MEASURING INMATE CHANGE IN PRISON (FROM PRISON, STUDIES IN INSTITUTIONAL ORGANIZATION AND CHANGE - SEE NCJ-02358)

• NCJ Number: 6965
• Author(s): D GLASER; J R STRATTON
• Date Published: 1961
• Length: 12 pages
• Corporate Author: Holt, Rinehart and Winston
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: CHAPTER 10, P 381-392

Annotation

DISCUSSION OF TWO RESEARCH APPROACHES TO MEASURING THE EXTENT TO WHICH INMATES HAVE CHANGED DURING THEIR CORRECTIONAL EXPERIENCE.

Abstract

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF SOCIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE TO JUDICIAL AND CORRECTIONAL DECISIONS DEPENDS GREATLY ON ABILITY TO MEASURE INMATE CHANGE IN PRISON. DIFFERENTIATION OF PRISONER BEHAVIOR ON THE BASIS OF INMATE SOCIAL TYPES HAS DIRECTED ATTENTION TO POLAR PATTERNS, BUT PRISONERS DISPLAY SOME ATTRIBUTES OF SEVERAL PATTERNS. THIS SUGGESTS THE NEED FOR DIFFERENTIATING INMATES BY FINER GRADATIONS OF CRUCIAL VARIABLES. TWO APPROACHES TO DISCERNMENT OF CHANGE ON SPECIFIC VARIABLES WERE DESCRIBED. THE FIRST WAS SEQUENTIAL MEASUREMENT OF CHARACTERISTICS OF INMATES AT DIFFERENT STAGES IN CORRECTIONAL EXPERIENCE. THE SECOND WAS EX POST FACTO CORRELATION OF POST-RELEASE BEHAVIOR WITH LENGTH OF EXPOSURE TO IMPRISONMENT, OR WITH MANIFESTATIONS OF BEHAVIOR RECORDED DURING IMPRISONMENT. RESEARCH ON BOTH OF THESE METHODS STILL IS HIGHLY LIMITED, BUT RESULTS ALREADY ARE OF CONSIDERABLE INTEREST AND SUGGEST GREAT PROMISE IN FURTHER EFFORTS. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)