NCJ Number
11444
Date Published
1973
Length
77 pages
Annotation
RESULTS OF CALIFORNIA STUDY INDICATE THAT TIME SERVED IN PRISON MAY BE REDUCED WITHOUT AFFECTING THE INMATES' SUBSEQUENT LEVEL OF RECIDIVISM.
Abstract
A SAMPLE OF 494 MEN WHO HAD THEIR PRISON TERMS REDUCED BY SIX MONTHS WERE COMPARED WITH 515 MEN WHOSE TERMS WERE NOT REDUCED, THEIR LEVELS OF RECIDIVISM WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR ON PAROLE DID NOT DIFFER. THE INMATES HAD BEEN RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO THE TWO GROUPS SO THAT ANY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM OTHER THAN IN THE REDUCTION IN TIME SERVED WOULD BE ELIMINATED (TECHNICALLY, RANDOMIZED). SEVERAL CHECKS ON THEIR COMPARABILITY GAVE NO REASON TO REJECT THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THEY WERE COMPARABLE, AND A CHECK ON THE EXPERIMENTAL VARIABLE INDICATED THAT THE EXPERIMENTALS DID, INDEED, SERVE LESS TIME IN PRISON. THE INMATES WERE FURTHER CLASSIFIED INTO 29 (OVERLAPPING) TYPES DRAWN FROM SIX TYPOLOGIES. THERE WAS NOT SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO ASSERT CONFIDENTLY THAT A REDUCTION (OF SIX MONTHS) IN TIME SERVED IN PRISON HAS A DIFFERENTIAL EFFECT UPON MALE FELONS OF DIFFERENT TYPES. DETAILED DISCUSSION IS ALSO PRESENTED ON THE VARIOUS CRIMINAL TYPOLOGIES AND MODES OF ADAPTATION TO PRISON LIFE. NUMEROUS STATISTICS ON PAROLE OUTCOME IN RELATION TO CRIMINAL TYPOLOGIES ARE ALSO INCLUDED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED)