The legal process: Modeling the system

The legal process: Modeling the system

280 CURRENT PUBLICATIONABSTRACTS Each chapter of the text ends with a series of review questions pertaining to the material contained within the cha...

56KB Sizes 3 Downloads 69 Views

280

CURRENT PUBLICATIONABSTRACTS

Each chapter of the text ends with a series of review questions pertaining to the material contained within the chapter, and a selected bibliographic list governing various topics discussed in the chapter. The book also contains a detailed table of contents and an index.

Criminal Justice Management edited by Harry W. More, Jr. West Publishing Co. (50 Kellogg Boulevard, St. Paul, Minnesota 55102), 1977, 377 pp., softcover. According to More, the "core of 'justice' as we know it in the United States" is criminal justice management, which seeks to integrate the organizational and human aspects of the police, courts, corrections a n d " systems." This book is a collection of essays and articles from numerous experts. It focuses on the importance of our democratic social system and attempts to provide a balance between the four elements of criminal justice management. The book is divided into five parts. In addition to the areas of management, there is a final section about the dimension of change---overcoming obstacles, measuring effectiveness and recognizing limitations. Each part contains an introduction, a half-dozen articles, and an annotated bibliography. The articles provide explanations of models, differing approaches, suggestions for reform, and references. An index is included.

The Legal Process: Modeling the System by Stuart S. Nagel and Marian Neef. Sage Publications, Inc. (275 South Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, California 90212), 1977, 216 pp., softcover--$6.95. This book uses logical and mathematical methods to model the operations of the legal process and to find ways of making this process function more dffectively. Using economics and statistics, the authors point out how the legal system can be made more efficient and how the net benefits derived from the system by society can be maximized. In twelve short chapters, analyses are made of: perspectives for improving the criminal justice process, causal analysis and the legal process, optimizing the number of defendants to be released prior to trial, providing legal counsel for the poor, optimizing the mix between case handling and law reform in the legal services program, striking a balance between a free press and a fair trial, impact of plea bargaining, selection of judges, impact of jury size on the probability of conviction, racial disparities in sentencing, and effect of the sex of jurors on the outcome of personal injury cases. Name and subject indexes are also included.

Scientists in Organizations---Productive Climates for Research and Development by Donald C. Pelz and Frank M. Andrews. The Institute For Social Research (The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109), 1976, 401 pp., clothbound--$14.00. This book is an expanded and updated version of the original volume published in 1966. The intent is the same--to provide scientists in research and development organizations a conceptual framework and a practical approach for working in a stimulating and productive atmosphere. Data collected from thirteen hundred scientists was analyzed to discover what kind of working environment stimulates creativity and high performance, and what factors have the greatest effect on