The Fall 2008 issue focuses on efforts to improve the jury system with articles on the comprehensibility of new jury instructions, how the internet has affected the jury trial, and more.
A redacted and updated version of the article "Community Justice Around the Globe," which originally appeared in Crime & Justice International. Published in Judicature, Vol. 91, No. 6, May-June 2008.
Francis Cullen is a Professor at the University of Cincinnati's Division of Criminal Justice and the author of several books on criminal rehabilitation and criminological theory.
An experimental study involving the random assignment of domestic violence offenders to a batterer program or not. The study examines whether batterer program assignment affects official re-arrest rates as well as victim reports of re-abuse. Published in Justice Quarterly, Volume 25, Number 2 (June 2008). Key findings are also presented in Chapters Four and Five of Testing the Effectiveness of Batterer Programs and Judicial Monitoring
Gary Hinzman shares his thoughts about the challenge of educating the public about how the criminal justice system operates, the danger of so-called “copycat” programs and the need to educate the public about what criminal justice reforms can actually accomplish.
Criminologist Joan Petersilia shares her thoughts about the importance of modest expectations for criminal justice reform, the scientific legacy of Robert Martinson, and how best to prepare for high-profile tragedies that can threaten criminal justice reform efforts.
Ed Rhine is the Deputy Director of the Office of Policy and Offender Reentry for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. He received his B.A. degree in Sociology from Ohio University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Sociology from Rutgers University. He has served in administrative positions in corrections in New Jersey and Georgia. He teaches part-time as an instructor in the Sociology Department at The Ohio State University.
This study examines the perceptions of self-represented tenants in an innovative housing court at the Harlem Community Justice Center. Harlem tenants viewed the experience in more positive terms than litigants in a conventional court, in large part because they were more likely to perceive the court process and outcome as fair.