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Criminal Justice

The Criminal Justice program provides students with an education based in a liberal arts core and interdisciplinary criminal justice curriculum. The criminal justice aspect focuses on law, law enforcement, and corrections.

Textbooks on Reserve

The RCBC Library has many course textbooks on reserve. These books can be reserved for two hours at a time.

You can view which textbooks are available by subject on this guide:

Textbooks on Reserve at RCBC

New Books!

You Might Go to Prison, Even Though You're Innocent

Surviving prison as an innocent person is a surreal nightmare no one wants to think about. But it can happen to you.    Justin Brooks has spent his career freeing innocent people from prison. With You Might Go to Prison, Even Though You're Innocent, he offers up-close accounts of the cases he has fought, embedding them within a larger landscape of innocence claims and robust research on what we know about the causes of wrongful convictions.   Putting readers at the defense table, this book forces us to consider how any of us might be swept up in the system, whether we hired a bad lawyer, bear a slight resemblance to someone else in the world, or are not good with awkward silence. The stories of Brooks's cases and clients paint the picture of a broken justice system, one where innocence is no protection from incarceration or even the death penalty. Simultaneously relatable and disturbing, You Might Go to Prison, Even Though You're Innocent is essential reading for anyone who wants to better understand how injustice is served by our system.

The Norwegian Prison System

This book presents a comprehensive overview of the Norwegian Correctional Service and the values and principles underlying its operations, using the renowned Halden Prison as a case study. Since its opening in 2010, Halden has been recognized for its uniquely humane treatment of inmates and emphasis on rehabilitation. This book chronicles the lessons learned from the operation of Halden Prison and scrutinizes the effectiveness of its policies.  Staff at Halden operate under a notion of "dynamic security," in which guards circulate around the prison interacting and developing relationships with inmates rather than surveying from a fixed location. Recounted from the perspectives of various actors in the system, and incorporating commentary from international correctional experts, this book sheds light on the effects of the approaches and paradigm shifts that have made Halden different from other prisons. The book presents a balanced picture of how such an approach works, with practical examples of successes and failures.  This book contextualizes how and why this example of reform achieved successful outcomes when others failed, and how it can be improved upon in the future. Illuminating new directions for prison reform, it is essential reading for academics and students engaged in the study of criminology, corrections, and penology, as well as practitioners, administrators, judges, policymakers, and advocates. 

Framing the Police on Twitter

This work assesses the various meanings attached to calls for police reform in the public discourse on social media, providing readers with a greater appreciation of the assumptions, empirical claims, and rhetorical nuances that underpin the current dialogue about police policy. Drawing upon an intersectional theoretical and mixed-methods approach, the authors look at what it means to "defund" or "abolish" the police, as well as the definition of community policing. The death of George Floyd in 2020 resulted in national and international protests during which some members of the public began to demand "abolishing" or "defunding" the police, ideas previously put forth in academic arenas. However, these public protests were often presented in rhetorical ways that differed from the academic roots of the ideas. This book takes a deep look into what it means to "defund" or "abolish" the police, drawing upon academic origins of the concepts while at the same time examining how the public has used Twitter to define and discuss these ideas. The authors identify frameworks built around the concepts, discuss facts and perspectives that have contributed to these ideas, and explain how quantitative methods can be used to illustrate the most prominent frames. This book incorporates both quantitative and qualitative means of research in an examination of Twitter and brings clarity to the conversation surrounding the "abolish the police", "defund the police", and "community policing" concepts. It is suitable for undergraduate to graduate-level college courses in criminology, sociology, policing, race in America, communication, social media, and research methods.

Extreme Killing

Accessibly written, yet analytically rich, Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder, is renowned for its fascinating examination of historical and contemporary serial and mass murder. Authors and experts in the field, James Alan Fox, Jack Levin, and Emma Fridel, bring their years of research to bear in this fascinating analysis of serial, multiple, and mass murder. They examine the theories of criminal behavior and apply them to a multitude of tragic events that involve hate crimes, killings at religious services, music festivals, and school shootings.  This Fifth Edition is filled with contemporary and classic case studies and has been updated to include coverage of controversial issues such as gun control and mental illness, the role of high-powered weapons in mass shootings, and the distinction between serial and mass murder. 

Citadels of Pride

In this essential philosophical and practical reckoning, Martha C. Nussbaum, renowned for her eloquence and clarity of moral vision, shows how sexual abuse and harassment derive from using people as things to one's own benefit--like other forms of exploitation, they are rooted in the ugly emotion of pride. She exposes three "Citadels of Pride" and the men who hoard power at the apex of each. In the judiciary, the arts, and sports, Nussbaum analyzes how pride perpetuates systemic sexual abuse, narcissism, and toxic masculinity. The courage of many has brought about some reforms, but justice is still elusive--warped sometimes by money, power, or inertia; sometimes by a collective desire for revenge. By analyzing the effects of law and public policy on our ever-evolving definitions of sexual violence, Nussbaum clarifies how gaps in U.S. law allow this violence to proliferate; why criminal laws dealing with sexual assault and Title VII, the federal law that is the basis for sexual harassment doctrine, need to be complemented by an understanding of the distorted emotions that breed abuse; and why anger and vengeance rarely achieve lasting change. Citadels of Pride offers a damning indictment of the culture of male power that insulates high-profile abusers from accountability. Yet Nussbaum offers a hopeful way forward, envisioning a future in which, as survivors mobilize to tell their stories and institutions pursue fair and nuanced reform, we might fully recognize the equal dignity of all people.

Freedom for All

Human trafficking is the reprehensible practice of physically or psychologically compelling an individual to work or provide commercial sexual services. An estimated 27.6 million people are held against their will in either commercial sex or forced labor around the world, yet fewer than one percent of these individuals ever identified. Attorneys have the much-needed skills, clientele, and positions to help shrink this alarming gap, by integrating identification, services and prevention strategies into their respective practices. Freedom for All: An Attorney's Guide to Fighting Human Trafficking, Second Edition demonstrates to attorneys across multiple practice areas how human trafficking intersects with their daily practice, how their skills translate, and how they can easily begin to integrate anti-trafficking into their work. It is as much a practical introduction to any student or practicing attorney as it is a lay of the land of current anti-trafficking legal efforts. The book also highlights the important contributions of numerous attorneys and exciting nascent developments. Whether criminal, corporate, employment, immigration, international or public interest, now is the moment to develop areas of the law, employ creative arguments and thinking, and implement new policies and programs. Efforts at all levels are sorely needed to increase identification, services and prevention - to make a true difference in the lives of trafficked persons. If you have ever asked yourself "What can I do?" Freedom for All: An Attorney's Guide to Fighting Human Trafficking, Second Edition gives you the answer.

Copycat Crime

Details the new phenomena of copycat crime inspired by technology and the hyperreality fueled in some people by digital culture and video games.Across her 30-year career in criminology, author Jacqueline Helfgott has watched with fascination and fear as the world has shifted from a place where one-dimensional televised news each evening and newspapers bought each morning provided the only information on crimes and killings. Now, nonstop, instant global news coverage on 24-hour television and the internet enables people to see and replay not only crime, violence, terrorism, and murder coverage provided by journalists in real time, but also Facebook and YouTube feeds filmed by the criminals themselves while perpetrating the crimes.In this riveting text about the consequences of our technical, digital, and cultural changes, Helfgott focuses on how these advances are perpetuating this era's new and more massively deadly acts. The book intertwines vignettes from current events, perpetrator statements, police reports, and current research to show how copycat crimes are linked to media, technology, and our digital culture. Concluding with recommendations to reduce the criminogenic effects of media, technology, and digital culture, this book also includes an appendix listing technology- and media-influenced copycat crimes.

Corporate Crime and Punishment

The geopolitics of American law enforcement and how it changed corporate criminal accountability in other countries Over the past decade, many of the world's biggest companies have found themselves embroiled in legal disputes over corruption, fraud, environmental damage, tax evasion, or sanction violations. Corporations including Volkswagen, BP, and Credit Suisse have paid record-breaking fines. Many critics of globalization and corporate impunity cheer this turn toward accountability. Others, however, question American dominance in legal battles that seem to impose domestic legal norms beyond national boundaries. In this book, Cornelia Woll examines the politics of American corporate criminal law's extraterritorial reach. As governments abroad seek to respond to US law enforcement actions against their companies, they turn to flexible legal instruments that allow prosecutors to settle a case rather than bring it to court. With her analysis of the international and domestic politics of law enforcement targeting big business, Woll traces the rise of what she calls "negotiated corporate justice" in global markets. Woll charts the path to this shift through case studies of geopolitical tensions and accusations of "economic lawfare," pitting the United States against the European Union, China, and Japan. She then examines the reactions to the new legal landscape, describing institutional changes in the common law countries of the United Kingdom and Canada and the civil law countries of France, Brazil, and Germany. Through an insightful interdisciplinary analysis of how the prosecution of corporate crime has evolved in the twenty-first century, Woll demonstrates the profound transformation of the relationship between states and private actors in world markets, showing that law is part of economic statecraft in the connected global economy.

Organized Environmental Crime

Developing an innovative approach to understanding how organized crime groups diversify into the illegal trade in natural resources, this book looks at the convergence between environmental crime and other serious crimes.In Organized Environmental Crime, Daan van Uhm breaks new ground by rejecting the classic image of organized crime as specializing in one kind of criminal activity. Instead, he develops an innovative approach to understanding how organized crime groups diversify into the illegal trade in natural resources by looking at the convergence between environmental crime and other serious crimes. Personal stories from informants directly involved in organized crime networks offer unique insights into the black markets in gold, wildlife, and timber in three environmental crime hotspots: the Darién Gap, a remote swath of jungle on the Colombia-Panama border in Latin America; the Golden Triangle, a notorious opium epicenter in Southeast Asia; and the eastern edge of the Congo basin, an important conflict area in Central Africa. The proliferation of organized environmental crime exacerbates the global destruction of ancient rainforests; the mass extinction of species; and the pollution of the atmosphere, land, and water, negatively affecting planet Earth. By uncovering its incentives, features, and harms, this book is crucial to understanding organized environmental crime in a rapidly changing world.

Youth Justice

This textbook links theory to policy and practice and takes a comparative, international focus on current issues, making it vital reading for any student of Youth Justice. The authors draw on examples from Belgium, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand and US - as well as the UK, and include both well founded research and their own personal practical experiences. Comprehensive learning features include: chapter objectives, case studies with questions for reflection, a glossary of key terms

Multiculturalism, Crime, and Criminal Justice

Multiculturalism, Crime, and Criminal Justice, Third Edition, provides an overview of the problems and promises of cultural diversity in society and within all facets of the criminal justice system. It focuses on how different marginalized groups--African Americans, Hispanic Americans, AsianAmericans, Native Americans, women, the LGBTQ+ community, the elderly, and juveniles--are impacted by law enforcement, the courts, and correctional agencies, addressing the issues that each group faces. It also examines how multiculturalism affects those who work within the criminal justice system,including members of minority groups.

Suggested Reading

Print books are arranged on the shelf in Library of Congress Call Number order. Each call number begins with an alphanumeric base (e.g., "BF109.J8") that is followed by a cutter and a date of publication (e.g., "A25 1993"). See a librarian if you need assistance.

Call Number Range (Where to Find Books on the Bookshelves)

  • HV 6001 - HV 9920.5 - Crime and Delinquency
  • K - Law in general

Please check the catalog or databases, or contact RCBC Library to see if book is currently available. Here are a few suggestions:

Ebooks

Ebooks are accessible directly from the Library catalog. If you're interested in finding ebooks only, head to eBook Collection. To log in, use the barcode located on the back of your student ID and your pin number. You have the option to download ebooks to a device, but we strongly recommend reading them online to take advantage of the full suite of available tools. Create a personal account using your Library barcode and PIN to manage and organize your ebook reading and research.

BCLS Books

Rowan College of Burlington County's Library has an agreement with the Burlington County Library System (BCLS) that allows our students to check out physical books from the BCLS system with their RCBC Library barcode. BCLS books can also be requested to be delivered to the RCBC Library for patron pickup and BCLS books can be returned to the RCBC Library.

Need A Book We Don't Have?

  • RCBC Library is part of the Burlington County Library System (BCLS)

    • Your RCBC Library barcode allows you to check out physical material at other BCLS branches. (A separate BCLS Library card is needed to access their online resources.) 

    • If another branch has a book that you are looking for, either call them to place it on hold for you, or as a RCBC librarian to call for you.

    • Note: a book that shows up as being in another branch may be currently in use by another patron. Save yourself a trip and call to double check the book's availability!

  • Inter-library Loans

    • If a book that you want is not available in the RCBC Library or BCLS, we can attempt to order the book from an outside library to be delivered to the RCBC Library. Note: this method may take 2 weeks or longer for the book to arrive at RCBC.

    • To order a book via inter-library loan, please either fill out a blank form from JerseyCat or contact Debbie Kolodziej at dkolodzie@rcbc.edu.

  • Faculty Book Requests

    • For more information, please contact Rachel Pieters at rpieters@rcbc.edu or ext. 1269.
 

Library Services

  • Research assistance - help finding sources, evaluating sources

  • Online workshops for citing and plagiarism are held throughout the semester. To request a citing workshop, please email library@rcbc.edu