Key Correctional Issues / Edition 2

by Roslyn Muraskin

Overview

This concise book discusses a broad range of correctional issues and explores them using an engaging text/reader format. Ranging from super max facilities to inmate reentry, its precise coverage explains the interactions that exist in the area of correctional facilities from both a historical and a twenty-first century view. This new edition offers over ten new essays and features compelling contributions from leaders in the field. Selections cover various topics such as suicide, religion, technocorrections, the death penalty, women and minority prisoners, alternatives to incarceration and more, For individuals interested in or pursuing a career in corrections.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780135154267
Publisher:	Pearson
Publication date:	01/14/2009
Series:	Pearson Criminal Justice Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Dr. Roslyn Muraskin received her Ph.D. in criminal justice from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her Masters' degree is from New York University, School of Government, and her B.A. degree is from Queens College, where she majored in Political Science-Speech. She is a Full Professor at the C.W Post of Long Island University, where she teaches criminal justice. She was an Associate Dean in the College of Management for nine years and now directs the activities of the Long Island Women's Institute, College of Management, as well as the activities of the Alumni Chapter, also for the College of Management. She currently holds the position of Trustee of Region One for the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. She is a past President of the Northeast Association of Criminal Justice Sciences (NEACJS).

Her works include Visions for Change: Crime and Justice in the Twenty-First Century (Prentice Hall, 4th edition, forthcoming); It's a Crime: Women and Justice (Prentice Hall, now in its 3rd edition); and Morality and the Law (Prentice Hall). She is the Women's Series editor for Prentice Hall as well as the editor of the refereed journal published quarterly, A Critical Journal of Crime Law and Society, published by Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group (formerly The Justice Professional). She is the author of many published papers and articles and is often quoted in the media as an expert in women's issues and issues of criminal justice.

She is the recipient of many awards, including Woman of the Year, Award for Excellence from the Minorities Section of ACJS, and the Fellow Award from the NEACJS.She has been honored for her work with AIDS education by the Long Island Association for AIDS Care.

This work represents Dr. Muraskins tenth text in the field of criminal justice.

Table of Contents

Part I

Introductory Remarks

Chapter 1

The Correctional Key: In/Out - Lock’em Up and Throw Away the Key

Roslyn Muraskin

Chapter 2

Correctional Overview

Roslyn Muraskin

Chapter 3

Correctional History

Roslyn Muraskin

Chapter 4

Issues in Corrections: Changing Goals of Corrections

Roslyn Muraskin

Part II

Issues in Corrections

Chapter 5

Management within a Correctional Institution

Susan C. Craig

Chapter 6

Working with Mentally Disordered Offenders in Corrections

Key Sun

Chapter 7

Introduction to “Prisoner Reentry: The Iron Law of Imprisonment”

Roslyn Muraskin

Chapter 8

Prisoner Reentry: The Iron Law of Imprisonment

Jeremy Travis

Chapter 9

Key Correctional Numbers: Are We Becoming a Nation of Ex-Cons?

Roslyn Muraskin

Chapter 10

Managing Sex Offenders: Exploring Public Opinion

Michelle Coglan & Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale

Chapter 11

The Current Status of Inmates Living with HIV/AIDS

Mark Lanier & Roberto Hugh Potter

Chapter 12

Further Need for Epidemiological Criminology

Mark M. Lanier, Karol Lucken & Timothy A. Akers

Chapter 13

Faith-Based Prisons: An International Perspective

Janice Joseph

Chapter 14

Arresting Decline and Unlocking Potential: The Standards and Accreditation Approach to Professionalizing Jails

Keith N. Haley & Scott Blough

Chapter 15

Technocorrections: Biometric Scanning and Corrections

Janice Joseph & Rupendra Simlot

Part III

Death Penalty

Chapter 16

The Case for Life or Death: Aggravating and Mitigating Circumstances in Capital Murder Trials

Beth Bjerregaard, M. Dwayne Smith & Sondra J. Fogel

Chapter 17

Key Issues in Capital Punishment

Alan S. Bruce & Theresa A. Serverance

Chapter 18

Trends in the Use of Capital Punishment: At the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century

David Baker

Part IV

Gender: Females, Minorities and Young Girls

Chapter 19

Gender Responsive Programs: Addressing the Special Needs of Incarcerated Women

Alana Van Gundy

Chapter 20

The Experience of Women Serving Life Sentences

Sherri L. Browning, Cheryl L. Meyer & Megan M. Mark

Chapter 21

Incarcerated Adult and Juvenile Females: Special Issues to Consider

Michele W. Covington & Jana L. Jasinski waiting

Chapter 22

Women Prisoners: Their Needs

Renita L. Seabrook & Ramona Brockett

Part V

Summing Up

Chapter 23

Conclusions

Roslyn Muraskin

Preface

This work is not your typical Correctional Text. It is neither a text written by one author nor is it primarily a reader, but rather a combination. It highlights those issues relevant to the study of corrections, and is done so in a fashion that is not tedious to read.

Corrections continues to be a relevant part of the American Criminal Justice system. It is a complex system fragmented by many programs, agencies, and laws that govern both on the federal and local levels. Many of the facilities as they now exist are overcrowded, barbaric to an extent and have varying philosophies depending on who is in charge. Do we have correctional facilities to punish, to rehabilitate, to do both or neither? Is the death penalty fair and just? Are all "residents" of the correctional facilities treated equally or on a par with each other? Should they be?

If prisons are to rehabilitate then why do we have continued recidivism? Why are the sentences in this country longer than any other? and for what purpose? The public seems to know little about the correctional facilities other than the fact that this is where we send bad people. Yet, from a budgetary point of view, corrections is a low priority item. Are prisoners entitled to rights and which rights?

Our sentencing process is complex. If we assume that we are to punish all who break the law, why then is it not done on an equal basis? Accordingly "to begin at the elementary beginning, we have an almost entire absence in the United States of legislative determinations — of 'law' — governing the basic questions as to the purposes and justifications of criminal sanctions. Without binding guides onsuch questions, it is inevitable that individual sentences will strike out on a multiplicity of courses chosen by each decision maker ... The result can be chaos" (Krantz, 1983, pp. 7-8). This material written almost twenty years ago has not changed what goes on today.

Historically, the courts held that a prisoner had the status of "slave of the state" with no rights (Ruffin v Commonwealth, 62 Va. (2,l Gratt) 790, 796, 1871 as found in Krantz). There existed a philosophy of "hands off." Members of the judiciary believed that once an individual was sentenced, it fell to the correctional officers to direct the activities of the inmates and determine the conditions of confinement. That philosophy ended when the; courts recognized the atrocities that were present in the correctional facilities.

This text explains relationships that exist in corrections from both ail historical and twenty-first century point of view. It discusses correctional issues, such as prisoner reentry, changing goals of corrections, suicide, religion, mentally disordered, technocorrections, constitutional rights of prisoners, alternatives to incarceration as well as the concerns of minority prisoners and the death penalty. Key Correctional Issues links important issues that present a reference point and allows for further discussion.

To all those who contributed to this text, my heartfelt thanks. Each has their own area of expertise, aid therefore bring to the forefront ideas that are fresh and exciting.

Many thanks to all my editors at Prentice Hall, including Sarah Holle, who is very dedicated and works so hard with each of her authors. Special thanks to Frank Mortirner, editor, who has been extremely patient with me while developing this text.