NCJ Number
98984
Editor(s)
N Glazer
Date Published
1984
Length
278 pages
Annotation
Thirteen articles address current issues in crime and public safety, including corrections effectiveness, deterrence effectiveness, legalized gambling, organized crime, drug addiction treatment, gun control, school crime, plea bargaining, and policing policy.
Abstract
The opening paper summarizes Robert Martinson's findings from a review of the effectiveness of various corrections programs in reducing recidivism. Another paper examines the rationale for using methadone maintenance to counter heroin addiction and the effectiveness of this treatment approach. Other papers dealing with corrections issues consider the effectiveness of punishment in deterring crime, current rationales for sentencing, and sentencing and corrections in England. Papers focusing on crime control address Japan's crime control policies, gun control in the United States, crime in American schools, subway graffiti in New York, and modern policing strategy. Two papers dealing with gambling examine the pros and cons of legalized gambling and the extent and pattern of organized crime's involvement in illegal gambling enterprises. Finally, a paper compares the modern American system of plea bargaining with the medieval European law of torture, as both are viewed as having arisen in response to a breakdown in the formal trial system. Some papers provide notes and data tables; the Martinson paper presents an 84-item bibliography.