Over the course of U.S. history, the very definition of punishment in America has been subject to a variety of changes and has served as the basis for much debate. Mark Colvin examines three case studies from the 19th century that represent shifts in the interpretation of punishment: the rise of penitentiaries in the Northeast; the changes in treatment of women offenders in the North; and the transformation of punishment in the South after the Civil War. In addition, he examines topics such as how punishment differs from reform, the treatment of women in reformatories, and the notion that convict leasing and chain gangs of black prisoners in the South are a perpetuation of plantation slave labor.

Prisoners are a uniquely vulnerable social group and protecting them from oppressive states has given rise to a complex web of standards generated by a variety of international mechanisms and processes. Protecting Prisoners examines the most detailed and far-reaching set of custodial standards yet devised-those of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT)--and relates them to those of other European and United Nations bodies. The book also examines the reaction of selected Council of Europe member states--Belgium, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the United Kingdom--to the application of those standards in CPT reports. This dual perspective provides a critical insight into the degree to which the development of international human rights law is having a practical impact on the situation of prisoners.

In this book Michael Tonry offers a comprehensive overview of research, policy developments, and practical experience concerning sentencing and sanctions. He will consider what we know about the effects of innovations of the past twenty years on sentencing disparities, and will consider what directions policy should move in the next twenty years.

Controversy has arisen regarding U.S. treatment of enemy combatants and terrorist suspects detained in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations, and whether such treatment complies with U.S. statutes and treaties such as the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and the 1949 Geneva Convention. This book summarises the results of the review conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of the Inspector General (OIG) regarding the Federal Bureau of Investigations in Guantanamo Bay (GTMO), Afghanistan, and Iraq. The focus of this book was whether FBI agents witnessed incidents of detainee abuse in the military zones, whether FBI employees reported any such abuse to their superiors or others, and how those reports were handled. The OIG also examined whether FBI employees participated in any detainee abuse. In addition, the authors examined the development and adequacy of the policies, guidance, and training that the FBI provided to the agents it deployed to the military zones.

Through intimate portraits of four exonerated prisoners, journalist Alison Flowers explores what happens to innocent people when the state flings open the jailhouse door and tosses them back, empty-handed, into the unknown. These stories reveal serious gaps in the criminal justice system. Flowers depicts the collateral damage of wrongful convictions on families and communities, challenging the deeper problem of mass incarceration in the United States, vividly showing that release from prison is not always a happy ending, or indeed an ending at all.

This book provides insight into, knowledge of, and skills for an integrated and participative approach to unit management in prisons. The book will inspire corrections managers to meet the challenges posed by imprisonment in future generations. Contents include: the philosophy of unit management * architecture * case management * risk management * security management * human rights and unit management * the human rights of inmates * avoiding negligence and liability * valid decision making * international principles.

A comprehensive and critical review of corrections, Correctional Contexts: Contemporary and Classical Readings, Fifth Edition, traces the history and development of corrections and punishment as it has evolved in the U.S. over the past few centuries. This text presents both classical and contemporary articles that cover the history of corrections in the U.S.; discusses how various facets of the system operate today; and considers where we as a country may be headed regarding the confinement, control, and treatment of our correctional populations. Each chapter opens with an introduction and concludes with study questions.

An eye-opening look at how incarcerated people, health professionals, and others behind and beyond bars came together to problem-solve incarceration. Raising the Living Dead is a history of Puerto Rico's carceral rehabilitation system that brings to life the interactions of incarcerated people, their wider social networks, and health care professionals. Alberto Ortiz Diaz describes the ways that multiple communities of care came together both inside and outside of prisons to imagine and enact solution-oriented cultures of rehabilitation from the 1930s to the 1960s. Scientific and humanistic approaches to well-being were deliberately fused to raise the "living dead," an expression that reemerged in the modern Caribbean to refer to prisoners. These reform groups sought to raise incarcerated people physically, mentally, socially, spiritually, and civically. The book is based on deep, original archival research into the Oso Blanco (White Bear) penitentiary in Puerto Rico, yet it situates its study within Puerto Rico's broader carceral archipelago and other Caribbean prisons. The agents of this history include not only physical health professionals, but also psychologists and psychiatrists, social workers, spiritual and religious practitioners, and, of course, the prisoners and their families. By following all these groups and emphasizing the interpersonal exercise of power, Ortiz Diaz tells a story that goes beyond debates about structural and social control. The book addresses key issues in the history of prisons and the histories of medicine and belief, including how prisoners' different racial, class, and cultural identities shaped their incarceration and how professionals living in a colonial society dealt with the challenge of rehabilitating prisoners for citizenship. Raising the Living Dead is not just about convicts, their immediate interlocutors, and their contexts, however, but about how together these open a window into the history of social uplift projects within the (neo)colonial societies of the Caribbean. There is no book like this in Caribbean historiography; few examine these themes in the larger literature on the history of prisons.

This volume brings together articles on sentencing reform in the United States, other English-speaking countries (Australia, Canada, England, Wales, New Zealand, South Africa), and Western Europe, by leading national and international authorities on sentencing policy, practices, and institutions. The articles, by leading experts, are short, timely, and readable, and originally appeared in the journal Overcrowded Times.

Hanging people for petty crimes as well as grave, the Bloody Penal Code was at its most active between 1770 and 1830. Some 7,000 men and women were executed on public scaffolds, watched by crowds of thousands.

This acclaimed and prize-winning study is the first to explore what a wide range of people felt about these ceremonies. To analyse responses to the scaffold at all social levels, V. A. C. Gatrell draws on letters, diaries, ballads, broadsides, and images, as well as on poignant appeals for mercy which, until now, have been largely neglected by historians. Panoramic in range, scholarly in method, and compelling in style and in argument, this is one of those rare histories which both shift our sense of the past and speak powerfully to the present.

This book presents a substantial new statement on the character of social life in confinement. Drawing upon extensive fieldwork in two contrasting English maximum security prisons, the authors systematically compare this institutional order, including the differing control strategies deployed in each, as seen by both custodians and captives, controllers and controlled. The authors discuss the implications of their research for the tradition of sociological concern within the 'prison community'. They re-examine the resources of that rich but latterly somewhat dormant field in the light of some of the main currents in contemporary social theory, and thereby provide a new perspective on the 'problem of order' in maximum custody. This book will have significant policy implications, and it will be required reading for scholars and students in criminology and criminal justice, as well as for administrators and reformers in penal system.

The Habits of Legality provides a broad survey of American criminal justice in a time of troubles. It asks the central questions: In what degree are the justice system's functions guided by ascertainable legal norms? How accountable are public officials who wield the rigorous sanctions of the penal law? Where the habits of legality are weak, how can they be invigorated?
A number of factors combine to constrict the rule of law in the criminal process. A crime epidemic of alarming proportions places enormous burdens on the system and gives rise to a "war on crime" that often oversteps the limits of legality. The institutional structure of the United States is severely fragmented, rendering coherent penal policy difficult or impossible and often freeing public officials of accountability for their uses of public authority. Even the courts and legislatures, the primary law-making agencies of society, often operate to weaken rather than strengthen the rule of law.
Francis A. Allen asserts the vital and continuing importance of the legality principle to democratic societies, discusses how the habits of legality in American criminal justice can be strengthened, and demonstrates that a closer adherence to the rule of law may not only protect the rights of persons more efficiently, but also contribute to more rational and effective penal policy. The Habits of Legality offers solutions on how to revitalize the rule of law. It will be of interest to scholars and students of criminology and law, as well as the general reader concerned with issues of criminal justice.

An Introduction to Penology is a concise, informative, scholarly guide that will speak to a variety of audiences interested in how the notion of punishment plays out in community and custodial settings with people who have broken the law. With a particular focus on prisons and probation, the book provides an opportunity for readers to critically engage with the concept of punishment (in theory and practice) and consider different ways in which we, as a society, can respond to lawbreaking. The text will allow students to pursue a more in-depth study of two of the main criminal justice institutions through the lens of their organisational structures, cultures, service delivery and responses to the needs of minority and vulnerable groups. Throughout the text, students will be encouraged to critically engage with longstanding penological debates taking into consideration the theory, policy and practice of punishment, and will explore ways in which we can rethink penology on an individual and social level and begin to make a case for social justice rather than criminal justice. This innovative and contemporary text is a must read for students studying criminology, criminal justice, penology and those interested in pursuing a career in either the prison or probation services. Lol Burke is Professor in Criminal Justice and Dr Helena Gosling is a Senior Lecturer in Criminal Justice at Liverpool John Moores University.

Sentencing reform has become a highly controversial political issue. This new collection of essays brings together case studies of legislative reform initiatives in the USA and Canada, Australia, Sweden, and England and Wales. It also includes essays by leading international authorities on the impetus for and dynamics of change, and will be essential reading for anyone interested in the reform of sentencing practice in the West.

There are many motives which induce them to seek a shelter without a shadow of repentance for their evil lives. Generally speaking, it is a sudden impulse following some act of cruelty from the wretches among whom they live, or it is the sight of some worn-out companion dying in a workhouse, or some other phase of the temporal penalties of their career. Sometimes it is want succeeding lavish excess, or pain, disease, disappointment, disgust at the miseries which go side by side with their so-called pleasures; these, and a hundred other motives, drive those wayward, impulsive beings to any refuge which may seem to present itself, and the true wisdom, the true charity, would be to take advantage of the motive, be it even evil, which prompts them to escape.

Prisons occupy a central position in the criminal justice system of all the developed nations. Much is known about prisons, their administration, their effectiveness and their problems. More is known now than at any time in the past about how prisons work and how prisoners view their experiences of incarceration.

However, little attention has been given to comparing and contrasting prison systems in different countries. This collection does just that, bringing together leading prison scholars from Italy, Australia, the US, and the UK to produce a set of essays which offer a broad view of recent developments in imprisonment theory and practice. Topics covered include: privately run prisons; the crisis in prisons in several countries; Russian prisons after Perestroika; human rights and prisons in Europe; women in prisons; and racial disproportion in US prisons.

Contributors: Richard Sparks, Douglas C. McDonald, Massimo Pavarini, Roy D. King, Franklin E. Zimring, Gordon Hawkins, Michael Tonry, Ken Pease, Pat Carlen, Rod Morgan, Malcolm Evans, Mike Maguire

This second volume of Lord Windlesham's seminal work Responses to Crime concentrates on the making of penal policy between the first post-war Criminal Justices Act in 1948 and the passage of the Criminal Justice Act 1991. The central role of government, the Home Office in particular, is brought out, as are the diverse sources of policy proposals and the influence on ministers, legislators, and civil servants. It is an insider's account, the author having had experience as a minister at the Home Office and for Northern Ireland, as well as Leader of the House of Lords. From 1982-88 Lord Windlesham was Chairman of the Parole Board, and became President of Victim Support in 1992. He is currently Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford.

This newly updated edition connects the past with the present, using the Clarence Thomas hearings -and their characterization by Thomas as a "high-tech lynching"- to examine the links between white supremacy and the sexual abuse of black women, and the difficulty of forging an antiracist movement against sexual violence.

"Revolt Against Chivalry" is the account of how Jesse Daniel Ames and the antilynching campaign she led fused the causes of social feminism and racial justice in the South during the 1920s and 1930s.

The book traces Ames's political path from suffragism to militant antiracism and provides a detailed description of the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching, which served through the 1930s as the chief expression of antilynching sentiment in the white South.

"Revolt Against Chivalry" is also a biography of Ames herself: it shows how Ames connected women's opposition to violence with their search for influence and self-definition, thereby leading a revolt against chivalry which was part of both sexual and racial emancipation.

The resurrection of former prisons as museums has caught the attention of tourists along with scholars interested in studying what is known as dark tourism. Unsurprisingly, due to their grim subject matter, prison museums tend to invert the Disneyland "experience, becoming the antithesis of the happiest place on earth." In Escape to Prison, the culmination of years of international research, noted criminologist Michael Welch explores ten prison museums on six continents, examining the complex interplay between culture and punishment. From Alcatraz to the Argentine Penitentiary, museums constructed on the former locations of surveillance, torture, colonial control, and even rehabilitation tell unique tales about the economic, political, religious, and scientific roots of each site's historical relationship to punishment.

Correctional psychiatry has received increasing recognition as an area of practice with unique skills and knowledge. The Oxford Textbook of Correctional Psychiatry brings together American and international experts to provide a comprehensive overview of the field. Students and psychiatric residents will find basic information that prepares them for clinical rotations, and psychiatrists working in jails and prisons will find a detailed review of the complex issues that arise in these settings. The Oxford Textbook of Correctional Psychiatry contains 73 chapters divided into 14 sections. The first three sections address history, structure, and processes including chapters on case law, human rights, ethics, organization and funding of systems, and stages of patient management that cover initial assessments through re-entry. The next three sections review in turn a broad array of management issues, emergencies, and psychopharmacology topics. Among other topics, these sections include chapters on sleep, detoxification, reassessment of community diagnoses and treatments, diversion programs, levels of care, malingering, substance use within facilities, and formulary management. Section seven has chapters on common psychiatric disorders, relevant medical disorders, and pain management. Sections eight through ten focus on psychotherapeutic options, suicide risk management, and addictions treatment. Chapters on aggression, self-injury, and other behavioral challenges appear in Section eleven. Section twelve reviews unique assessment and treatment needs of many distinct population groups. Special topics such as forensics, psychological testing, sexual assaults, quality improvement, training, and research, appear in Section thirteen, followed by a section devoted to current resources in correctional healthcare. The range of topics covered and the number of prominent contributors set this book apart from other available resources. Readers at all stages of their careers will gain the depth of understanding and practical information they need to approach all of the common clinical, organizational, and ethical challenges they face. This print edition of Oxford Textbook of Correctional Psychiatry comes with a year's access to the online version on Oxford Medicine Online. By activating your unique access code, you can read and annotate the full text online, follow links from the references to primary research materials, and view, enlarge and download all the figures and tables. Oxford Medicine Online is mobile optimized for access when and where you need it.

Many organizations are engaged in a race to prevent the execution by lethal injection of death sentenced prisoners in Texas (and elsewhere in the USA). Some of these men and women claim to be completely innocent, as described in this book. Texas is the most punitive place within one of the harshest penal systems in the world. Michael O'Brien - who was himself wrongly convicted of murder - dissects a selection of Death Row cases with the eye of a man who has spent years watching how miscarriages of justice happen and why. He explains how practitioners, politicians and others are in denial and how livelihoods depend on a conveyer belt from the courts to the execution chamber. Aided by bias, discrimination and prejudice he describes a killing process triggered by unfair trials, supposed expert evidence and closed minds. This is just one hallmark of a country obsessed with guns, violence and the ultimate penalty. No legal system should take away human lives, especially one tarnished by defects of the kind the author sets out in this book. Extract: 'Can you just imagine being an individual who is innocent but facing execution, whether in Texas or elsewhere? Or you were on Death Row but you did not take part in any killings, just got caught up in the hysteria? Can you picture the pressure and abject loneliness of serving 15 years or more, and then the State setting a date to kill you?'

The first collective work devoted exclusively to the ethical and penal theoretical considerations of the use of artificial intelligence at sentencing Is it morally acceptable to use artificial intelligence (AI) in the determination of sentences on those who have broken the law? If so, how should such algorithms be used-and what are the consequences? Jesper Ryberg and Julian V. Roberts bring together leading experts to answer these questions. Sentencing and Artificial Intelligence investigates to what extent, and under which conditions, justice and the social good may be promoted by allocating parts of the most important task of the criminal court-that of determining legal punishment-to computerized sentencing algorithms. The introduction of an AI-based sentencing system could save significant resources and increase consistency across jurisdictions. But it could also reproduce historical biases, decrease transparency in decision-making, and undermine trust in the justice system. Dealing with a wide-range of pertinent issues including the transparency of algorithmic-based decision-making, the fairness and morality of algorithmic sentencing decisions, and potential discrimination as a result of these practices, this volume offers avaluable insight on the future of sentencing.