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The power of the modern prosecutor arises from several features of the criminal justice landscape: widespread use of law and order political rhetoric and heightened fear of crime among voters; legislatures'embrace of extreme sentencing ranges to respond to such concerns; and the uncertain or limited accountability of prosecutors to the electorate, the bar, or other political and professional constituencies. The convergence of these trends has transformed prosecution into an indispensable field of study. This volume brings together the work of leading international scholars across criminology, sociology, political science, and law - along with contributions from reform-minded practitioners - to examine a variety of issues in prosecutorial behaviour and the institutional structures that frame their behavior. The Handbook connects the dots among existing theoretical and empirical research related to prosecutors. Major sections of the volume cover (1) prosecutor performance during distinct phases of a criminal case, (2) the features of the prosecutor's environment, both inside the office and external to the office, that influence the choices of individual prosecutors and office leaders, and (3) prosecutorial strategies and priorities when dealing with specialized types of crimes, victims, and defendants. Taken together, the chapters in this volume identify the founding texts, discuss leading theoretical and methodological approaches, explain the scope of unresolved issues, and preview where this field is headed. The volume provides a bottom-up view of an important new scholarly field.

Social tensions between majority and minority populations often center on claims that minorities are largely responsible for crime and disorder. Members of some disadvantaged groups in all developed countries, sometimes long-standing residents and other times recent immigrants, experience unwarranted disparities in their dealings with the criminal justice system. Accusations of unfair treatment by police and courts are common. The Oxford Handbook of Ethnicity, Crime, and Immigration provides comprehensive analyses of current knowledge about these and a host of related subjects. Topics include legal and illegal immigration, ethnic and race relations, and discrimination and exclusion, and their links to crime in the United States and elsewhere. Leading scholars from sociology, criminology, law, psychology, geography, and political science document and explore relations among race, ethnicity, immigration, and crime. Individual chapters provide in-depth critical overviews of key issues, controversies, and research. Contributors present the historical backdrops of their subjects, describe population characteristics, and summarize relevant data and research findings. Most articles provide synopses of racial, ethnic, immigration, and justice-related concerns and offer policy recommendations and proposals for future research. Some articles are case studies of particular problems in particular places, including juvenile incarceration, homicide, urban violence, social exclusion, and other issues disproportionately affecting disadvantaged minority groups. The Oxford Handbook of Ethnicity, Crime, and Immigration is the first major effort to examine and synthesize knowledge concerning immigration and crime, ethnicity and crime, and race and crime in one volume, and does so both for the United States and for many other countries.

Over the last two decades, researchers have made significant discoveries about the causes and origins of delinquency. Specifically, we have learned a great deal about adolescent development and its relationship to decision-making, about multiple factors that contribute to delinquency, and about the processes and contexts associated with the course of delinquent careers. Over the same period, public officials have made sweeping jurisprudential, jurisdictional, and procedural changes in our juvenile justice systems. The Oxford Handbook of Juvenile Crime and Juvenile Justice presents a timely compilation of state-of-the-art critical reviews of knowledge about causes of delinquency and their significance for justice policy, and about developments in the juvenile justice system to prevent and control youth crime. The first half of the handbook focuses on juvenile crime and examines trends and patterns in delinquency and victimization, explores causes of delinquency-at the individual, micro-social, and macro-social levels, and from natural and social science perspectives-and their implications for structuring a youth justice system. The second half of the handbook concentrates on juvenile justice and examines a range of issues-including the historical origins and re-invention of the juvenile court; juvenile offenders'mental health status and considerations of trial competence and culpability; intake, diversion, detention, and juvenile courts; and transfer/waiver strategies-and considers how the juvenile justice system itself influences delinquency. The Oxford Handbook of Juvenile Crime and Juvenile Justice provides a comprehensive overview of juvenile crime and juvenile justice administration by authors who are all leading scholars involved in cutting-edge research, and is an essential resource for scholars, students, and justice officials.