Cj: Realities and Challenges

CJ: Realities and Challenges, 5e empowers students to think critically about the daily realities and challenges of the criminal justice system. Using the text's framework of Observe > Investigate > Understand, students learn to recognize the myths of the U.S. criminal justice system and gain a greater comprehension of its complexities. The program brings together the insights of an expert author team of practitioners and scholars to present a contemporary and realistic perspective on a vital U.S. institution. Extensively  updated examples, statistics, figures, and features throughout this edition reflect current criminal justice issues to provide students with the most relevant information for their studies and professional lives.

Lori Beth Way is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Criminal Justice program at California State University, Chico. Her research areas are primarily in the subfields of policing and courts. Dr. Way is also Project Director for a federally funded grant that works to reduce the crimes of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and stalking in the campus community. Besides teaching at CSU, Chico, she is also an instructor at the local police academy.

Ruth E. Masters is currently the Chair of the Department of Criminology at California State University, Fresno where she has been teaching since 1972. She received her Ed.D. from the University of Southern California in 1978. A former parole agent, she was the sole author and lead author of two criminology textbooks. She was selected in 1999 for the Author of the Year Award by the National Association of Forensic Counselors for her book Counseling Criminal Justice Offenders. Her special interests include corrections, addiction, criminological theory, and cross-cultural administration of justice. She has conducted criminal justice programs in Amsterdam, France, Italy, Scotland, Greece, Belgium, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Brazil, Hong Kong, The Czech Republic, Peru, China, Turkey, Ireland, New Zealand, and Thailand.

John P.J. Dussich is a Professor Emeritus of the Department of Criminology of California State University, Fresno. He is one of the world's leading authorities on victimology, victim services, criminology, victimological theory, and criminological and victimological research. He has worked as a criminal justice planner, a police officer, a warden of a prison, a director of a program evaluation unit, and is now the director of an international victimology research institute in Japan. He is the editor-in-chief of the online journal International Perspectives in Victimology. He has taught criminology since 1966 and victimology since 1976. The American Society of Victimology has named the John P.J. Dussich Award in his honor, and gives it each year to a person who has made significant contributions to the field of victimology. 

Candice A. Skrapec is a professor in the Department of Criminology at California State University, Fresno. She is a psychologist and criminologist. For the past 20 years she has maintained her research focus on serial murder (particularly in terms of underlying biological and psychological factors) and continues her interviews of incarcerated serial murderers in different countries. Her professional works and academic research result in regular calls from the media, movie and documentary producers, as well as authors of fact and fiction books in the areas of serial murder to investigate profiling. With over 20 years of experience in the law enforcement field working with officers and agencies in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, she is also frequently consulted by police around the world to assist in the investigation of homicide cases. She has taught a wide range of criminology courses since 1988 and has trained police and correctional officers in different countries in the areas related to her academic research and professional experience.

Bernadette T. Muscat has worked with victims of domestic violence by serving as a legal advocate. She has worked with law enforcement agencies, victim services, and court programs for program and policy development, evaluation, research, and training to ensure effective administration of victim assistance. She has also worked with state coalitions to develop and implement victim-related polices. She has written, presented, and provided professional entry level and advanced training nationwide on topics such as domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, trauma response, elder abuse, victims with disabilities, workplace violence, underserved victim populations, and campus oriented crimes, research, and policy development.