This unique book combines the insights of major office-holders, experienced practitioners and leading academics to provide a comprehensive overview of the Irish criminal justice system, its current problems and its vision for the future. Informative accounts of the institutions, services and legal framework of the system, including the criminal law, the courts, the Garda Siochana and the penal system are presented alongside perceptive analyses of key criminological problems. Sociologists, psychologists, philosophers, educationalists and legal scholars contribute their incisive critical perspectives on issues such as the roots and nature of crime the societal response to crime, the role of drugs and innovative approaches to prevention and rehabilitation.