Debating Crime

This collection of readings examines the contested questions facing the American criminal justice system. Its selections cover heated debates over firearms regulation, capital punishment, racial and gender disparities, the handing of prisons to private companies, and the nation's campaign against narcotics.

Most chapters present opposing arguments side by side, so readers meet each controversy as a genuine dispute rather than a settled matter. The format is built to sharpen critical thinking as students weigh the evidence and reasoning on each side.