CJ: Realities and Challenges

CJ: Realities and Challenges empowers students to think critically about the daily realities and challenges of the criminal justice system. Using the text's framework of Observe–Investigate–Understand, students learn to recognize the myths of the U.S. criminal justice system and gain a greater comprehension of its complexities.

CJ: Realities and Challenges brings together the insights of an expert author team of practitioners and scholars to present a contemporary and realistic perspective on a vital U.S. institution. With Connect Criminal Justice, a groundbreaking digital program, students study more effectively by using engaging activities to confirm what they know and to learn what they don’t know.

Ruth E. Masters is currently the Chair of the Department of Criminology at California State University, Fresno where she has been teaching since 1972. She received her Ed.D. from the University of Southern California in 1978. A former parole agent, she was the sole author and lead author of two criminology textbooks. She was selected in 1999 for the Author of the Year Award by the National Association of Forensic Counselors for her book Counseling Criminal Justice Offenders. Her special interests include corrections, addiction, criminological theory, and cross-cultural administration of justice. She has conducted criminal justice programs in Amsterdam, France, Italy, Scotland, Greece, Belgium, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Brazil, Hong Kong, The Czech Republic, Peru, China, Turkey, Ireland, New Zealand, and Thailand.

Lori Beth Way is an Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Criminal Justice program at California State University, Chico. Her research areas are primarily in the subfields of policing and courts. Dr. Way is also Project Director for a federally funded grant that works to reduce the crimes of sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and stalking in the campus community. Besides teaching at CSU, Chico, she is also an instructor at the local police academy.

Phyllis B. Gerstenfeld is Professor and Chair of Criminal Justice at California State University, Stanislaus, where she has taught since 1993. She received a Ph.D. in Psychology and a J.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research interests include hate crimes, juvenile justice, and law and psychology. She is author of several books and book chapters, including a textbook on hate crimes, and she has co-edited a hate crimes reader as well.

Bernadette T. Muscat has worked with victims of domestic violence by serving as a legal advocate. She has worked with law enforcement agencies, victim services, and court programs for program and policy development, evaluation, research, and training to ensure effective administration of victim assistance. She has also worked with state coalitions to develop and implement victim-related polices. She has written, presented, and provided professional entry level and advanced training nationwide on topics such as domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, trauma response, elder abuse, victims with disabilities, workplace violence, underserved victim populations, and campus oriented crimes, research, and policy development.

Michael Hooper is the Bureau Chief of California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). He began his involvement with the criminal justice system as a member of the Los Angeles Police Department. His 23 years of LAPD experience encompassed positions as a patrol officer, field supervisor, and watch commander. This was followed by five years of service on the Criminal Justice Program faculty at Penn State University's Capitol Campus. He currently manages POST's Center for Leadership Development, which provides core leadership training for all of California's peace officers promoted to supervisory, management, and executive positions.