Nos últimos trinta trinta anos, houve profundas mudanças na forma como compreendemos o crime e a justiça criminal. O crime tornou-se um evento simbólico, um verdadeiro teste para a ordem social e para as políticas governamentais, um desafio para a sociedade civil, para a democracia e para os direitos humanos. Segundo David Garland, professor da Faculdade de Direito da New York University, um dos principais autores no campo da Sociologia da Punição e com artigo publicado na Revista de Sociologia e Política , número 13, na modernidade tardia houve uma verdadeira obsessão securitária, direcionando as políticas criminais para um maior rigor em relação às penas e maior intolerância com o criminoso. Há trinta anos, nos EUA e na Inglaterra essa tendência era insuspeita. O livro mostra que os dois países compartilham intrigantes similaridades em suas práticas criminais, a despeito da divisão racial, das desigualdades econômicas e da letalidade violenta que marcam fortemente o cenário americano. Segundo David Garland, encontram-se nos dois países os “mesmos tipos de riscos e inseguranças, a mesma percepção a respeito dos problemas de um controle social não-efetivo, as mesmas críticas da justiça criminal tradicional, e as mesmas ansiedades recorrentes sobre mudança e ordem sociais”1 (GARLAND, 2001, p. 2). O argumento principal da obra é o seguinte: a modernidade tardia, esse distintivo padrão de relações sociais, econômicas e culturais, trouxe consigo um conjunto de riscos, inseguranças e problemas de controle social que deram uma configuração específica às nossas respostas ao crime, ao garantir os altos custos das políticas criminais, o grau máximo de duração das penas e a excessivas taxas de encarceramento.

http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rsocp/n20/n20a15.pdf

The culture of control: crime and social order in contemporary, society

The Limits of the Criminal Sanction

Thinking About Crime

Recent judgments in the Court of Appeal have highlighted the significance of battered woman syndrome. This article describes the origin and features of the syndrome and some of its shortcomings. Medical aspects and legal applications of the concept are discussed. Language: en

Battered woman syndrome.

Hard Time: Understanding and Reforming the Prison

According to the research literature, the relationship between battered women and the police tends to be unsatisfactory and frustrating, characterized by a mutual lack of understanding. The aim of the present study is to consider how women who seek police help in the wake of violent attacks by their husbands perceive the attitude of the policemen during their encounter at the police station. The findings indicate that most of the women lodged a complaint out of feelings of fear and humiliation, expecting to receive some manner of support and protection. However, they perceived that the police did not understand their situation, tended to be suspicious of their motives, and believed them to be seeking revenge or trying to exact some sort of profit.

The Battered Wife’s Perception of the Characteristics of Her Encounter with the Police

Although there are many evaluations of domestic violence rehabilitation programs, it is still unclear “what works” in this field, especially when it comes to programs within prison walls. Today, most studies indicate that domestic violence programs based on cognitive behavioral treatment, or psycho-educational models show small positive results. Yet, there is still insufficient empirical literature providing adequate evidence for the impact of integrative treatment, where different methods and approaches toward domestic violence prisoners are employed within the same rehabilitation-program framework while incarcerated. Our study examined the effects of an integrative domestic violence program with a therapeutic “package” implemented in Israel with the goal of reducing recidivism rates among prisoners in general, and especially with regard to violent offenses. Using propensity score matching methods, we compared treated offenders to a matched sample drawn from all convicted prisoners who were released from prison between 2004 and 2012. The findings indicate that the percentages of reincarceration and rearrests of inmates, who participated in integrative domestic violence program, were significantly lower during a period of up to 4 years after release. Our conclusion is that the integrative effect of different treatments along with a supportive prison climate increased the success of inmates who participated in the domestic violence program.

The “care package,” prison domestic violence programs and recidivism: a quasi-experimental study

The unique nature of Israeli society as an immigrant society has also affected the prison population in Israel. This article focuses on a social and cultural phenomenon that particularly characterizes the prisoners of Russian origin, the phenomenon of tattoos. Using postmodernist theories, the article examines the function of the tattoo among Russian prisoners and the role it plays in constructing the criminal self-identity of these inmates in Israeli prisons. The tattoos observed during 2005-2006 among the Russian prisoners in four major Israeli prisons reflect the values of the Russian criminal subculture from which they evolved and were imported. This subculture is characterized by a hierarchical class structure and manifestations of machismo, domination, defiance, rebellion, and open antagonism against the Establishment and its representatives.

“Signs of Honor” Among Russian Inmates in Israel’s Prisons

This study examines how a change in prison milieu affected both inmate and staff experiences of treatment within a regular correctional facility. Specifically, the study seeks to demonstrate how a ...

Changing Prison Into a Therapeutic Milieu: Evidence From the Israeli National Rehabilitation Center for Prisoners

Despite the prevalence of religious-oriented rehabilitation programs, few studies have assessed the effects of these programs on recidivism. Prior studies have generally focused on Christian-based programs in the USA and also suffer from a range of methodological problems, making it difficult to draw sound conclusions. The current study evaluates the effects of two Jewish-based programs in Israel. Using data provided by the Israeli Prison Services, propensity score matching was used to examine the effects of two religious-oriented rehabilitation programs on recidivism. A sub-sample of prisoners who progressed from the less intensive to the more intensive program was used as a proxy for examining the role of motivation and commitment. Compared to non-participants, only those who participated in both programs had a significantly lower risk of recidivism. This sub-sample also had significantly lower recidivism than those who participated in only the less intensive of the two programs. Comparing participants of the two programs, those from the more intensive program had significantly more positive recidivism outcomes than those from the less intensive program. The theoretical foundations of religious-oriented programs are that causing changes in levels of religiosity can lead to less recidivism. While prior studies have had difficulties in assessing the motivation to change of program participants, our findings provide evidence to support these theoretical underpinnings. That is, when religious-oriented programs succeed in engendering legitimate changes in levels of religiosity, they can have a positive effect on reducing recidivism.

Efrat Shoham

Papers

The Battered Wife’s Perception of the Characteristics of Her Encounter with the Police

The “care package,” prison domestic violence programs and recidivism: a quasi-experimental study

“Signs of Honor” Among Russian Inmates in Israel’s Prisons

Changing Prison Into a Therapeutic Milieu: Evidence From the Israeli National Rehabilitation Center for Prisoners

Do religious programs in prison work? A quasi-experimental evaluation in the Israeli prison service