Books by Kitty Calavita

Published in 2010 and with over 8,700 copies sold, Calavita s book has already established itself as the leading introduction to the field of law and society. Everyone has some idea of what lawyers do. And most people have at least heard of criminologists. But, who knows what law and society is? It is, in fact, a rapidly-growing interdisciplinary field which turns on its head the conventional, idealized view of Law as a magisterial abstraction. Rather than look at law-on-the-books, the field focuses on law-in-action how law both shapes and manifests itself in the institutions and interactions of human society. This formative theme runs through Kitty Calavita s engagingly and concisely written book. Intended to introduce students and curious outsiders alike to the field, the book uses a conversational style to survey the field s prominent issues and distinctive approaches, from the ubiquity of law in everyday life to its potential and limits in effecting social change. For the second edition, Calavita has made changes throughout the book. updating the many illustrations and anecdotes used to clarify concepts and theories, so they may more directly resonate with the contemporary reader. There is also an entirely new chapter introducing the reader to the law and cultural studies movement that has become increasingly prominent in the field."

Having gained unique access to California prisoners and corrections officials and to thousands of prisoners' written grievances and institutional responses, Kitty Calavita and Valerie Jenness take us inside one of the most significant, yet largely invisible, institutions in the United States. Drawing on sometimes startlingly candid interviews with prisoners and prison staff, as well as on official records, the authors walk us through the byzantine grievance process, which begins with prisoners filing claims and ends after four levels of review, with corrections officials usually denying requests for remedies. Appealing to Justice is both an unprecedented study of disputing in an extremely asymmetrical setting and a rare glimpse of daily life inside this most closed of institutions. Quoting extensively from their interviews with prisoners and officials, the authors give voice to those who are almost never heard from. These voices unsettle conventional wisdoms within the sociological literature-for example, about the reluctance of vulnerable and/or stigmatized populations to name injuries and file claims, and about the relentlessly adversarial subjectivities of prisoners and correctional officials-and they do so with striking poignancy. Ultimately, Appealing to Justice reveals a system fraught with impediments and dilemmas, which delivers neither justice, nor efficiency, nor constitutional conditions of confinement.

At a cost of $500 billion to American taxpayers, the savings and loan debacle of the 1980s was the worst financial crisis of the 20th century as well as a crime unparalleled in American history. This title demonstrates how systematic political collusion - not just policy errors - was a critical ingredient in this unprecedented series of frauds.