Steven Briggs - Criminology for Dummies: 2nd Edition

Criminology For Dummies, 2nd Edition

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Copyright 2021 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2021936467

ISBN 978-1-119-77319-1 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-77321-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-77320-7

1. Chapter 23

1. Chapter 3
2. Chapter 5
3. Chapter 6
4. Chapter 9
5. Chapter 11
6. Chapter 12
7. Chapter 18
8. Chapter 24

Crime is fascinating. How else can you explain why, as Im preparing this second edition, 13 of the top 20 TV shows focus on criminal investigations and six of the top 13 podcasts are about true crime? But the study of crime is not only fascinating, its also terribly important. The U.S. and state governments (and, in turn, every U.S. taxpayer) spend hundreds of billions of dollars every year combating crime. In 2020, large-scale protests over concerns about racism in our criminal justice system spread across the U.S., leading some to question whether funding of law enforcement is money well spent. Others urge even more spending to deal with a sudden rise in violent crime.

Ive spent most of my career fighting crime at the local, state, and federal levels. Ive worked with just about every category of law enforcement professional there is, from detectives to probation officers to terrorism experts to judges. And of the thousands of people Ive known, I can count on one hand the number of people who werent committed to something larger than themselves to serving their fellow human beings. If youre considering joining these men and women in their fight against crime, or if youre just curious how the entire criminal justice system works, youve picked up the right book.

Here, I explore both the world of crime and societys response to it. Both topics are fascinating, exciting, and extremely vast. From the gangbanger who sells eight balls of crack on the street corner to the defense attorney fighting for his clients rights, to the cop whos just trying to get home to her family, I try to explain what people do and why they do it.

Criminology For Dummies, 2nd Edition, isnt a textbook (although, if youre a student, it may help you understand your criminology textbook). Its meant to give you an insiders look into the world of crime and criminal justice. Throughout the book, I try to make the concepts and principles of criminology come alive, because nothing is more real than personally experiencing crime.

I try very hard to avoid the use of complex terms in this book. As a prosecutor who has stood in front of numerous juries, I know that the secret to communicating is using straightforward language. Some of the ideas in criminology are complex, but their explanations dont have to be.

If youre considering a career in criminal justice, you should know that I dont pull any punches in this book. If I think a job is tough, I tell you so and give you the reasons why. But I also try to explain the job objectively so you can decide for yourself whether its the right move for you.

If you picked up this book simply because youre fascinated by crime, you may want to set this book on the nightstand next to your collection of works by Ann Rule, Sue Grafton, Patricia Cornwell, James Patterson, or the hundreds of other writers who make crime at least the fictional kind fun.

So were sure to be on the same page, so to speak, I use the following general conventions throughout the book:

• Bold text means that youre meant to type the text just as it appears in the book. The exception is when youre working through a steps list: Because each step is bold, the text to type is not bold.
• Web addresses appear in monofont. If youre reading a digital version of this book on a device connected to the Internet, note that you can click the web address to visit that website, like this: www.dummies.com .
• Whenever I introduce a word or phrase that may not be familiar to you, I put that word in italics. You can rest assured a definition or explanation is nearby.