociological Theories of Crime: Differential Association

and Learning Theory

“Barn Burning”—William Faulkner

Sociological Theories of Crime: Social Control Theory

“For All the Rude People”—Jack Ritchie (John George Reitci)

Chapter 3 Criminal Law

Defenses—Necessity

“Rosalie Prudent”—Guy de Maupassant

Policy Choices, Politics, and Ideology

“Before the Law” and “The Problem of Our Laws”—Franz Kafka

SECTION 2 The Policing of Crime

Chapter 4 The Policing of Crime

History of Policing in the United States

“Andy the Night-Watch,” “The Town Marshal,”

and “Jack McGuire” from Spoon River

Anthology—Edgar Lee Masters

Policing in the South: Conflict Theory, Mob Violence,

Vigilantism, Lynch Mob

“A Party Down at the Square”—Ralph Ellison

“The Lynching of Jube Benson”—Paul Dunbar

* “Bronzeville Mother Loiters in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi

Mother Burns Bacon” and * “The Last Quatrain of the

Ballad of Emmett Till”—Gwendolyn Brooks

Local and State-Level Policing: Homelessness

“The Death of the Hired Man”—Robert Frost

Local and State-Level Policing: LGBT Profiling

“Café: 3 am” (1951)—Langston Hughes

Local and State-Level Policing: Racial Unrest

“Death in Yorkville (James Powell,

Summer, 1964)”—Langston Hughes

Chapter 5 Policing: Roles, Functions, and Challenges

Controversial Police Roles

* “The Majesty of the Law”—Frank O’Connor (Michael

Francis O’Donovan)

Order Maintenance

* “Shooting an Elephant”—George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair)

Undercover Investigations: Ethical Issues

“Crimes of Conscience”—Nadine Gordimer

Authoritarianism

* “An Apology”—Bernard Malamud

Cynicism

“Hardened”—Stephen D. Rogers

Police Discretion

“The Hidden Law”—W. H. Auden

Police Discretion: Friends and Family

“After Twenty Years”—O. Henry (William Sydney Porter)

SECTION 3 The American Court System

Chapter 6 The Court System

Presumption of Innocence?

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland—an excerpt—Lewis

Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)

Ethics and Professionalism: Vagrancies of Justice

* “An Act of Prostitution”—James Alan McPherson

“The Lottery”—Shirley Jackson

Chapter 7 Inside a Courtroom

Witness Testimony

* “Witness for the Prosecution”—Agatha Christie

The Prosecution and the Defense

“The Lawyers Know Too Much”—Carl Sandberg

“The Lawyer’s Ways”—Paul Laurence Dunbar

The Defense

“The Corpus Delicti”—Melville Post

Ethics and Professionalism: Defense Attorneys

* “The Letter”—W. Somerset Maugham

The Jury: Deliberations and Beyond

* “Beyond Any Doubt”—Robert O’Neil Bristow

Chapter 8 Sentencing and Judgment

Goals of Sentencing

Merchant of Venice“Quality of Mercy” Speech

—William Shakespeare

Types of Sentences 209

* “A Wasted Day”—Richard Harding Davis

To Execute or Not to Execute

“Too Dear!”—Leo Tolstóy

Race and Gender: Class

* “Happy Event”—Nadine Gordimer

SECTION 4 The Consequences of Crime: Corrections

Chapter 9 Prisons and Jails

Corrections

“The Cop and the Anthem”—O. Henry (William Sydney Porter) 231

Chapter 10 Prison Life

Adjusting to Prison Life

“The Beast”—Victor Hassine

“The Prisoner”—Elizabeth Browning

Female Inmates

“The Prisoner: A Fragment”—Emily Bronte

Chapter 11 Special Issues in Corrections

Return to Society

“The Prison Librarian”—Sonia Tabriz and Victor Hassine

SECTION 5 Special Topics in Criminal Justice

Chapter 12 Juvenile Justice

Delinquency

* “We Real Cool”—Gwendolyn Brooks

* “Thank You, Ma’am”—Langston Hughes

Problematic Issues in Juvenile Justice

“Hard to Be Good”—Bill Barich

Chapter 13 Victimology and Victim’s Rights

The Path from V ictim Justice System

to Criminal Justice System

“A Jury of Her Peers”—Susan Glaspell

“Closure”—Stephen D. Rogers

Chapter 14 Future of Criminal Justice

Case Study

“Harrison Bergeron”—Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Lawrence Karson
Claudia Slate
Saulsbury Rebecca