NCJ Number
183641
Date Published
1998
Length
415 pages
Annotation
After investigating the immediate causes of the prison crisis and examining the history of crime and punishment, this book considers new ways of construing crime and identifies proven alternatives to imprisonment, with attention to the situation in Canada.
Abstract
The author argues that the prison boom is the "shadow" of the new social order that has been emerging during the last generation. The hallmarks of this order so far have been a general depreciation of the state's capacity to organize or improve society, an increasing polarization in the distribution of wealth, persistent high unemployment, and the liberation of capital from local loyalties and constraints. Rising levels of imprisonment characterize this new order in much the same way that mass incarcerations have marked earlier periods of upheaval in Western history. This book maintains that imprisonment will sometimes be necessary in the interests of public safety, but it should be used only when diligent efforts at reform and repair have failed. Part I examines the reasons why prison numbers have increased so relentlessly over the last 20 years; and Part II addresses both the practice and the theory of incarceration as a punishment for crime, with attention to the historical roots of this view. Part III describes a number of successful alternatives to prison that are used around the world, outlining the approach to criminal justice on which they are based. A concluding chapter examines the possibilities and the pitfalls of extending the use of these alternatives in Canada and elsewhere. Chapter notes and a subject index