Criminal Justice at the Crossroads: Transforming Crime and Punishment

William R. Kelly

Μαΐ 2015 · Columbia University Press

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Over the past forty years, the criminal justice system in the United States has engaged in a very expensive policy failure, attempting to punish its way to public safety, with dismal results. So-called "tough on crime" policies have not only failed to effectively reduce crime, recidivism, and victimization but also created an incredibly inefficient system that routinely fails the public, taxpayers, crime victims, criminal offenders, their families, and their communities.

Strategies that focus on behavior change are much more productive and cost effective for reducing crime than punishment, and in this book, William R. Kelly discusses the policy, process, and funding innovations and priorities that the United States needs to effectively reduce crime, recidivism, victimization, and cost. He recommends proactive, evidence-based interventions to address criminogenic behavior; collaborative decision making from a variety of professions and disciplines; and a focus on innovative alternatives to incarceration, such as problem-solving courts and probation. Students, professionals, and policy makers alike will find in this comprehensive text a bracing discussion of how our criminal justice system became broken and the best strategies by which to fix it.

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William R. Kelly is professor in the Department of Sociology and the founding director of the Center for Criminology and Criminal Justice Research at the University of Texas-Austin. He has spent a considerable amount of time in the community consulting with local, state, and federal agencies on criminal justice issues. He has been involved in the development, implementation, and evaluation of dozens of criminal justice programs and policies. This book is a product of his vast understanding of the scientific research regarding what works, as well as his experience developing and evaluating a variety of justice programs and policies.