This book analyses the experiences of prisoners in England & Wales sentenced when relatively young to very long life sentences (with minimum terms of fifteen years or more). Based on a major study, including almost 150 interviews with men and women at various sentence stages and over 300 surveys, it explores the ways in which long-term prisoners respond to their convictions, adapt to the various challenges that they encounter and re-construct their lives within and beyond the prison. Focussing on such matters as personal identity, relationships with family and friends, and the management of time, the book argues that long-term imprisonment entails a profound confrontation with the self. It provides detailed insight into how such prisoners deal with the everyday burdens of their situation, feelings of injustice, anger and shame, and the need to find some sense of hope, control and meaning in their lives. In doing so, it exposes the nature and consequences of the life-changing terms of imprisonment that have become increasingly common in recent years.

Neil `Sam' Samworth spent eleven years working as a prison officer in HMP Manchester, aka Strangeways. A tough Yorkshireman with a soft heart, Sam had to deal with it all - gangsters and gangbangers, terrorists and psychopaths, addicts and the mentally ill. Men who should not be locked up and men who should never be let out. Strangeways is a shocking and at times darkly funny account of life in a high security prison. Sam tackles cell fires and self-harmers, and goes head to head with some of the most dangerous men in the country. He averts a Christmas Day riot after turkey is taken off the menu and replaced by fish curry, and stands up to officers who abuse their position. He describes being attacked by prisoners, and reveals the problems caused by radicalization and the drugs flooding our prisons. As staffing cuts saw Britain's prison system descend into crisis, the stress of the job - the suicides, the inhumanity of the system, and one assault too many - left Sam suffering from PTSD. This raw, searingly honest memoir is a testament to the men and women of the prison service and the incredibly difficult job we ask them to do.

Drawing on original research from the Women, Family, Crime and Justice research network, this edited collection sheds new light on the challenges and experiences of women and families who encounter the criminal justice system in the UK. Each contribution demonstrates how these groups are often ignored, oppressed and repeatedly victimised. The book addresses crucial issues including short-term imprisonment, trauma-specific interventions, schools supporting children affected by parental imprisonment and visibility and voice in research. Bringing together contemporary knowledge from both research and practice, this ambitious volume offers valuable insights and practical recommendations for positive action and change.

This book offers a systematic, sociological and penological exploration of the most up-to-date uses of electronic tagging (also known as electronic monitoring). With increasingly overcrowded prisons, electronic tagging has been proposed as an alternative form of punishment, and interest in this topic is growing throughout Europe. Current debates and research have often been limited to policy evaluation and effectiveness, whereas Electronic Monitoring examines the brand of punishment from a social-science perspective. This book explores the uses and history of electronic tagging, and draws upon the work of the Dutch criminologist Willem Nagel to reflect upon this form of punishment by examining its functions and dysfunctions. It speaks to those interested in criminal justice reform, surveillance, penology and penal innovation and probation.

This book charts the historical development of 'forensic objectivity' through an analysis of the ways in which objective knowledge of crimes, crime scenes, crime materials and criminals is achieved. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, with authors drawn from law, history, sociology and science and technology studies, this work shows how forensic objectivity is constructed through detailed crime history case studies, mainly in relation to murder, set in Scotland, England, Germany, Sweden, USA and Ireland. Starting from the mid-nineteenth century and continuing to the present day, the book argues that a number of developments were crucial. These include: the beginning of crime photography, the use of diagrams and models specially constructed for the courtroom so jurors could be 'virtual witnesses', probabilistic models of certainty, the professionalization of medical and scientific expert witnesses and their networks, ways of measuring, recording and developing criminal records and the role of the media, particularly newspapers in reporting on crime, criminals and legal proceedings and their part in the shaping of public opinion on crime. This essential title demonstrates the ways in which forensic objectivity has become a central concept in relation to criminal justice over a period spanning 170 years.

This book presents a study of street children's involvement as workers in Bangladeshi organised crime groups based on a three-year ethnographic study in Dhaka. The book argues that 'mastaans' are Bangladeshi mafia groups that operate in a market for crime, violence and social protection. It considers the crimes mastaans commit, the ways they divide labour, and how and why street children become involved in these groups. The book explores how street children are hired by 'mastaans', to carry weapons, sell drugs, collect extortion money, commit political violence and conduct contract killings. The book argues that these young people are neither victims nor offenders; they are instead 'illicit child labourers', doing what they can to survive on the streets. This book adds to the emerging fields of the sociology of crime and deviance in South Asia and 'Southern criminology'.

This edited volume brings together a diverse group of contributors to create a review of research and an agenda for the future of dog care and training in correctional facilities. Bolstered by research that documents the potential benefits of HAI, many correctional facilities have implemented prison dog programs that involve inmates in the care and training of canines, not only as family dogs but also as service dogs for people with psychological and/or physical disabilities. Providing an evidence-based treatment of the topic, this book also draws upon the vast practical experience of individuals who have successfully begun, maintained, improved, and evaluated various types of dog programs with inmates; it includes first-person perspectives from all of the stakeholders in a prison dog program-the corrections staff, the recipients of the dogs, the inmate/trainers, and the community volunteers and sponsors Human-animal interaction (HAI) is a burgeoning field of research that spans different disciplines: corrections, psychology, education, social work, animal welfare, and veterinary medicine, to name a few. Written for an array of professionals interested in prison dog programs, the book will hold special interest for researchers in criminal justice and corrections, forensic psychology, and to those with a commitment to promoting the ideals of rehabilitation, desistance thinking, restorative justice, and re-entry tools for inmates.

This book provides a detailed and practical exploration of criminal recidivism and social reintegration in Jamaica. It uses various methods to seek the authentic voices of inmates, ex-prisoners, deported migrants and practitioners, drawing on an original study to examine factors that might help ex-prisoners more successfully transition from a prison environment to life within the community. Leslie also raises important questions about the Jamaican state's capacity to meet the needs of inmates, particularly as a large number of its citizens are subject to forced repatriation to their homeland by overseas jurisdictions due to their offending. Recidivism in the Caribbean provides a unique insight into institutional and community life in a post-colonial society, whilst linking practices theories of offender management. It will particularly appeal to criminologists and sociologists interested in tertiary crime prevention but also those interested in correctional policy and practice, punishment and deviance.

This book offers a sociological exploration of street children in India and what pulls and pushes them into delinquency, at a time when the government of India is contemplating strengthening its juvenile justice system. It draws on in-depth, qualitative research carried out by an NGO which included unstructured and structured interviews with over 600 children as well as stakeholders. Through the stories of Indian children, this book examines the major factors which together play a crucial role in their engagement in deviant behaviour as they grow up. However, the authors argue that they should not be viewed not as a dangerous threat but as the country's most valuable resource. The authors conclude that a punitive strategy may not be the best option, advocating instead for a focus on restorative justice which has been found to be effective and beneficial alongside other strategies which help strengthen families and enhance parenting skills.

Offering a timely reanalysis of the issue of Japan's capital punishment policy, this cutting edge volume considers the de facto moratorium periods in Japan's death penalty system and proposes an alternative analytical framework to examine the policy. Addressing how the Ministry of Justice in Japan justified capital punishment policy during the de facto moratorium periods from 1989 to 1993, from 2009 to 2010 and from 2010 to 2012, the author debates the misconceptions surrounding the significance of these moratoriums. The book evidences the approach, rationale and evolution of Japan's Ministry of Justice in consistently justifying capital punishment policy during the different execution-free periods and provides a better understanding of the powerful unelected elite who actually drive the capital punishment system in Japan. Based on parliamentary proceedings, public opinion surveys and periodical reports by both international and domestic human rights NGOs as well as interviews of government ministers, NGO staff, pro- and anti-death-penalty advocates, this text is key reading for those interested in Japan, its government, criminal justice system and policies on the death penalty and human rights.

This book examines how the prison environment, architecture and culture can affect mental health as well as determine both the type and delivery of mental health services. It also discusses how non-medical practices, such as peer support and prison education programs, offer the possibility of transformative practice and support. By drawing on international contributions, it furthermore demonstrates how mental health in prisons is affected by wider socio-economic and cultural factors, and how in recent years neo-liberalism has abandoned, criminalised and contained large numbers of the world's most marginalised and vulnerable populations. Overall, this collection challenges the dominant narrative of individualism by focusing instead on the relationship between structural inequalities, suffering, survival and punishment. Chapter 2 of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license via link.springer.com.

This book examines the increasing retention and use of previous criminal record information, within and beyond the criminal justice system. There remains a misconception that once an offender has served the penalty for an offence, his or her dealings with the law and legal system in relation to that offence is at an end. This book demonstrates that in fact the criminal record lingers and permeates facets of the person's life far beyond the de jure sentence. Criminal records are relied upon by key decision makers at all stages of the formal criminal process, from the police to the judiciary. Convictions can affect areas of policing, bail, trial procedure and sentencing, which the author discusses. Furthermore, with the increasing intensifying of surveillance techniques in the interests of security, ex-offenders are monitored more closely post release and these provisions are explored here. Even beyond the formal criminal justice system, individuals can continue to experience many collateral consequences of a conviction whereby access to employment, travel and licenses (among other areas of social activity) can be limited as a consequence of disclosure requirements. Overall, this book examines the perpetual nature of criminal convictions through the evolution of criminal record use, focussing on the Irish perspective, and also considers the impact from a broader international perspective.

This book explores the dual nature of legitimacy in prison. It examines the inter-connectivity between audience perception of legitimacy (the prisoners' perception) and the power-holders' perception of legitimacy (the prison staff perception). It defines legitimacy in this scenario as the ability of prison workers to implement their authority in an honest, lawful, and just manner, while prisoners acknowledge their status as eligible power-holders who deserve to be obeyed and comply with their decisions. Using mixed methods of qualitative and quantitative research, data were collected in all Slovenian prisons as well as a correctional home. The volume discusses the various factors influencing prisoner's perspective of legitimacy, and recommends avenues for further research. This work will be of interest to researchers in criminology and criminal justice, particularly with an interest in prison and incarceration, or with an interest in Eastern Europe. It will also be of interest to those studying legitimacy within the criminal justice system more generally, and related fields such as sociology, law enforcement, and organizational psychology. Utilizing an in-depth and longitudinal study of legitimacy in Slovenian prisons, Hacin and Mesko shed light on legitimacy's dual nature with an exquisite research design that removes any ambiguity about its essential nature in achieving prison order and correctional environments more conducive to rehabilitation. [...] Overall, the book is an excellent contribution to penological theory, research, and practice. A monograph and case study of a post-modern and post-socialist prison system, it offers a lens for re-examining the mass incarceration models of western prisons for cross-cultural comparisons of prison legitimacy. -Rosemary L. Gido, Professor Emerita, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA This book studies legitimacy in prisoners and among prison staff through the lens of procedural justice theory, focusing on the context of Slovenia. The book is a must-read for scholars who are theoretically and methodologically interested in testing and applying procedural justice theory. Rarely, both prison staff and prisoners are studied in the same inquiry. This is the added value. The results have value for prison policy. This book will be of interest to scholars in criminology and criminal justice, as well as political science and public policy. - Lieven Pauwels, Professor, Department of Criminology, Criminal Law and Social Law, Ghent University, Belgium The now global epistemic community for the study of criminal justice and criminology requires that scholars everywhere be in frequent communication, and that they engage in the testing of concepts that are of potential universal application in democratic countries seeking to build just and efficacious public institutions. The time is here for comparative criminal justice research of high quality to be undertaken, and this book represents exemplary scholarship in this regard. For those scholars from around the world interested in determining the potential and limitations of the theory of procedural justice as applied in the corrections setting, this book represents a "must read" for you. It presents findings from a comprehensive, mixed-methods study of how the core concepts of the theory of procedural justice can be insightfully explored within correctional institutions. The study done in the progressive, highly regarded setting of the Slovenian prison system - carried out with inmates, prison staff (corrections officers and rehabilitation services personnel) and administrators - serves as an excellent template for replication in other countries. The interpretation of findings made by two scholars of remarkable experience and profound knowledge add greatly to the value of this book. For scholars doing worthwhile research into the challenges of building and maintaining just and capable criminal justice systems in democratic countries, this book will inform and inspire you. - Nicholas Lovrich, Research Professor Emeritus, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Washington State University, Pullman, USA

This book discusses the concept of 'agnosis' and its significance for criminology through a series of case studies, contributing to the expansion of the criminological imagination. Agnotology - the study of the cultural production of ignorance, has primarily been proposed as an analytical tool in the fields of science and medicine. However, this book argues that it has significant resonance for criminology and the social sciences given that ignorance is a crucial means through which public acceptance of serious and sometimes mass harms is achieved. The editors argue that this phenomenon requires a systematic inquiry into ignorance as an area of criminological study in its own right. Through case studies on topics such as migrant detention, historical institutionalised child abuse, imprisonment, environmental harm and financial collapse, this book examines the construction of ignorance, and the power dynamics that facilitate and shape that construction in a range of different contexts. Furthermore, this book addresses the relationship between ignorance and the achievement of 'manufactured consent' to political and cultural hegemony, acquiescence in its harmful consequences and the deflection of responsibility for them.

Much has been written about reintegration of ex-combatants in a traditional or conventional disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) programme. This volume examines reintegration of ex-combatants in a un-conventional DDR in which a cash-based scheme replaced a reintegration programme. It uncovers the dilemmas surrounding the un-conventional DDR programme in Nepal, situating the phenomena in the divisive politics of war to peace transition. Drawing on the narratives and perceptions of ex-combatants and their families, the volume provides a compelling analysis of why some ex-combatants reintegrate socially and economically better than others at the end of a war. Analysing the consequences and effects of reintegration of Maoist ex-combatants in the post-conflict peace and security, the volume argues that cash-based schemed in DDR programme can pacify ex-combatants and de-politicise a DDR programme but cash alone can not reintegrate ex-combatants.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This edited collection provides a comprehensive analysis of the differences and similarities between civil legal aid schemes in the Nordic countries whilst outlining recent legal aid transformations in their respective welfare states. Based on in-depth studies of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Iceland, the authors compare these cases with legal aid in Europe and the US to examine whether a single, unique Nordic model exists. Contextualizing Nordic legal aid in relation to welfare ideology and human rights, Hammerslev and Halvorsen Ronning consider whether flaws in the welfare state exist, and how legal aid affects disadvantaged citizens. Concluding that the five countries all have very different legal aid schemes, the authors explore an important general trend: welfare states increasingly outsourcing legal aid to the market and the third sector through both membership organizations and smaller voluntary organizations. A methodical and compassionate text, this book will be of special interest to scholars and students of the criminal justice, the welfare state, and the legal aid system.

This book explores how prisoners turn themselves into active opponents of the prison regime, and thus reclaim their freedom and manhood. Using extensive ethnographic fieldwork from Norway's largest prison, Ugelvik provides a compelling analysis of the relationship between power, practices of resistance and prisoner subjectivity.

This edited collection utilises recent advances in theories on masculinities to explore and analyse the ways in which prisons shape performances of gender, both within prison settings and following release from prison. The authors assess here how the highly gendered world of the prison (where the population is overwhelmingly male in most countries) impacts upon the performance of masculinities. Including original pieces from England, Australia, Scotland and the USA, as well as contributions which take a broader methodological and conceptual approach to masculinity, this engaging and original collection holds international appeal and relevance. Cumulatively, the chapters illustrate the importance of considering a nuanced understanding of masculinity within prison research, and as such, will be of particular interest for scholars of penology, gender studies, and the criminal justice system.

This book provides the first complete, literal English translation of Alexis de Tocqueville's and Gustave de Beaumont's first edition of On the Penitentiary System in the United States and Its Application to France. The work contains a critical comparison of two competing American penitentiary disciplines known as the Auburn and Philadelphia systems, an evaluation of whether American penitentiaries can successfully work in France, a detailed description of Houses of Refuge as the first juvenile detention centers, and an argument against penal colonization. The work provides valuable insights into understanding Tocqueville as a statesman, as well as a comparative look at civic engagement in early American and French penal reform movements. The Translator's Introduction provides historical context for understanding Tocqueville's work in French penal reform and the major themes of the report. The book thus fills a void in Tocquevillian studies and extrapolates the roots of American and French criminal justice systems in the nineteenth century.

This book outlines how community sentences and early release options are administered in China. Chen provides empirical insights into the emerging community sector of the Chinese penal system, and illustrates how Chinese criminal courts decide between imprisonment and community sentences. Drawing on interviews with government and non-governmental supervisors, this methodological and rigorous study offers an in-depth discussion of the enforcement of these community sanctions and measures (CSM). By using the CSM reform as an example, this book illustrates the adaptation of Chinese governance and social control. Ultimately, Chen argues that the current model of governance in China (disciplinary governance) cannot guarantee an effective state-agent relationship; it also denies local governments sufficient legitimacy to secure social stability. Finally, proposing that only the rule of law and an active judiciary can complement these two deficiencies, this book will be of great interest to scholars of criminology, law, and penology, as well as anyone who is interested in how China is held together in a socio-legal sense.

Brazilian authorities continuously fail to comply with international norms on minimal conditions of incarceration. Brazil's prison population has risen ten-fold since the country's return to democracy in the 1980s. Its prisons typically operate at double official capacity and with 100 prisoners for each guard on duty. At the same time, however, the average Brazilian prison is not as disorderly or its staff-inmate relations so conflictual as our established theories on prison life might predict. This monograph explores the means by which Brazilian prisons function in the absence of guards. More specifically, the means by which prison security and inmate discipline is negotiated between prison managers, gangs and the wider inmate body. While fragile and varied, this historical tradition of co-produced governance has for decades kept most prisons in better order and enabled most prisoners to better survive.

This book presents and uses a major, new database of the most serious forms of internal resistance to the Nazi state to study empirically the whole phenomenon of resistance to an authoritarian regime. By studying serious political resistance from a quantitative historical perspective, the book opens up a new avenue of research for economic history. The database underpinning the book was painstakingly compiled from official state records of treason and/or high treason tried before the German People's Court (Volksgerichtshof) between 1933 and 1945. It brings together material on resistance groups stored in the archives of the Federal Republic of Germany and Austria with previously inaccessible files from the former German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia and Soviet Union. Through searching these records, the authors have been able to reconstruct in hitherto unattainable detail the economic, social, political, ethnic and familial profiles, backgroun ds, and influences of all 4,378 civilians of the Third Reich active in Germany, Austria and the outside territories for whom there are complete records. The findings of their research afford fresh, new interdisciplinary insights and perspectives, not only on the configuration, timing, impact and profile of resistance to the Nazi state, but also on a range of real-world behaviours common within authoritarian states, such as defection, reward and punishment, and commitment to group identities. The book's statistical analysis reveals precisely the who, how, where and when of serious resistance. In so doing, it advances significantly our understanding of the overall pattern and nature of serious resistance within Nazi Germany.

Featuring experts from Europe, Australia, Japan, China, and the United States, this collection of essays follows changes in the theory and policy of China's death penalty from the Mao era (1949-1979) through the Deng era (1980-1997) up to the present day. Using empirical data, such as capital offender and offense profiles, temporal and regional variations in capital punishment, and the impact of social media on public opinion and reform, contributors relay both the character of China's death penalty practices and the incremental changes that indicate reform. They then compare the Chinese experience to other countries throughout Asia and the world, showing how change can be implemented even within a non-democratic and rigid political system, but also the dangers of promoting policies that society may not be ready to embrace.

This collection considers human rights and incarceration in relation to the liberal-democratic states of Australia, New Zealand and the UK. It presents original case-study material on groups that are disproportionately affected by incarceration, including indigenous populations, children, women, those with disabilities, and refugees or 'non-citizens'. The book considers how and why human rights are eroded, but also how they can be built and sustained through social, creative, cultural, legal, political and personal acts. It establishes the need for pragmatic reforms as well as the abolition of incarceration. Contributors consider what has, or might, work to secure rights for incarcerated populations, and they critically analyse human rights in their legal, socio-cultural, economic and political contexts. In covering this ground, the book presents a re-invigorated vision of human rights in relation to incarceration. After all, human rights are not static principles; they have to be developed, fought over and engaged with.