Bruce Berg

In his fourth edition of Criminal Investigation, published in 2008, Dr. Bruce Berg created a practical, down-to-earth examination of various contemporary aspects of criminal investigation, with special attention placed on helping students better understand the legal aspects of collecting and processing evidence to ensure that their work will stand up in court. This new edition includes problems associated with the investigation of child predators on the Internet, updates the chapter on terrorism, and provides explanations of the many changes in investigation that have resulted from the Patriot Acts.

In 2007, Allyn & Bacon published the sixth edition of Dr. Berg's text Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. Covers collecting, organizing, and making sense of qualitative data, and discusses interviewing, ethnographic field strategies, sociometry, content analysis, ethical issues, and writing research papers. The book uses hands-on activities and real-life examples to provide the most comprehensive and straightforward coverage of doing qualitative research on the market.

Dr. Berg shows inexperienced researchers how to design, collect, and analyze data and then present their results to the scientific community, while stressing the importance of ethics in research and taking the time to properly design and think through any research endeavor. The fourth edition focuses greater attention on using the Internet both as a resource and a means for accessing qualitative data.

Hank Fradella

Published in 2008 by Wadsworth/Cengage, Dr. Fradella became a co-author of Professor John Ferdico's leading text Criminal Procedure for the Criminal Justice Professional. The book is the most accurate, up-to-date, and readable criminal procedure text available today, and its uniquely practical, real-life approach make it the best possible reference book for current and future criminal justice professionals. From individual rights to arrest, search and seizure, confessions, and pretrial identifications, this best seller provides students with all the information they need to understand the legal aspects of police investigatory practices. Using clear and concise statements of criminal procedure law and understandable explanations of the reasoning behind the law, authors Ferdico, Fradella, and Totten clarify potentially confusing and obscure legal matter. They reduce the complexity of criminal procedure law into simple, straightforward guidelines and recommendations, illustrated with interesting examples of actual cases.

Wadsworth/Cengage also published another of Dr. Fradella's books in early 2008, the second edition of his text Forensic Psychology: The Use of Behavioral Science in Civil and Criminal Justice. The book provides comprehensive, interdisciplinary coverage of forensic psychology, drawing from literature in psychology, law, sociology, philosophy, and public policy. It includes background information on major psychological paradigms and research methods; an overview of law, its functions, its methods, and judicial processes; a chapter dedicated to forensic clinical assessment and an appendix with the major diagnostic criteria for mental disorders that have particular relevance to forensic psychology; a chapter critiquing behavioral science, focusing on its roles in the medicalization of deviance and social control; criminal competencies to plead guilty, waive counsel, testify, waive an insanity defense, be sentenced, and be executed; involuntary civil commitment; civil competencies regarding contracts, wills, parental fitness, and guardianship/conservatorship; interdisciplinary coverage of police psychology, the psychology of juries, and the psychology of sentencing, punishment, and corrections; and in-depth, interdisciplinary coverage of all of the major uses of behavioral science in both the civil and criminal justice systems, such as issues concerning competency to stand trial; the insanity defense; diminished capacity based defenses such as the Black Rage Defense, the PMS Defense, media Intoxication defenses, the Battered Woman's Syndrome Defense, and other leading defense.

Judy Hails

Highly accessible and engaging, the sixth edition of Dr. Judy Hails's book Criminal Evidence was published in early 2008 by Wadsworth/Cengage. The book provides comprehensive coverage of all evidentiary topics common in criminal proceedings in a brief, reader-friendly paperback format that is uniquely affordable and manageable. The text thoroughly explores constitutional issues essential to the collection and seizure of admissible evidence and legal interrogation, carefully outlining concepts and processes applicable to every state and pointing out where great interstate variation exists or specific state codes may have a strong impact. Full of realistic case scenarios, the text maintains a strong practical focus to prepare students to apply their knowledge and skills in the real world as working law enforcement professionals. The newest is more practical and applied than ever, with new real-world case scenarios to open each chapter and vividly illustrate key concept(s), activities throughout the text to help students apply learning in a realistic context, and writing assignments in every chapter based on relevant and compelling real-life cases. It also includes abundant new material on important current trends and topics such as terrorism and homeland security, scientific evidence, Federal Rules of Evidence, hearsay, the appellate system, and other key areas students will likely encounter as they begin or continue their careers a professional law enforcement officials.

Tracy Tolbert

Published in 2006 by Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., The Sex Crimes Scenario is Tolbert’s first book. The qualitative, empirical study is based on more than four years of face-to-face interviews with 20 women of varying social and demographic backgrounds. The common theme between them is that all had experienced some form of sexual assault during the course of their lives. “I wanted to understand the facilitators and barriers affecting the way women report sex crimes,” said Tolbert, a Long Beach resident who joined the university in 1997. The Sex Crimes Scenario is a theoretical model that provides a way to answer some of the questions inherent to the paradox. Despite the belief that rape, domestic violence, incest, and a range of criminal activity involving sexual assault, are anomalous occurrences, sex crimes such as domestic violence do not occur within a vacuum. Rather, they are produced within the context of a scenario which constitutes a series of events, situations and circumstances that come together in time and space to form relationships where sex crimes are committed on a regular basis. She hopes that readers come away from her book with a deeper understanding of the significance of sex crimes. “They exist and they’re not going away,” she said. “The numbers of sex crimes occurring today are increasing, while the numbers of women reporting them are decreasing. It seems counter-intuitive but it’s true. Despite all the advances women have made in the last 30 years, it appears there are still silent forces operating in our society designed to thwart any attempt for women to find encouragement and support in these situations.”

John Wang

Published in English in June 2007 by the Press of China Public Security University, Asia Organized Crime and Gangs in the US is considered the first book on such a topic. Published in hard and soft cover, Asian Organized Crime features 13 articles written by Wang for various refereed journals in the U.S. from 1993-2005. The 13 articles cover a variety of subjects ranging from Triads, Asian gang affiliation patterns, bank robbery, and illegal immigration to Laotian/Hmong gangs. Wang demonstrates his application of 10 research approaches such as trend study, contextual study, survey (quantitative analysis), interview (qualitative analysis), theory testing, theory and policy construction, modus operandi analysis, content analysis, cases study, and field work.  In the appendix section, Wang provides a list of journals, abstract, indexes and online Web sites on criminal justice and criminology by category and alphabetic order. Wang argues the increase of transnational crime is related to the growth of electronic and digital technology, the lag time between crime and the laws, and the rise of international business. “Today’s Asian criminals have moved from street crimes to high tech crimes,” he said. “The technology like Internet, cyberspace, laser printer, and international telephone cards is readily available. Plus, we need to improve our laws and plug the loopholes. The law needs to catch up with criminals before it can catch them.” Further, the growing number of international travelers has made more and more people into citizens of the world, Wang believes. “There are big language and cultural barriers to overcome as part of transnational business and that relates to transnational crime as well,” he said. “The solution to fighting against such crimes effectively is a better understanding of both sides of our world. A transnational crime task force could be formed between the East and the West to make that fight more effective in the future.” Using his sabbatical leave this spring, Wang finished this Asian Organized Crime book and has completed the draft of another book entitled Essentials of Forensic Science.