Contemporary Corrections: A Critical Thinking Approach

Contemporary Corrections: A Critical Thinking Approach introduces readers to the essential elements of the US corrections system without drowning students in a sea of nonessential information. Unbiased and accessible, the text includes coverage of the history of corrections, alternatives to incarceration, probation/parole, race/ethnicity/gender issues in corrections, re-entry into the community, and more. The authors' unparalleled practical approach, reinforced by contemporary examples, illuminates the role corrections plays in our society.

The authors have reinvigorated earlier work with additional content on international comparative data to increase our understanding of how prison officials in other nations have developed different types of responses to the problems that challenge every US correctional administrator, a new chapter on correctional personnel, and an integration of race and ethnicity issues throughout the book.

Unrivaled in scope, this book offers undergraduates a concise but comprehensive introduction to corrections with textual materials and assignments designed to encourage students’ critical thinking skills.

Rick Ruddell is Professor and Law Foundation of Saskatchewan Chair in Police Studies at the University of Regina. Prior to this appointment, he served as Director of Operational Research with the Correctional Service of Canada and held faculty positions at Eastern Kentucky University and the California State University, Chico. In addition to publishing over 130 articles and technical reports, his recently published books include Oil, Gas, and Crime: The Dark Side of the Boomtown, Policing Rural Canada, Exploring Criminal Justice in Canada, and Making Sense of Criminal Justice.

G. Larry Mays is Regents Professor Emeritus at New Mexico State University. He has published more than 100 journal articles, practitioner texts, book chapters, and encyclopedia entries. Among the books he has coauthored are America's Courts and the Judicial Process, 2nd edition (2017), Introduction to Criminal Justice, 2nd edition (2019), and Making Sense of Criminal Justice, 3rd edition (2019). Mays has received numerous awards, including the Carnegie Foundation's Professor of the Year for the State of New Mexico, and he is a life member of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.

L. Thomas Winfree, Jr. is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Criminal Justice at New Mexico State University. Besides teaching literally tens of thousands of students over his 40-year academic career, Winfree authored or co-authored over 130 refereed articles and book chapters. Moreover, he is the coauthor of two anthologies and eight textbooks, most recently Essentials of Criminological Theory with Howard Abadinsky (2017); Mental Illness and Criminal Justice with Anne Fisher Segal and Stan Friedman (2019); and Introduction to Criminal Justice: The Essentials with G. Larry Mays and Leanne Fiftal Alarid (2021).