Releasing Prisoners Redeeming Communities

In the middle of the first decade of the twenty-first century,African Americans made up approximately twelve percent ofthe United States population but close to forty percent of the United States prison population. Now, in the latter half of the decade, the nation is in the midst of the largest multi-year discharge of prisoners in its history. In Releasing Prisoners, Redeeming Communities, Anthony C. Thompson discusses what is likely to happen to these ex-offenders and why. For Thompson, any discussion of ex-offender reentry is, de facto, a question of race. After laying out the statistics, he identifies the ways in which media and politics have contributed to the problem, especially through stereotyping and racial bias. Well aware of the potential consequences if this country fails to act, Thompson offers concrete, realizable ideas of how our policies could, and should, change.

This insightful volume integrates criminological theories, prevention science, and empirical findings to create an up-to-date survey of crime prevention research and strategies. Its interdisciplinary perspective expands on our knowledge of risk factors to isolate the malleable mechanisms that produce criminal outcomes, and can therefore be targeted for intervention. In addition, the text identifies developmental, lifespan, and social areas for effective intervention. Reviews of family-, community-, and criminal justice-based crime prevention approaches not only detail a wide gamut of successful techniques, but also provide evidence for why they succeed. And as an extra research dimension, the book’s chapters on methodological issues and challenges uncover rich possibilities for the next generation of crime prevention studies. Included in the coverage: Integrating criminology and prevention research Social disorganization theory: its history and relevance to crime prevention Research designs in crime and violence prevention Macro- and micro-approaches to crime prevention and intervention programs Implications of life course: approaches for prevention science Promising avenues for prevention, including confronting sexual victimization on college campuses Spotlighting current progress and continuing evolution of the field, Preventing Crime and Violence will enhance the work of researchers, practitioners, academicians, and policymakers in public health, prevention science, criminology, and criminal justice, as well as students interested in criminology and criminal justice.

This book offers a fresh perspective on treating a population that is often demonized by policymakers, the public, and even clinicians. The authors argue that most sex offenders are "people like us," with the potential to lead meaningful, law-abiding lives—if given a chance and appropriate support. They describe an empirically and theoretically grounded rehabilitation approach, the Good Lives Model, which can be integrated with the assessment and intervention approaches that clinicians already use. Drawing on the latest knowledge about factors promoting desistance from crime, the book discusses how encouraging naturally occurring desistance processes, and directly addressing barriers to community reintegration, can make treatment more effective and long lasting.

Latinos in the United States encompass a broad range of racial, socioeconomic, and sociopolitical identities. Originating from the Caribbean, Spain, Central and South America, and Mexico, they have unique justice concerns. The ethnic group includes U.S. citizens, authorized resident aliens, and undocumented aliens, a group that has been a constant partner in the Latino legal landscape for over a century. This book addresses the development and rapid growth of the Latino population in the United States and how race-based discrimination, hate crimes, and other prejudicial attitudes, some of which have been codified via public policy, have grown in response. Salinas explores the degrading practice of racial profiling, an approach used by both federal and state law enforcement agents; the abuse in immigration enforcement; and the use of deadly force against immigrants. The author also discusses the barriers Latinos encounter as they wend their way through the court system. While all minorities face the barrier of racially based jury strikes, bilingual Latinos deal with additional concerns, since limited-English-proficient defendants depend on interpreters to understand the trial process. As a nation rich in ethnic and racial backgrounds, the United States, Salinas argues, should better strive to serve its principles of justice.

Tullos explores the recent history of one of the nation's most conservative states to reveal its political imaginary--the public shape of power, popular imagery, and individual opportunity--and asks if the coming years will see a transformation of the "Heart of Dixie."

This handbook surveys American sentencing and corrections from global and historical views, from theoretical and policy perspectives, and with attention to a number of problem-specific issues.

Americans claim to care about character. Over four fifths want it taught in public schools, and 95 percent think that a president's character is important. And historically, philosophers, educators, politicians, religious leaders, judges, and the general public have agreed that character should be valued and reinforced. Yet in the United States, the institutions charged with that mission have consistently fallen short. Simply put, too little effort has been made to understand the importance of character and the strategies that can best develop and support it. After first exploring the history of the concept over time, Deborah Rhode turns her focus to the institutions that have traditionally fostered good character: families, schools, youth organizations, civic groups, and political organizations. However, as we have increasingly de-emphasized the subject-a trend that is most evident in our politics-our awareness of its shaping influence has waned. Indeed, we often focus on the wrong things when it comes to fostering good character. For instance, almost a third of the workforce is covered by licensing laws requiring good moral character, even occupations where the need for screening is not self-evident: florist, fortune teller, and frog farmers. Character also plays a pivotal role in the criminal justice system, in defining guilt, punishment, and eligibility for parole. All too often, these legal requirements are idiosyncratic, inequitable, and subject to race and class bias. Millions of Americans who have convictions for minor offenses are excluded from a vast range of occupations and benefits without evidence that such exclusion serves the public interest. We can do better, she stresses, and outlines a powerful program for reform. Rhode punctuates the book through a series of portraits of exemplary individuals whose good character made them who they were: Ida B. Wells, Jane Addams, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Albert Schweitzer, and Thurgood Marshall. All of these individuals had flaws, but through their commitments to both social justice and helping the less fortunate, they all demonstrate the power and importance of strong character.

This book provides a unique analysis of prisons and the violence at work inside them. It not only addresses aspects such as racial discrimination, especially in US prisons, but also gender differences, specific criminal groups operating within prisons, the reintegration processes and its failures. Combining works by various authors, it presents diverse perspectives on prison violence: in countries ranging from the USA to Australia, crossing European countries such as Portugal and Spain, among others, but also specific aspects such as prohibitions on phone calls, the economic crisis, and the current challenges of mass incarceration. As such, it offers a broad overview of several problems relevant to all scholars interested in deepening their understanding of violence in prisons.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of jailed Americans leave prison and return to society. Largely uneducated, unskilled, often without family support, and with the stigma of a prison record hanging over them, many if not most will experience serious social and psychological problems after release. Fewer than one in three prisoners receive substance abuse or mental health treatment while incarcerated, and each year fewer and fewer participate in the dwindling number of vocational or educational pre-release programs, leaving many all but unemployable. Not surprisingly, the great majority is rearrested, most within six months of their release. What happens when all those sent down the river come back up--and out? As long as there have been prisons, society has struggled with how best to help prisoners reintegrate once released. But the current situation is unprecedented. As a result of the quadrupling of the American prison population in the last quarter century, the number of returning offenders dwarfs anything in America's history. What happens when a large percentage of inner-city men, mostly Black and Hispanic, are regularly extracted, imprisoned, and then returned a few years later in worse shape and with dimmer prospects than when they committed the crime resulting in their imprisonment? What toll does this constant "churning" exact on a community? And what do these trends portend for public safety? A crisis looms, and the criminal justice and social welfare system is wholly unprepared to confront it. Drawing on dozens of interviews with inmates, former prisoners, and prison officials, Joan Petersilia convincingly shows us how the current system is failing, and failing badly. Unwilling merely to sound the alarm, Petersilia explores the harsh realities of prisoner reentry and offers specific solutions to prepare inmates for release, reduce recidivism, and restore them to full citizenship, while never losing sight of the demands of public safety. As the number of ex-convicts in America continues to grow, their systemic marginalization threatens the very society their imprisonment was meant to protect. America spent the last decade debating who should go to prison and for how long. Now it's time to decide what to do when prisoners come home.

This authoritative set provides a comprehensive overview of issues and trends in crime, law enforcement, courts, and corrections that encompass the field of criminal justice studies in the United States. This work offers a thorough introduction to the field of criminal justice, including types of crime; policing; courts and sentencing; landmark legal decisions; and local, state, and federal corrections systems—and the key topics and issues within each of these important areas. It provides a complete overview and understanding of the many terms, jobs, procedures, and issues surrounding this growing field of study. Another major focus of the work is to examine ethical questions related to policing and courts, trial procedures, law enforcement and corrections agencies and responsibilities, and the complexion of criminal justice in the United States in the 21st century. Finally, this title emphasizes coverage of such politically charged topics as drug trafficking and substance abuse, immigration, environmental protection, government surveillance and civil rights, deadly force, mass incarceration, police militarization, organized crime, gangs, wrongful convictions, racial disparities in sentencing, and privatization of the U.S. prison system.