This new and expanded edition builds upon material from the highly successful first edition. A comprehensive textbook on the criminal justice system, the book assesses the main theories concerned with the causes of crime (including white-collar and corporate crime), discusses the operation of all key criminal justice agencies - including the police, probation and prison services and the legal and youth justice systems -and identifies the main themes underpinning contemporary criminal justice policy. Key additions include:

• updated material from the first edition, incorporating changes to criminal justice policy introduced by the 2010 Coalition government;
• a new chapter that presents an overview of the criminal justice system;
• discussions of the evolving EU criminal justice system and the implications of this for UK criminal justice policy.

The book is an ideal text for students taking courses in criminal justice, or studying criminal justice as a component of a broader course in criminology or the social sciences and practitoners within these fields. It is written in a highly accessible manner and has a wide range of features that include questions, key chapter themes, a timeline of main events, a glossary of key terms, a website resource guide.

This is a clearly written and comprehensive introductory text for students of criminology and criminal justice. Its wide overage and sections on key events and readings enable readers to dip in and out and points them in the right direction for more detailed studies as their interests develop.

Mike Nash, Professor of Criminology, Director of Community Justice, University of Portsmouth

Peter Joyce is Principal Lecturer in Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University. He is an experienced and successful textbook author, and the author of Criminology and Criminal Justice: a study guide, published by Willan Publishing (2009).