NCJ Number
108613
Editor(s)
B Szumski
Date Published
1985
Length
157 pages
Annotation
Prisoners, psychologists, crime victims, and others are the sources of papers that debate issues pertaining to the purpose of prisons, how prisons affect inmates, how offenders should be sentenced, and alternatives to prison.
Abstract
Papers which address the purpose of prisons consider whether prisons should and can rehabilitate, whether prisons should punish, whether punishment is effective, and whether prisons do or do not protect society. Papers dealing with prison's affect on criminals debate whether prisons create a criminal personality or the criminal personality exists prior to prison, whether prisons are violent and dehumanizing, and whether prisons can have their intended effect if they are too comfortable. In discussing sentences, papers address the pros and cons of selective imprisonment and crime victims' participation in sentencing. Discussions of alternatives to prison focus on the effectiveness of probation, the efficiency and fairness of privately operated prisons, offender restitution to victims, military conscription, and corporal punishment. Chapter bibliographies, list of organizations to contact, list of 10 periodicals which feature prison issues, and subject index.