Corrections 2001/2002

UNIT 1. Who Are the Prisoners? 1. American Criminal Justice Philosophy: What's Old--What's New?, Curtis R. Blakely and Vic W. Bumphus, Federal Probation, June 1999. Curtis Blakely and Vic Bumphus show how public interest and social change affect the operations of the various agencies of the criminal justice system. The authors provide a comparison among the current police philosophies and examine how they could be applied to the corrections system. 2. Prisoners in 1998, Allen J. Beck and Christopher J. Mumola, Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin, U.S. Department of Justice, August 1999. The Department of Justice releases a report approximately every 2 years that chronicles the changes in the nation's prison population. In this report, Allen Beck and Christopher Mumola highlight the changes in inmate demographics and incarceration rates nationwide. 3. Prior Abuse Reported by Inmates and Probationers, Caroline Wolf Harlow, Bureau of Justice Statistics: Selected Findings, April 1999. Anecdotal data have long argued a relationship between childhood abuse and later criminal behavior. This federal report compares inmates' personal histories of abuse with their placement at different levels of control within the correctional system. The links between prior abuse and later alcohol/drug use are also examined. 4. Drug Use History and Criminal Behavior among 133 Incarcerated Men, Elena M. Kouri, Harrison G. Pope Jr., Kenneth F. Powell, Paul S. Oliva, and Corbett Campbell, American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, August 1997. This article further examines the relationship between substance abuse and crime in a sample of 133 incarcerated males. While the sample is narrow, it still provides compelling evidence of the relationship between crime, incarceration, and clinical substance dependence. 5. Drugs, Crime, Prison, and Treatment, Charles Blanchard, Spectrum, Winter 1999. Charles Blanchard states that there is a close connection between crime and substance abuse. He examines this linkage to support the idea of treatment programs in prison and the use of specialized areas of the justice system to support the substance-abusing criminal. 6. The Forgotten Offender, Meda Chesney-Lind, Corrections Today, December 1998. Female offenders have been, for most of the past decade, the fastest-growing segment of the correctional population. In this article, Meda Chesney-Lind examines the reasons for this change. Issues discussed include how the drive for equality helped to create this situation and how we could help to correct some of these new problems by changing our imprisonment philosophy and recognizing the differences between male and female inmates. UNIT 2. Prison Life 7. Coping with Incarceration--From the Other Side of the Bars, Mary Dallao, Corrections Today, October 1997. Often forgotten in the debate on imprisonment and sentencing are the families of the inmates. This article provides a feel for what others experience when a loved one is sentenced to prison. It offers corrections professionals some suggestions to help mitigate the impact on families. 8. Behind Bars: We've Built the Largest Prison System in the World. Here's a Look Inside, Wray Herbert, U.S. News & World Report, March 23, 1998. With the rapid and seemingly uncontrollable increases in prison populations, it is helpful to take a look inside and see what the day-to-day experience of imprisonment looks like. This is a photographic essay on life inside various incarcerative institutions. 9. Behind Bars: Substance Abuse and America's Prison Population, Spectrum, Winter 1999. Substance abuse and addiction have fundamentally changed the nature of America's prison poLeone, Matthew is the author of 'Corrections 2001/2002' with ISBN 9780072404326 and ISBN 0072404329.