Corrections: A Critical Approach

by Michael Welch

Overview

Corrections: A Critical Approach, 3rd edition confronts mass imprisonment in the United States, a nation boasting the highest incarceration rate in the world. This statistic is all the more troubling considering that its correctional population is overrepresented by the poor, African-Americans, and Latinos.

Not only throwing crucial light on matters involving race and social class, this book also identifies and examines the key social forces shaping penal practice in the US - politics, economics, morality, and technology. By attending closely to historical and theoretical development, the narrative takes into account both instrumental (goal-oriented) and expressive (cultural) explanations to sharpen our understanding of punishment and the growing reliance on incarceration.

Covering five main areas of inquiry - penal context, penal populations, penal violence, penal process, and penal state - this book is essential reading for both undergraduate and graduate students interested in undertaking a critical analysis of penology.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781136842733
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	10/14/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	768
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Michael Welch is a Professor in the Criminal Justice program at Rutgers University, US. His research interests include punishment, human rights, and social control, and his articles have appeared in journals such as Punishment and Society, Social Justice and Critical Criminology. He has also authored numerous books, including Crimes of Power & States of Impunity: The U.S. Response to Terror (Rutgers University Press, 2009), Ironies of Imprisonment (Sage, 2005), and Punishment in America (Sage, 1999).

Table of Contents

Part 1: Penal Context 1. Introducing a Critical Approach 2. A History of Punishment and Prisons 3. America's Penal Past 4. Theoretical Penology Part II: Penal Populations 5. Social World of Prisoners 6. Women in Corrections 7. Juveniles in Corrections 8. Minorities in Corrections Part III: Penal Violence 9. Assaults and Riots 10. Death Penalty Part IV: Penal Process 11. Jails and Detention 12. Prisoners’ Rights 13. Alternatives to Incarceration Part V: Penal State 14. Working in Prison 15. The Corrections Industry 16. War on Drugs 17. War on Terror

Editorial Reviews

'I would be hard-pressed to identify another corrections textbook that I would seriously consider adopting over this one. The updated material is welcomed. The strength of the book remains, however, its critical approach to corrections and the attention it gives to history, ideology, and the ways in which social forces influence punishment.' – Jeanne Flavin, Fordham University

'In Corrections: A Critical Approach, Michael Welch overcomes the limitations of traditional analyses of the correctional field through his unique use of what he calls a critical approach . . . All considered, the coverage throughout the book is broad ranging and well rounded. In short Welch's book on corrections is one of the best I have seen.' – Professor Michael J. Lynch, University of South Florida. Quoted in Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

"Michael Welch in Corrections: A Critical Approach makes some very valuable contributions to our understanding of corrections. The work hopes to offer, and I believe it does so, a critical thinking exercise that draws attention to the comparative nature of corrections, work in the field of corrections, and cultural penology. The basic premise is that we cannot accept the correctional system on its face value because the system is too crowded, too violent, and too expensive to ignore, especially if there are alternatives that are equally effective."–Dr Edward Sieh, Lasell College

From the Publisher