Investigating Difference : Human and Cultural Relations In Criminal Justice

This is the first book to provide an overview of such a broad range of diverse groups within the criminal justice system. Investigating Difference encompasses the full spectrum from cultural, gender and religious diversity, to the diversity presented by individuals in disadvantaged age categories, with physical and mental disabilities, and from immigrant backgrounds. Groups perceived as different are presented not only as offenders and victims, but as service-providers.

Investigating Difference presents issues of difference in a balanced social and historical context. The authors represent an expansive and diverse group of leading educators, researchers, and criminal justice professionals. Together, they show students how power and powerlessness form an essential framework for understanding the relationship between the criminal justice system and those members categorized as different. This book will help students, some for the first time, confront the consequences of difference, and the reality that someone else may have defined both the “difference” and the “consequence.” Students will learn how some categories carry privilege and responsibility, while other categories carry burden and/or rejection. They will also learn that difference can be used as a resource in Criminal Justice practice and policy making.