Criminal Justice in America, 11th Edition

The late George F. Cole was professor emeritus of political science at the University of Connecticut. He was recognized for outstanding teaching and research, and in 1995 was named a fellow of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. A specialist in the administration of criminal justice, Dr. Cole published extensively on such topics as prosecution, courts and corrections. He also developed and directed the graduate corrections program at the University of Connecticut and was a fellow at the National Institute of Justice (1988). Among his other accomplishments, Dr. Cole was granted two awards under the Fulbright-Hays Program to conduct criminal justice research in England and the former Yugoslavia.

Christopher E. Smith is professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University (MSU). He earned degrees at Harvard University, the University of Bristol (England), the University of Tennessee and the University of Connecticut. Trained as a lawyer and social scientist, he is the author of 25 books and more than 120 scholarly articles on law, courts and criminal justice policy. He has been recognized as an outstanding teacher with MSU's "Teacher-Scholar Award" and "Social Science Alumni Association Outstanding Teaching Award." His other books with Cengage include "Criminal Justice in America", "Law and Contemporary Corrections, Constitutional Rights: Myths and Realities" and "Criminal Procedure."

Christina DeJong is an associate professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University. She earned her Ph.D. in criminal justice and criminology at the University of Maryland and her BA in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin. Her scholarly research on topics such as genocide, recidivism, domestic violence and police-community interactions has been published in numerous journals, including Criminology, Justice Quarterly, Feminist Criminology and The Journal of Family Violence. Dr. DeJong's current research focuses on gender and sexuality issues in criminology and criminal justice as well as violence against women in conflict and genocide. A member of the Michigan State University faculty since 1994, she has taught courses on research methods, statistical analysis, genocide and women and criminal justice. She is also a co-author of Cengage's "The American System of Criminal Justice."

Bryan D. Byers is professor emeritus of criminal justice and criminology at Ball State University where he taught for nearly 30 years. He has been teaching college and university courses since 1984 and currently teaches adjunct courses for San Diego State University and is a criminal justice author. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Notre Dame in sociology with specializations in law and society and social psychology, MA at Bowling Green State University in sociology with a focus on social psychology and BS from Ball State University with a criminal justice major and double minors in the psychology of human growth and development and interpersonal relations. His scholarly research in areas such as bias crime, crisis intervention, elder abuse, social psychology, ethics and research methods and data analysis has been published in numerous journals and chapters as well as scholarly books. He has eight books to his credit, some in multiple editions, along with over 30 scholarly articles and book chapters. He is a former president of the Midwestern Criminal Justice Association (MCJA) and serves as a certified program reviewer for the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS). In addition to his academic work, he is a certified Medico-Legal Death Investigator. Before entering academia, he held a number of professional criminal justice positions including a prosecutor’s special investigator and a juvenile institutional corrections worker.