Showing papers in "Punishment & Society in 2012"
TL;DR: The mandatory, state-subsidized treatment opened up by drug courts and other jail and prison diversion programs have massively expanded the numbers of the poor and working class who are la...
Abstract: The mandatory, state-subsidized treatment opened up by drug courts and other jail and prison diversion programs have massively expanded the numbers of the nation’s poor and working class who are la...
91 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the experience of reintegration after release from prison is similarly embodied and corporeal, and identify specific examples of prison time being inscribed on the body which prove problematic for former prisoners, and demonstrate the ways in which their attempts to erase or overwrite these inscriptions constitute a stage in the continual corporeal process of becoming.
Abstract: Building on previous work which has conceptualized the embodied experience of imprisonment as prison time ‘inscribed’ on the body, this article argues that the experience of reintegration after release from prison is similarly embodied and corporeal. It contends that while scholarship of prisoner reintegration post-release has identified the stigmatization of ex-inmates as a challenge to their successful re-entry, the embodied experience of this process has remained under-researched. Drawing on extensive research with women prisoners, former prisoners and prison staff in the contemporary Russian Federation, the article presents empirical evidence that explores the embodied experiences of release and reintegration, identifying specific examples of prison time being ‘inscribed’ on the body which prove problematic for former prisoners, and demonstrating the ways in which their attempts to ‘erase’ or overwrite these inscriptions constitute a stage in the continual corporeal process of becoming. The article su...
89 citations
TL;DR: This research provides one of the first evaluations of how supermaxes function, in terms of whom they detain and for how long, and how these patterns relate to the originally articulated purposes of the institutions.
Abstract: Supermaximum security prisons (‘supermaxes’) across the United States detain thousands in long-term solitary confinement, under conditions of extreme sensory deprivation. In 1988 and 1989, California opened two of the first and largest of the modern supermaxes: Corcoran and Pelican Bay State Prisons. Today, California houses more than 3300 prisoners in supermaxes. Each month, between 50 and 100 people are released directly from these supermaxes onto parole. Using statistics obtained from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, this article explores who these prisoners and parolees are: what race are these prisoners, how long did they spend in solitary confinement, and how frequently are they released? Relative to non-supermax prisoners and parolees in California, supermax prisoners and parolees are disproportionately Latinos, who have served long prison sentences, under severe conditions. Analysis of interviews with correctional department administrators about the original goals and p...
83 citations
TL;DR: A substantial proportion of the Canadian public desires harsher penalties for crime as discussed by the authors. But, as stated by the authors, "while various explanations have been offered for this punitivene...
Abstract: Various polls and surveys seem to indicate that a substantial proportion of the Canadian public desires harsher penalties for crime. While various explanations have been offered for this punitivene...
79 citations
TL;DR: Although the United States has grown increasingly punitive in the last three decades, there is considerable variation across states as mentioned in this paper, and on a variety of indicators, California is much more punitive than other states.
Abstract: Although the United States has grown increasingly punitive in the last three decades, there is considerable variation across states. On a variety of indicators, California is much more punitive tha...
71 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provided a test of the hypothesis that information combined with deliberation can affect general measures of punitiveness, confidence in the courts and acceptance of alternatives to imprisonment (the three dependent variables).
Abstract: The idea of reducing public punitiveness through providing information and encouraging deliberation has attracted considerable interest. However, there remains no solid evidence of durable changes in attitude. The study presented here provides a test of the hypothesis that information combined with deliberation can affect general measures of punitiveness, confidence in the courts and acceptance of alternatives to imprisonment (the three dependent variables). The study involved a pre-test, post-test experimental design. Participants were randomly allocated to either an intervention group or a control condition. Statistically significant changes in the dependent variables were observed immediately following the intervention but these changes were not sustained when measured at follow-up nine months later. Further, at the time of the follow-up the differences between the control group scores and the intervention group scores were not significantly different. The observed changes immediately following the intervention are seen to be a function of the changed relationship of the respondent to the task. The implications of the results for integrating public perspectives into policy are discussed. It is argued that rather than a focus on public education, a more productive direction is to focus on the way the public is engaged on matters concerning punishment.
52 citations
TL;DR: Andrews as discussed by the authors attempted to create a theory of correctional intervention capable of improving the lives of offenders through his science, collaboration with colleagues, and practice in agencies, and left the field of corrections and those he touched in his daily life far better off.
Abstract: Dedication: This essay is dedicated to the memory of Don Andrews who passed away on October 22, 2010. Through his science, collaboration with colleagues, and practice in agencies, Don attempted to create a theory of correctional intervention capable of improving the lives of offenders. Don’s sharp mind and large heart left the field of corrections—and, indeed, those he touched in his daily life—far better off. He will be sorely missed.
49 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the social meaning of "the gang" inside a prison is investigated using narrative interviews with male prisoners as part of an ethnographic study of ethnicity and social relations, and a formally organized gang presence was categorically denied by prisoners.
Abstract: This article explores recent concerns about the emergence of gangs in prisons in England and Wales. Using narrative interviews with male prisoners as part of an ethnographic study of ethnicity and social relations, the social meaning of ‘the gang’ inside prison is interrogated. A formally organized gang presence was categorically denied by prisoners. However, the term ‘gang’ was sometimes elided with loose collectives of prisoners who find mutual support in prison based on a neighbourhood territorial identification. Gangs were also discussed as racialized groups, most often symbolized in the motif of the ‘Muslim gang’. This racializing discourse hinted at an envy of prisoner solidarity and cohesion which upsets the idea of a universal prisoner identity. The broader conceptual, empirical and political implications of these findings are considered.
45 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines whether public tolerates white-collar offenders operating with relative impunity because of widespread public and governmental apathy, and concludes that public toleration of white-collusion is low.
Abstract: Conventional wisdom holds that white‐collar offenders operate with relative impunity because of widespread public and governmental apathy. The present study, however, examines whether public tolera...
44 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine why England and Wales have comparatively one of the most stringent systems for the governance of sexual offending within Western Europe, compared to the USA and Canada.
Abstract: This article examines why England and Wales have comparatively one of the most stringent systems for the governance of sexual offending within Western Europe. While England and Wales, like the USA,...
44 citations
TL;DR: In the state of Florida, when someone is found guilty of a felony crime they forfeit the right to vote, serve on a jury, and run for elected office as mentioned in this paper, regardless of the crime.
Abstract: In the state of Florida, when someone is found guilty of a felony crime they forfeit the right to vote, serve on a jury, and run for elected office. These civil rights are lost regardless of whethe...
TL;DR: A criminal conviction, if widely known, constitutes a life-long stigma that limits the convicted person's employment and other opportunities as discussed by the authors, which is why it is important to recognize an individual's criminal conviction.
Abstract: A criminal conviction, if widely known, constitutes a life-long stigma that limits the convicted person’s employment and other opportunities. European countries, including Spain, recognizing an ind...
TL;DR: In this paper, the dynamics of repeat incarceration and release of a small cohort of young men from the perspectives of their formerly incarcerated fathers are explored, focusing on how and under what conditions fathers assist their children to manage the physical and emotional challenges of the prison and/or post-release environments.
Abstract: In this article we draw on select data from the longitudinal study ‘Generativity in young male (ex)prisoners: Caring for self, other and future within prison and beyond’ in order to explore the dynamics of repeat incarceration and release of a small cohort of young men from the perspectives of their formerly incarcerated fathers. Focusing on nine key themes – generated from in-depth interviews – we describe how and under what conditions fathers assist their children to manage the physical and emotional challenges of the prison and/or post-release environments. Importantly, we draw out the ostensibly redemptive if challenging dimensions of such conduct and highlight the prison as a site of secondary trauma for ex-incarcerates attempting to connect with their young incarcerated sons. We suggest that the ex-prisoner-as-visitor-to-their-incarcerated-son equates, in the eyes of prison administrators, to a surrogate form of recidivism. Penal implications of such are discussed.
TL;DR: This paper found that first generation youth have increased perceptions of just and fair punishment practices within their schools; however, Black/African American and Latino American third-plus-generation youth have diminished perceptions of fairness in their schools.
Abstract: Perceptions of school rules and punishment practices, particularly for racial and ethnic minority youth, are related to educational progress, psychological well-being, and adult stability and success. What remains uncertain is how the fastest growing segment of the population in the USA, the children of immigrants, perceives the rules and punishment practices within their schools. This study utilizes data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 and incorporates multilevel analysis to examine the children of immigrants’ perceptions of the school rules and punishment practices, which indeed reveal imperative findings. First generation youth have increased perceptions of just and fair punishment practices within their schools; however, Black/African American and Latino American third-plus generation youth have diminished perceptions of just and fair punishment practices within their schools. The implications of the evident racial and ethnic, as well as generational, disparities in the perceptions of th...
TL;DR: In this paper, former prisons have been transformed into museums of past incarceration regimes, aiming at delivering a didactic and a recreational experience, and the development has become part of a large...
Abstract: Aimed at delivering a didactic – as well as a recreational – experience, former prisons have been transformed into museums of past incarceration regimes. That development has become part of a large...
TL;DR: In academic and policy circles, there is widespread optimism about the ability of reentry to change the terms of the punishment debate and assess the impact of the reentry concept as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In academic and policy circles, there is widespread optimism about the ability of reentry to change the terms of the punishment debate. In this article, we assess the impact of the reentry concept ...
TL;DR: In this article, a specific case drawn from fieldwork in a geriatric prison, where institutional and intersubjective relations established by prison workers challenge empathic connections, is explored.
Abstract: With its foundations of injury, harm, and pain, the sociology of punishment is poised to give attention to the role of empathy at precisely those instances of social experience where human connection, understanding, and social knowing are destroyed, avoided, prohibited, or simply impossible. I explore this predicament through a specific case drawn from fieldwork in a geriatric prison, where institutional and intersubjective relations established by prison workers challenge empathic connections. The ‘graying’ of the prison population, one of mass incarceration’s unanticipated consequences, brings issues of pain, death, and dying to the fore. The majority of research to date on aging and dying in prison has had an important descriptive and policy orientation. There has been less of an emphasis upon the theoretical underpinnings of such a turn and the nature of intersubjective relations at the intersection of care and punishment. There have been no intensive ground-level analyses of aging in prison against t...
TL;DR: The authors argue that the history of bail foretells the future of parole and argue that post-conviction bail fits squarely within the growing policy trends toward privatization, managerialism, and actu...
Abstract: In this article, we argue that the history of bail foretells the future of parole. Under a plan called the Conditional Post-Conviction Release Bond Act (recently passed into law in three states), US prisoners can secure early release only after posting ‘post-conviction bail’. As with pre-trial bail, the fledgling model would require prisoners to pay a percentage of the bail amount to secure their release under the contractual responsibility of a commercial bail agency. If release conditions are breached, bounty hunters are legally empowered to seize and return the parolee to prison. Our inquiry outlines the origins of this post-conviction bond plan and the research upon which it is based. Drawing on the ‘new penology’ framework, we identify several underlying factors that make for a ripe advocacy environment and set the stage for widespread state-level adoption of this plan in the near future. Post-conviction bail fits squarely within the growing policy trends toward privatization, managerialism, and actu...
TL;DR: Sentencing guidelines have been slowly evolving in England and Wales since 1998 as discussed by the authors, and the latest developments in English and Wales are described in detail in the article "The Sentencing Guidelines in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009".
Abstract: Sentencing guidelines have been slowly evolving in England and Wales since 1998. Definitive guidelines now exist for all common offences. This jurisdiction is the only one outside the United States to develop formal, numerical guidelines which are presumptively binding on courts. Despite their unique status – as the only alternative to the grid-based schemes found in many US states – the English guidelines have attracted almost no attention from sentencing scholars. This article describes the latest developments in England and Wales. As a result of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 much has changed: a new departure test has been created, and the old statutory bodies have been replaced by a single new Council which has issued a new format of guideline which will become the model to replace the old format. These important changes are discussed and some lessons drawn for other jurisdictions seeking to structure sentencing without resort to the two dimensional sentencing grids found across the United States.
TL;DR: It is found that although Mexican‐American boys were more likely to be arrested and petitioned to court, they were less likely to receive out‐of‐family placements because court officials viewed these placements as beneficial and were less interested in rehabilitating minority than white youth.
Abstract: This study uses case records from the Los Angeles Juvenile Court to examine how racial discrimination played out in juvenile justice before the decline of public confidence in rehabilitation in the 1960s and 1970s. Using qualitative and quantitative methodologies, I compare how Mexicana-American and white boys (ages 10-17) were treated by the juvenile court during the Great Depression era. I find that although Mexicana-American boys were more likely to be arrested and petitioned to court, they were less likely to receive out-of-family placements because court officials viewed these placements as beneficial and were less interested in rehabilitating minority than white youth. I compare these results with the current overrepresentation of minorities in institutional confinement and with contemporary studies that find that black youth are punished more severely than comparable whites. My research suggests that there have been major philosophical changes in how officials in the juvenile justice system view out-of-family placements, and that patterns of discrimination in juvenile justice depend upon how officials in courts and correctional institutions view the rehabilitative potential of their interventions. Language: en
TL;DR: The authors evaluated the effect of social instability on social reaction to deviance using the results of the 2004 Swiss vote on the lifelong detention initiative and determined that extreme right-wing political orientation and xenophobic attitudes such as national preference and preference for a closed country explain the support for this measure at the individual level.
Abstract: The right of initiative offers the opportunity to Swiss citizens to have a direct and prominent influence on penal policy. This research tries to evaluate the effect of social instability on social reaction to deviance using the results of the 2004 Swiss vote on the lifelong detention initiative. I determine that extreme right-wing political orientation (p < 0.001) and xenophobic attitudes such as national preference (p < 0.05) and preference for a closed country (p < 0.05) explain the support for this measure at the individual level. These results can be interpreted according to the Durkheimian view of punishment, which considers this process as an emotional response in order to defend established norms and values. At the macro-social level, social instability (p < 0.05) reinforces the positive relationship between xenophobic attitudes (p < 0.001) and support for lifelong detention. This result supports Young's theory concerning the effect of social instability on social reaction to deviance. Social inst...
TL;DR: Greenberg as discussed by the authors presented a collection of his work on crime and criminal justice, focusing on the importance of careful critical thinking and the necessity of resisting the urge to rush into theorizing or analyzing data.
Abstract: ideas for that particular context and problem. He uses theories as ‘resources for the theorist to use in understanding the world, not as divinely inspired doctrine’ (p. xiv). Moreover, his understanding of each theory is deep and impressive, as he analyzes and searches for the true meaning of Durkheim, Marx, or other theorists rather than importing and applying empirically these ideas uncritically. Greenberg’s approach to scholarship is also evident in his use of logic throughout each chapter. In stark contrast to much of the research published in current criminological journals, in which authors test and reformulate existing theories using fairly prescribed formulae, Greenberg approaches each criminological problem as a logical puzzle. Each and every assumption and theoretical premise he covers is scrutinized and debated through a series of logical steps to determine if it is plausible, and what it would mean for his inquiry if it were true. No ideas are immune from this scrutiny, regardless of whether they are long held tenets inherited from Marx or Durkheim, or assumptions underlying rigorous statistical computations. As a result, each and every chapter in this volume illustrates the importance of careful critical thinking and the necessity of resisting the urge to rush into theorizing or analyzing data. Even those familiar with Greenberg’s work will find the volume illuminating. I was very fortunate to have been a student of his, yet even I was surprised with how much I learned about good criminological scholarship by reading this collection of his work. The volume highlights Greenberg’s important role within the study of crime and criminal justice over the course of his career, but more importantly, it is a terrific example of careful, thoughtful, and essentially practical scholarship. I will recommend it to graduate students and colleagues, especially junior colleagues, since it offers a model of quality criminological thinking.
TL;DR: The emergence of private sector management of state prisons over the last 30 years has been controversial as mentioned in this paper, and it has been strongly argued that the administration of prisons is a core state function.
Abstract: The emergence of private sector management of state prisons over the last 30 years has been controversial It has been strongly argued that the administration of prisons is a core state function th