Exploring Criminal Justice: The Essentials

by Robert M. Regoli, John D. Hewitt, Anna E. Kosloski

Overview

Now in a modernized Third Edition, the best-selling Exploring Criminal Justice: The Essentials continues to engage students in an exploration of the American criminal justice system. This classic text covers the foundational concepts of criminal law and the justice system, including the people and processes that make up the system and how they interact. It features updated statistics and data, contemporary court cases and case studies, and updated references for all topics. With Exploring Criminal Justice: The Essentials students will understand the relationship between law enforcement, corrections, law, policy making and administration, the juvenile justice system, and the courts. This well-organized and comprehensive text is the clear choice for introductory criminal justice courses.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781284182552
Publisher:	Jones & Bartlett Learning
Publication date:	02/15/2026
Edition description:	4th ed.
Pages:	324
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Robert M. Regoli is professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Colorado. In 1975, he received his PhD in sociology from Washington State University. Professor Regoli has found himself in an assortment of roles in the criminal justice system. In addition to having published more than 100 scholarly papers and authoring more than 10 books on topics ranging from police cynicism and causes of delinquency to unreported rule infractions in prisons, he also has been a crime victim, misdemeanor offender, criminal complainant and witness,' jury member, and legal consultant. Dr. Regoli is also a past-president and fellow of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, former executive editor of The Social Science Journal, recipient of two William J. Fulbright senior specialist awards, and member of Phi Beta Kappa. Today, Dr. Regoli’s research is focused on the social organization of the fast-growing sport of pickleball, with an eye toward understanding the evolution of the game’s norms, roles, hierarchies, and mechanisms of social control that affect its play.

John D. Hewitt recently retired as professor of criminal justice at Grand Valley State University. He was born in Carmel, California, grew up in Indiana, and then completed his undergraduate work at Western Washington State College and his PhD at Washington State University. He has taught for more 30 years at small and large state colleges and universities, as well as in small liberal arts colleges in the Midwest and West. During his career, Dr. Hewitt was a member of the Board of Directors of the Delaware County Youth Services Bureau, president of the Board of Directors at Bethel Place for Boys, and testified as an expert witness in Arizona on the identification of youth gangs in schools. He has written extensively about issues of crime, criminal justice, and delinquency, including co-authoring Exploring Criminal Justice (with Robert Regoli, Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2008); Exploring Criminal Justice: The Essentials (with Robert Regoli, Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2017); and The Impact of Sentencing Reform, as well as numerous articles on issues ranging from the oppression of children and adolescent risk taking, to youth gangs and violence and juvenile justice policy in The People’s Republic of China.

Anna E. Kosloski is an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS). She received her PhD from Iowa State University in 2012. She has published scholarly articles on gender and crime, juvenile offending, institutional misconduct, and student learning. Her recent research explores the crime of human trafficking in the Unit ed States. She is a member of the American Society of Criminology and Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. She has been recognized for her commitment to students and awarded the campus-wide Outstanding Teacher award at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.

Table of Contents

Part I Crime and Criminal Justice
Chapter 1 The American Criminal Justice System
Chapter 2 Criminal Law: The Foundation of Criminal Justice
Chapter 3 Measuring Crime and Crime Theory
Part II The Police
Chapter 4 Police History and Organization
Chapter 5 Police and the Law
Chapter 6 Critical Issue s in Policing
Part III Courts
Chapter 7 The Criminal Courts: Structure and Process
Chapter 8 The Trial
Chapter 9 Sentencing
Part IV Corrections
Chapter 10 Corrections History and Structure
Chapter 11 Prisons
Chapter 12 Corrections in the Community
Part V Special Issue s
Chapter 13 The Juvenile Justice System
Chapter 14 Terrorism and Cybercrime