Crime And Punishment in America (American Experience)

Gr 9 Up—Expansive in scope, this highly readable and illustrated compendium covers from the Spanish conquests of the New World and the Salem witch trials to the September 11 terrorist attacks and cyber-crime in the 21st century. Extending beyond the traditionally infamous gangsters, juvenile delinquents, and serial killers, Wolcott and Head's thoughtful and thorough analysis brings gender, race, and political issues into focus as well. It attends to women criminals (Lizzie Borden) and activists (Ida B. Wells) and issues such as domestic abuse and abortion-clinic bombing. There is a strong emphasis on the treatment of African Americans by the justice system, linking societal and justice issues to conditions established under slavery—a relationship that is traced from the abolition movement and the Underground Railroad up to the Rodney King beating and the Los Angeles riots of 1992. Each chapter presents a 10- to 12-page chronological analysis of an era, followed by a year-by-year time line and a fascinating three- to seven-page compendium of primary-source quotations and narratives. The four appendixes include 25 pages of excerpts from important documents, 33 pages of capsule biographies, and sections of maps, graphs, and tables. Though much of this material can be found in online databases, this engaging volume will prove useful to researchers who have an interest in the legal system.—Herman Sutter, St. Agnes Academy, Houston, TX