In Defense of Prisons / Edition 1

by Richard A. Wright

Overview

This comprehensive examination of the effectiveness of prisons is virtually alone in showing that prisons are moderately effective in achieving specific and general deterrence and collective and selective incapacitation. Wright provides evidence which defends prisons as important social institutions and argues that noninterventionist alternative measures are less likely to prevent crime than conventional imprisonment policies. He also offers sentencing recommendations that may maximize the effectiveness of prisons as agents of social control. This up-to-date assessment is required reading for students, teachers, policymakers, and practitioners in corrections, penology, and criminal justice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313279263
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/21/1993
Series:	Contributions in Criminology and Penology , #43
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

RICHARD A. WRIGHT, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Scranton, is the author of many publications dealing with the sociology of punishment, and his recent books include Crime and Control: Syllabi and Instructional Materials for Criminology and Criminal Justice (1989). His current research interests deal with deterrence, women and crime, and teaching criminal justice.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Confronting the Critics
The Objectives of Punishment: Concepts and Theories
The Failure of Prisons: Rehabilitation, Retribution, and Social Solidarity
Positive Support for Prisons, I: Deterrence
Positive Support for Prisons, II: Incapacitation
Negative Support for Prisons: The Failure of Nonintervention
Epilogue
References
Cases
Index