NCJ Number
176864
Date Published
1997
Length
296 pages
Annotation
A seminar held in 1997 to focus on prison population issues in Europe and North America examined factors related to prison overcrowding, sentencing policies, the practical implementation of prison sentences, circumstances connected with release from prison, factors influencing public attitudes toward corrections, and the role of the mass media.
Abstract
Individual papers presented the results of a survey of 33 countries regarding factors affecting the size of inmate populations and ways of managing systems when numbers are increasing, discussed the conundrum of rising prison populations and stable crime rates in the United States, and examined the role of public opinion in corrections policies. Other papers focused on the impact of judges on inmate populations, the impact of the Russian Federation's new criminal code on the prison population, and modes of turnover of inmate populations in Europe. Further papers discussed factors influencing the correctional population in Canada, methods of regulating the prison population, management issues related to increasing prison populations, and factors related to decreasing inmate populations over 15 years in Finland. Figures, tables, footnotes, reference lists, and appended agenda and list of participants and others