This balanced book illuminates Republican and Democratic responses and attitudes toward crime, police work, sentencing, incarceration, and rehabilitation in the USA.

A broad array of law enforcement and criminal justice issues are examined, including mass incarceration, sentencing disparities, anti-drug efforts, marijuana legalization, death penalty, mandatory minimums, civil asset forfeiture, prison privatization, rape and other crimes in prison settings, women in prison, support for therapeutic/educational programs, sentencing for juvenile offenders, harsher penalties for hate crimes, and voting rights for ex-felons.

The focus is on specific and timely topics in criminal justice that are most susceptible to legislative policies. Readers will benefit by developing an appreciation for how politics impacts the criminal justice system, and how the parties have developed laws that impact their lives, dictate acceptable behavior, and legislate appropriate responses for violators. The emphasis of the series is contemporary, but it includes historical perspective to provide a sense of how each party's positions and actions have evolved over time.