Suchergebnisse

1. The Contours of the Problem -- 2. The U.S. Economy in the Twenty-First Century -- 3. The Criminal Justice System in the Twenty-First Century -- 4. Work and Welfare in American Culture and Society -- 5. The Consequences of Denial -- 6. A Way Forward -- 7. Conclusion: Charting a New Course

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- 1. The Contours of the Prob -- 2. The U.S. Economy in the Twenty-First Century -- 3. The Criminal Justice System in the Twenty-First Century -- 4. Work and Welfare in American Culture and Society -- 5. The Consequences of Denial -- 6. A Way Forward -- 7. Conclusion: Charting a New Course -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- References -- Index

Since 1980, the populations of state and federal prisons have more than quadrupled. This has in large part been attributed to increased law enforcement in the wake of the War on Drugs. Data-validated simulation modeling is used to examine the compositional dynamics of the drug offender population incarcerated in California prisons over the period 1980–1998, as well as to prospectively evaluate the impact of the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000 (the Act), which prohibits incarceration and mandates treatment for first-time nonviolent offenders convicted of simple drug possession. The analyses show that the drug offender population changed in significant ways from 1980 to 1998. The prospective analyses indicate that the Act will have some impacts on the composition of the incarcerated drug offender population that are consistent with the objective of selective incapacitation of dangerous offenders, but will not reduce the proportion of prison space overall devoted to housing drug offenders.

Recent innovations in sentencing policy across the United States reveal a renewed interest in the idea of selective incapacitation of criminal offenders. This is perhaps most evident in the proliferation of "Three Strikes and You're Out" habitual‐offender statutes across the nation. Although the term was first introduced by David Greenberg in 1975, Peter Greenwood and Allan Abrahamse's eponymous 1982 Rand report represents the most fully articulated plan for implementing such a strategy. The report's release stimulated much discussion, because of the AUTHOR'S claims that selective incapacitation could simultaneously reduce crime rates and prison populations. Ethical problems inherent in such proposals as well as methodological inconsistencies in the original research warrant a reexamination of the proposal and of the empirical basis for the conclusions offered therein. Greenwood and Abrahamse's original research is replicated with a representative sample of California state prison inmates (N = 2, 188) in light of these limitations, with specific focus on the methodological issues concerning the construction of the predictive scale. The selective incapacitation scheme advocated by Greenwood and Abrahamse performs extremely poorly in terms of both reliability and validity, thus precluding the implementation of such schemes. The article contains a discussion of other, more ethically acceptable uses of an instrument that identifies "high‐rate" or "dangerous" offenders. In conclusion, some observations on the limitations of incarceration‐based strategies of crime control are offered.

A review of the scientific literature on the relationship between alcohol and violence and that between drugs and violence is presented. A review and analysis of three major theoretical approaches to understanding these relationships are also presented. A number of conclusions are reached on the basis of these efforts. First, despite a number of published statements to the contrary, we find no significant evidence suggesting that drug use is associated with violence. Second, there is substantial evidence to suggest that alcohol use is significantly associated with violence of all kinds. Third, recent theoretical efforts reviewed here have, despite shortcomings, led to significant new understanding of how and why alcohol and drugs are related to violence. Fourth, these theoretical models and a growing number of empirical studies demonstrate the importance of social context for understanding violence and the ways in which alcohol and drugs are related to violence. Fifth, the shortcomings of these theoretical models and the lack of definitive empirical tests of these perspectives point to the major directions where future research on the relationship between alcohol and violence, and between drugs and violence, is needed.

Within two decades—if not sooner—at least one in three prisoners in the US will be a "senior citizen." Our prisons, however, were designed for a much younger population. Senior Citizens Behind Bars critically explores the unique set of challenges that older prisoners pose for the criminal justice system. Examining the lack of fit between the needs of older inmates and the correctional policies and practices that govern efforts to meet those needs, the authors confront such tough issues as health care, inmate victimization, and end-of-life care. Their rigorous, evidence-based analysis of both problems and solutions is a seminal contribution carefully designed for scholars and practitioners alike