NCJ Number
145726
Date Published
1994
Length
213 pages
Annotation
This book reviews the arguments and empirical evidence for and against the effectiveness of prisons in controlling crime, and the author supports imprisonment for deterrence and incapacitation.
Abstract
The first three chapters explain some concepts and theories used in the debate over the effectiveness of prisons. Chapter one presents an overview of the criticisms of prisons and the prison abolition movement. The author draws an analogy between the purported ineffectiveness of prisons and the "failure" of law enforcement. He satirically calls for the abolition of the police. Chapter two examines the competing concepts and theories used in the analysis of the social and individual objectives of imprisonment as a form of punishment. The third chapter reviews the empirical evidence that shows the ineffectiveness of prisons in achieving rehabilitation, retribution, and social solidarity. The next three chapters survey the recent empirical studies that offer both positive support and negative support for the continuation of imprisonment. In the epilogue, the author presents his own policy recommendations for the development of a more rational punishment system that relies on imprisonment for deterrence and incapacitation. He also considers the problems of applying these policy recommendations in the politicized and pluralistic "real world" of criminal justice decisionmaking. 506 references and a subject index