Courts & Procedures

By the author of the hip hop cult classic Queens Reigns Supreme: A chilling investigative look behind the scenes at a criminal justice system corrupted by its use of cooperators, and into the complex meaning of the "Stop Snitching" movement.

Our criminal justice system favors defendants who know how to play the "5K game": criminals who are so savvy about the cooperation process that they repeatedly commit serious crimes knowing they can be sent back to the streets if they simply cooperate with prosecutors. In Snitch, investigative reporter Ethan Brown shows through a compelling series of case profiles how the sentencing guidelines for drug-related offenses, along with the 5K1.1 section, have unintentionally created a "cottage industry of cooperators," and led to fabricated evidence. The result is wrongful convictions and appallingly gruesome crimes, including the grisly murder of the Harvey family in Richmond, Virginia and the well-publicized murder of Imette St. Guillen in New York City.

This cooperator-coddling criminal justice system has ignited the infamous "Stop Snitching" movement in urban neighborhoods, deplored by everyone from the NAACP to the mayor of Boston for encouraging witness intimidation. But as Snitch shows, the movement is actually a cry against the harsh sentencing guidelines for drug-related crimes, and a call for hustlers to return to "old school" street values, like: do the crime, do the time.

Combining deep knowledge of the criminal justice system with frontline true crime reporting, Snitch is a shocking and brutally troubling report about the state of American justice when it's no longer clear who are the good guys and who are the bad.

(PUBLICATION FIRST MARKED AS OUT OF PRINT 13/05/04) The ninth edition of Cross and Tapper on Evidence retains the lively, readable style, comprehensive coverage and in-depth insight of previous editions to meet the needs of today's degree, bar and police students, as well as practitioners. Discussing theory and practice of this field, the book provides criticism and comment on the law, drawing on numerous recent cases to illustrate the workings of the law. The new edition has been fully updated to incorporate recent changes in the law, as well as looking forward to future developments. Full account is taken of the Civil Evidence Act 1995 which accomplished the liberalisation of the admission of hearsay in civil proceedings and which has enabled this whole topic to be considered in a more simple and concise way. It also considers the implications for the law of evidence of the Human Rights Act 1998, the likely effects of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Bill 1999 and the proposals by the Law Commission for the reforms relating to the admissibility of evidence of bad character in criminal proceedings. In addition the book examines the changed background provided by the new Civil Procedure Rules to the law of evidence in criminal proceedings.

The lawyer-dominated adversary system of criminal trial, which now typifies practice in Anglo-American legal systems, developed in England in the eighteenth century. Using hitherto unexplored sources from London's Old Bailey Court, Professor Langbein shows how and why lawyers were able to capture the trial, and he supplies a path-breaking account of the formation of the law of criminal evidence.

In 1840, Alexander Maconochie, a privileged retired naval captain, became at his own request superintendent of two thousand twice-convicted prisoners on Norfolk Island, a thousand miles off the coast of Australia. In four years, Maconochie transformed what was one of the most brutal convict settlements in history into a controlled, stable, and productive environment that achieved such success that upon release his prisoners came to be called "Maconochie's Gentlemen".
Here Norval Morris, one of our most renowned criminologists, offers a highly inventive and engaging account of this early pioneer in penal reform, enhancing Maconochie's life story with a trenchant policy twist. Maconochie's life and efforts on Norfolk Island, Morris shows, provide a model with profound relevance to the running of correctional institutions today. Using a unique combination of fictionalized history and critical commentary, Morris gives this work a powerful policy impact lacking in most standard academic accounts.
In an era of "mass incarceration" that rivals that of the settlement of Australia, Morris injects the question of humane treatment back into the debate over prison reform. Maconochie and his "Marks system" played an influential role in the development of prisons; but for the last thirty years prison reform has been dominated by punitive and retributive sentiments, the conventional wisdom holding that we need 'supermax' prisons to control the 'worst of the worst' in solitary and harsh conditions. Norval Morris argues to the contrary, holding up the example of Alexander Maconochie as a clear-cut alternative to the "living hell" of prison systems today.

The English Legal Process offers a clear and topical explanation of how the English legal system operates. The book explains the organization and procedures of courts and tribunals, the trial process and jury system, major forms of redress in private and public law, and discusses the way judges make and determine the law. Throughout, examples are drawn from a wide range of cases to help students develop a rounded understanding of the subject.

Online Resource Center
* Updates
* Web links

"Getting tough on crime" has been one of the favorite rallying cries of American politicians in the last two decades, and "getting tough" on repeat offenders has been particularly popular. "Three strikes and you're out" laws, which effectively impose a 25-years-to-life sentence at the moment of a third felony conviction, have been passed in 26 states. California's version of the "three strikes" law, enacted in 1994, was broader and more severe than measures considered or passed in any other state.

Punishment and Democracy is the first examination of the actual impact this law has had. Franklin Zimring, Sam Kamin, and Gordon Hawkins look at the origins of the law in California, compare it to other crackdown laws, and analyze the data collected on crime rates in Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco in the year before and the two years after the law went into effect. They show that the "three strikes" law was a significant development in criminal justice policy making, not only at the state level, but also at the national level. They conclude with an examination of the trend toward populist initiatives driving penal policy.

The importance of the subject and the stature of the authors make this book required reading for policy analysts, criminal justice scholars, elected officials, and indeed any American seeking to know more about "get-tough" criminal sentencing.

This book is about the principle of proportionality--the principle that a sentence should be proportionate to the seriousness of the offense committed. Although the principle has often been discussed, this book breaks new ground by examining more fully the detailed arguments for the theory and for applying it to a range of situations including young offenders, dangerous offenders and socially deprived offenders. The authors are well known for their previous writings on proportionality theory, and this book broadens the theory to deal with important contemporary issues in crime and punishment.

This new, updated 2nd edition of the popular Blackstone's Custody Officer's Manual provides a practical companion for trainee and established custody officers, containing all relevant legislation together with interpretations of the areas of Codes of Practice that are most commonly misunderstood. It offers a comprehensive treatment of all the elements of the custody officer's role, highlighting common problem areas and offering practical guidance. The new edition has been fully updated to include changes as a result of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 such as the civilianisation of the custody officer.