This reader provides the lived experiences of those who work in or who are affected by the criminal justice system. By providing firsthand experiences these articles are able to convey to student readers what to expect when selecting a career in criminal justice. In addition, these articles are precisely the types of scholarly work that students enjoy reading. In addition, an introductory essay by the authors to the book as a whole, followed by lengthy introductions to each reading encourage students to see how each article sheds light on an important issue affecting the cj system, and how each article should also be judged on its method for getting at "reality." As a result, students learn more deeply and are more engaged by this text/reader for introduction to cj than from conventional (and more expensive) texts.