NCJ Number
127146
Date Published
1989
Length
371 pages
Annotation
This is a study of criminal career patterns over time, demonstrating how imprisonment positively correlates with later recidivism.
Abstract
The study combines original research and a 10-year followup study of Swedish inmates and surveys their attitudes on a range of subjects from political ideology to prison reform. The study also includes official statements and administrative-staff assessments from the institutions examined. Thirteen correctional institutions, ranging from training schools to youth and adult prisons as well as a preventive detention facility, are analyzed. These four types of facilities encompass representative samples of male and female and young and old offenders. Individual and group interviews reveal that the form of incarceration is less significant in determining prisoner behavior than the fact of incarceration itself. The fact of criminalization rather than the goal of rehabilitation creates conditions of permanent incarceration. The book compares penal institutions and policies in the United States with those in Sweden. Appended supplementary information, name and subject indexes, and a 300-item bibliography