U.S. criminal courts are constrained by several legal processes and organizational structures that determine how they operate and how laws are applied. Part I of American Criminal Courts: Legal Process and Social Context explores how democratic processes develop criminal law, the documents that define law, the organizational structure of courts at the federal and state level, the overlapping authority of the appeals process, and the effect of legal processes such as precedent, jurisdiction, and the underlying legal philosophies of various types of courts. Additionally, criminal courts are staffed by people who represent different domain perspectives, occupational pressures, and organizational goals. Thus, Part II includes chapters on actors in the traditional courtroom workgroup (judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys, etc.) as well as those outside the court who seek to influence it, including advocacy groups, the media, and politicians.It is the interplay between the court legal processes and the social actors in the courtroom that makes the application of criminal law fascinating. By focusing on the tension between the law and the actors inside of it, American Criminal Courts: Legal Process and Social Context demonstrates how the courts are a product of "law in action" and presents content in a way that enables you to understand not only the "how" of the U.S. criminal court system, but also the "why."

Chapter 1: Principles and Decision Making in U.S. Criminal Courts Part 1: Formal Social Control Chapter 2: Social Control, Comparative Courts, and the Development of the U.S. Judicial System Chapter 3: The Structure of Federal and State Courts Chapter 4: Criminal Law, Crime, and the Criminal Court Process Part 2: Negotiating Discretion, Making Decisions Chapter 5: The Reality of Legal Action: Principles, Organizations, and Public Pressure Chapter 6: Case Assessment, Case Attrition, and Decision to Charge Part 3: Decision Making in the Pretrial and Trial Process Chapter 7: The Pre-Trial Process Chapter 8: The Prosecutor and the Exertion of State Power Chapter 9: The Defense and Constraint on State Power Chapter 10: The Criminal Trial Process: Judges, Bench Trials, Jury Deliberation, and Sentencing Part 4: Specialized Courts Chapter 11: The Right to Appeal and the Appellate Process Chapter 12: Juvenile Courts Chapter 13: Specialized Courts Part 5: Frontiers of Justice Chapter 14: Fuzzy Justice: Alternatives to Court Chapter 15: Courts in the Future