NCJ Number
12767
Date Published
1973
Length
605 pages
Annotation
TEXTBOOK ON CORRECTIONAL PROCESS, INCLUDING SENTENCING, INCARCERATION, PUNISHMENT AND TREATMENT, PRISON RELEASE, AND PARDON.
Abstract
COMING AT A TIME WHEN CRIME, THE CRIMINAL, AND THE QUALITY OF JUSTICE HAVE BEEN FORCED INTO PUBLIC ATTENTION BY VIOLENT PRISON PROTESTS AND PRISONER RIGHTS MOVEMENTS, THIS COMPREHENSIVE STUDY PROVIDES IMPORTANT RATIONAL INSIGHTS INTO THE CORRECTIONS PROCESS. FOCUSING ON THE LEGAL PROCESSES WHICH OCCUR AFTER A FELON HAS BEEN CONVICTED, THE STUDY EXAMINES SENTENCING, IMPRISONMENT, AND RELEASE FROM PRISON. IT GIVES THE READER AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE CORRECTIONS PROCESS BY INTERWEAVING DATA FROM THESE THREE DISCIPLINES. THE AUTHOR PRESENTS RELEVANT STATUTES AND JUDICIAL DECISIONS AS WELL AS SOCIOLOGICAL AND RESEARCH FINDINGS IN HIS EXAMINATION OF THE CORRECTIONS PROCESS IN ITS INTERNATIONAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT. HE MAKES USE OF HIS YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AS A MEMBER OF THE CONNECTICUT PAROLE BOARD IN PRESENTING DATA ABOUT THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE INMATE'S LIFE AT EVERY STAGE OF THE CORRECTIONS PROCESS. ALSO INCLUDED ARE A VARIETY OF STATEMENTS ABOUT PRISON MADE BY THE INMATES THEMSELVES. THE STUDY DISCUSSES THE RATIONALE BEHIND THE COERCIVE PENAL TREATMENT MODEL AND QUESTIONS THE FACTUAL ASSUMPTIONS AND VALUE JUDGEMENTS THAT UNDERLIE CONTEMPORARY CORRECTIONS PRACTICE. AS LONG AS CRIMINAL JUSTICE REMAINS SUBJECT TO ATTACK AS THE SURVIVING BASTION OF ABSOLUTE LEGAL DISCRETION, THE ISSUES RAISED IN THIS BOOK ARE CRUCIAL FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED IN THE STUDY OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROCESS. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT) (SNI ABSTRACT)