NCJ Number
54560
Date Published
1936
Length
143 pages
Annotation
THIS 1936 STUDY INVESTIGATES THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC BACKGROUNDS OF 100 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PRISONERS AND EXAMINES THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH THE PAROLE BOARD AND WITH THE COMMUNITY WHEN THEY BECOME PAROLEES.
Abstract
THE STUDY PRODUCES A GENERAL PICTURE OF THE PRISONERS FROM THE LORTON REFORMATORY USING DATA GATHERED THROUGH PRISONER INVERVIEWS. RESULTS INDICATE THAT THE PRISONERS ARE MOSTLY FROM NATIVE FAMILIES, ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY BLACK (70 PERCENT), HAVE HAD POOR RELATIONSHIPS WTTH THEIR PARENTS, AND COME FROM ECONOMICALLY DEPRIVED FAMILIES AND BROKEN HOMES. IN ONLY 14 FAMILIES WERE SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS DESCRIBED AS NORMAL AND LESS THAN 10 PERCENT OF THE FAMILY CONDITIONS WERE FAVORABLE FOR SOCIALIZATION OF THE CHILDREN. THE FAMILIES OF THE PRISONERS WERE SLIGHTLY LARGER THAN THOSE OF THE NORMAL POPULATION. THE HABITS OF THE PRISONERS AS CHILDREN INCLUDED LARGE AMOUNTS OF UNSUPERVISED PLAY AND GANG AFFILIATIONS. MOST OF THE PRISONERS HAD LENGTHY DELINQUENT RECORDS. STUDY OF PAROLE BOARD OPERATIONS INDICATED THAT THE BOARD HAD LITTLE SOCIAL OR ECONOMIC INFORMATION ON PERSONS ELIGIBLE FOR PAROLE. OF THE STUDY SAMPLE, 45 PRISONERS WERE GRANTED PAROLE, 55 WERE DENIED, AND 2 WERE NOT GRANTED HEARINGS BY 1936. LATER, 53 PRISONERS WERE GRANTED CONDITIONAL PAROLE. THE MAJOR PROBLEM OF THESE PAROLEES IN READJUSTING TO THE COMMUNITY WAS ECONOMIC SECURITY. PAROLE OFFICERS DIRECTED THEM TO COMMUNITY RESOURCES BASED ON THEIR NEEDS AND ABILITIES. THE SOCIOPSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE PRISONER'S PROBLEMS, IT IS CONCLUDED, WOULD APPEAR TO SUGGEST THAT INDIVIDUALIZATION OF TREATMENT IS NECESSARY FOR THE SOLUTION OF THE EX-PRISONERS' DIFFICULTIES AND FOR THEIR RESTORATION TO USEFUL POSITIONS IN SOCIETY. TABULAR DATA AND REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (DAG)