A unique and telling insight into life in a claustrophobic and sometimes violent atmosphere. An ideal primer on women's issues within the penal system. With 8 pages of colour illustrations.

Drawing on an extensive body of literature, The Rehabilitation of Partner-Violent Men presents an historical account of the policy changes that have led to rehabilitation programmes for male perpetrators of intimate partner violence within the criminal justice system. * Presents a review of the current state of male partner-violence theory and related intervention programmes in the UK * Draws on both national and international literature within the field * Provides an overview of the theoretical foundation behind current approaches to the rehabilitation of partner-violent men * Offers an appraisal of the effectiveness of current practicesA and directions for future advances in intervention and evaluation science

An in-depth analysis of the legal entry points and remedies in the school-to-prison pipeline The "school-to-prison pipeline" is an emerging trend that pushes large numbers of at-risk youth-particularly children of color-out of classrooms and into the juvenile justice system. The policies and practices that contribute to this trend can be seen as a pipeline with many entry points, from under-resourced K-12 public schools, to the over-use of zero-tolerance suspensions and expulsions and to the explosion of policing and arrests in public schools. The confluence of these practices threatens to prepare an entire generation of children for a future of incarceration. In this comprehensive study of the relationship between American law and the school-to-prison pipeline, co-authors Catherine Y. Kim, Daniel J. Losen, and Damon T. Hewitt analyze the current state of the law for each entry point on the pipeline and propose legal theories and remedies to challenge them. Using specific state-based examples and case studies, the authors assert that law can be an effective weapon in the struggle to reduce the number of children caught in the pipeline, address the devastating consequences of the pipeline on families and communities, and ensure that our public schools and juvenile justice system further the goals for which they were created: to provide meaningful, safe opportunities for all the nation's children.

Women prisoners gain insight and inspiration through their creative reading practices. Drawing on extensive interviews with ninety-four women prisoners, Megan Sweeney examines how incarcerated women use available reading materials to come to terms with their pasts, negotiate their present experiences, and reach toward different futures. Foregrounding the voices of African American women, Sweeney analyzes how prisoners read three popular genres: narratives of victimization, urban crime fiction, and self-help books. She outlines the history of reading and education in U.S. prisons, highlighting how the increasing dehumanization of prisoners has resulted in diminished prison libraries and restricted opportunities for reading. Although penal officials have sometimes endorsed reading as a means to control prisoners, Sweeney illuminates the resourceful ways in which prisoners educate and empower themselves through reading. Given the scarcity of counseling and education in prisons, Sweeney argues that women use books to make meaning from their experiences, to gain guidance and support, to experiment with new ways of being, and to maintain connections with the world.

The autobiography of an ex-offender and twice-times inmate of Barlinnie Prison, now a social work team-leader in his native Scotland. As a local hard case, author Allan Weaver took no prisoners. Neither does he in this compelling work in which he tells of a life of violent episodes and his chaotic early life. Teachers, social workers and 'authority figures' never tried 'to get to know him' to unearth the clues and triggers and discover what his offending was all about. A natural rebel and a radical, it is hardly surprising that by ignoring the real Allan Weaver this led to an escalation of his violent activities, tensions between family and friends and dubious associates. So You Think You Know Me? is packed with contradictions: the Allan Weaver involved in mayhem and aggression is not the one telling the story from inside his own head: an often vulnerable, sensitive, articulate, unquestionably loyal and even-handed individual; mistaken, misguided and foolish perhaps but largely trapped by an increasing need to live up to his 'tough guy' reputation. That there can be any tidy ending to this graphic true-life account of approved school, assessment centres, care homes, borstal and Glasgow's notorious Barlinnie Prison is quite remarkable yet Allan Weaver survived to obtain a degree from Strathclyde University and to work on the inside of the Criminal Justice System with young people who, like he was, are in trouble with the law. The punches that he now throws are directed towards the shortcomings of a system which he believes is failing to do all that it could to turn them away from crime and anti-social behaviour as he explains in this heartfelt autobiography. Essential reading for anyone involved with serious young offenders, especially those of a violent disposition. Audio from the book launch Launched at Glasgow School of Social Work, for audio from the launch click here (external link to Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services website. Although we have tested this site and found there to be no problems, Waterside Press is not responsible for content of external links). Reviews 'Despite all the tribulations he faced in his early life Weaver conveys his experiences with humour and affection. I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be reminded of why they embarked on a career in the probation service' Probation Journal 'When Mr Weaver talks about the importance of tackling the causes of crime, he does so from an unusual position of authority and experience' The Scotsman 'There will be few who can match the range and depth of his understanding... Weaver tells his story with unflinching frankness. He does not glory in the life he lived, but takes the reader into a world where it could seem to be just a part of normality. Long-term prisoners are wont to speak of their lives as a journey. One puts down this book reminded of how very long that journey can be, of the distant, half-known country where it can have begun, of the price it can exact and the importance of nourishing hope' Independent Monitor 'A book that makes painful reading at times, painful to read of the damage that Allan Weaver caused to himself and others and their property, but also painful to read how structures often combined, some would say colluded, to take him further away from the person he could have been. But it is a book that helps us better understand Allan Weaver, and those like him, who, given a chance, can get away from their past and help build a better future' Internet Law Book Reviews

A revolutionary book that offers a fresh, bold approach to confronting the juvenile crime epidemic With the rise of violent crimes committed by teenagers in recent years, heated discussion has arisen over the societal factors that lead to juvenile criminality and the ways that public institutions are failing to curtail them. Now a team of experts with decades of collective hands-on experience present a book that cuts through the hype and paranoia to offer real solutions. Drawing on actual case studies, Dispatches from Juvenile Hall shows how conventional ?tough on crime? tactics have only worsened the problem, and presents a new blueprint for change that incorporates punitive action, rehabilitation, and family intervention?a progressive program that will encourage and enlighten all those concerned about the future of our youth.

Over the last decade, police departments and state's attorney's offices across the country have adopted mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution policies to handle cases of intimate abuse. In addition to protecting victims from future violence, these policies are intended to change abusers by punishing them for their behavior. Emerging at a time when various dimensions of U.S. society are being "governed through crime," mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution have proven controversial. While critics charge that the policies disempower women by removing decision making from them and aggravate the negative consequences of criminal justice interventions in poor and minority communities, proponents maintain that the measures are needed to protect battered women and provide them the same legal protections afforded to other victims of violent crime. Somewhat overlooked in this debate has been how mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution affect abusers, a critical question for understanding the power of criminal punishment to combat intimate partner abuse. In Arresting Abuse, Keith Guzik answers this question. Drawing both from firsthand observations of a police department and a criminal court following mandatory policies and extensive interviews with 30 offenders arrested and prosecuted for domestic violence, Arresting Abuse provides a critical assessment. While mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution allow the state to extend formal legal supervision over an increasing number of violent men and women, thus seemingly increasing its power over them, offenders prove resistant to change. They see themselves as victims of injustice, continue to view their violence as justified, and devise new strategies to preserve their definition and enactment of self. The reasons for these outcomes rest in the nature of power itself-in the state tactics, structures of social inequality, and modes of individual agency through which mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution are realized. A key contribution to domestic violence literature as well as to socio-legal scholarship on the power of the law as a force for social change, Arresting Abuse argues that the promise for defeating intimate partner abuse lies in better matching the tactics of state power to the goals of victim empowerment and offender responsibility and to exercise such force through mechanisms that do not exacerbate social inequality.

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.

How vengeance has replaced rehabilitation in our prisons--and its terrible costs.

In this dramatic expose of U.S. penitentiaries and the communities around them, Sasha Abramsky finds that prisons have dumped their age-old goal of rehabilitation, often for political reasons. The new "ideal," unknown to most Americans, is a punitive mandate marked by a drive toward vengeance.

Surveying this state of affairs -- life sentences for nonviolent crimes, appalling conditions, the growth of private prisons, the treatment of juveniles--Abramsky asks: Does the vengeful impulse ennoble our culture or demean it? California's Three Strikes law typifies the politics that exploit the grief of victims' families and our fears of violent crime. Brilliantly researched and compellingly told, AMERICAN FURIES shows that the ehtos of "lock 'em up and throw away the key" has enormous social costs.

Moving backwards from the murders they committed through their adult lives, relationship histories, and their childhoods, the author sought to understand what motivates the men to kill. The patterns he found reveal that the murders were neither impulsive crimes of passion nor were they indiscriminate. "Why Do They Kill?" is the first book to profile different types of wife killers, and to examine the courtship patterns of abusive men. The author shows that wife murders are not, for the most part, "crimes of passion," but culminations of lifelong predisposing factors of the men who murder, and that many elements of their crimes are foretold by their past behavior in intimate relationships.

Key turning points of these relationships include the first emergence of the man's violence, his blaming of the victim, her attempts to resist, his escalation, her attempts to end the relationship, and his punishment for her defiance. Critical perspective on the men's accounts comes from interviews with victims of attempted homicide (standing in for the murder victims) who survived shootings, stabbings, and strangulation. These women detail their partner's escalating patterns of child abuse, sexual violence, terroristic threats, and stalking. The section on help-seeking patterns of victims helps to dispel notions of ilearned helplessnessi among victims."

This book provides the first detailed examination of the role played by former loyalist and republican prisoners in grass roots conflict transformation work in the Northern Ireland peace process. It challenges the assumed passivity of former prisoners and ex-combatants. Instead, it suggests that such individuals and the groups which they formed have been key agents of conflict transformation. They have provided leadership in challenging cultures of violence, developed practical methods of resolving inter-communal conflict and found ways for communities to explore their troubled past. In analysing this, the authors challenge the sterile demonisation of former prisoners and the processes that maintain their exclusion from normal civic and social life. The book is a constructive reminder of the need for full participation of both former combatants and victims in post-conflict transformation. It also lays out a new agenda for reconciliation which suggests that conflict transformation can and should begin 'from the extremes'. The book will be of interest to students of criminology, peace and conflict studies, law and politics, geography and sociology as well as those with a particular interest in the Northern Ireland conflict.

Crazy in America shows how people suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, clinical depression, and other serious psychological illnesses are regularly incarcerated because alternative care is not available. Once behind bars, they are frequently punished again for behavior that is psychotic, not criminal. A compelling and important examination of a shocking human rights abuse in our midst, Crazy in America is an indictment of a society that incarcerates its weakest and most vulnerable citizens -- causing them to emerge sicker and more damaged.

A refined young lady stands proudly in front of the mirror in her bedroom remembering the teachers and parents who told her she'd never amount to anything. She herself even doubted, at one time, that she would ever overcome her addictions. It's the '80s: Stefany reaches puberty and begins to compare her lifestyle to other people she comes in contact with. She is faced with the cruelties of childhood and begins looking for an outlet. Media influence, gang activity is on the rise, and the pregnancy rate is the highest in their district. Stefany's teachers notice a change in her behavior when she walks into her eighth-grade class with makeup on her face, tight jeans and a nasty attitude. Society is rapidly changing for the worst. Young ladies were acting out more aggressively than the young men, and parents couldn't prepare for what was to come. ************ Stefany's downfall is a chain reaction. Reverend Sowell is sickly and Mrs. Sowell cannot control her. After her father's death, her sister Elaine, living in North Carolina, suggests to their Mother that she put their apartment building up for sale, and move Stefany there. The change is good, however, she picks up some of her old bad habits, despite her family's efforts to steer her in the right direction. She eventually gets a job, graduates from high school, and is accepted into a historically black university where she faces more challenges. Stefany eventually develops self -love and continues striving for success. She finally matures and goes back to her church roots. Through her transformation, she discovers what really matters in life. *Note: Names have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty.

Youth Justice is a key area of the current governments criminal justice policy in England and Wales. It has been the subject of an inordinate amount of recent legislation seeking to enhance the criminal courts powers to punish and prevent offending and re-offending by young people. This legislation attempts to prevent offending through criminal justice measures and there is little attempt to use non-criminal or civil law procedures to achieve the same result. This book seeks to challenge that focus and to question why delinquency in young people has been so firmly criminalized in this jurisdiction. The book addresses the consequences of criminalization in terms of the effectiveness of the measures used as well as the implications for the social construction of youth and childhood and our attitudes towards the young. Criminalization of young peoples behaviour results in them being labeled as criminal,losing identity as an individual, losing their childhood through the process of taking adult responsibility for their actions and, in policy terms, becoming viewed as a crime problem rather than as a product of failing social policy regarding employment, education and youth culture. At a society level it is contended that the identification of young people with criminal activity and the negative public image that results creates a culture of fear and distrust which may in turn create further possibilities for criminalization of their behaviour. A comparative perspective in this work examines welfare-based responses to youth crime in other European jurisdictions and questions whether the criminal justice process is an appropriate context in which to deal with young peoples problematic behaviour. This book has been shortlisted for the 2007 SLSA Book Prize.

When David Dow took his first capital case, he supported the death penalty. He changed his position as the men on death row became real people to him, and as he came to witness the profound injustices they endured: from coerced confessions to disconcertingly incompetent lawyers; from racist juries and backward judges to a highly arbitrary death penalty system.
It is these concrete accounts of the people Dow has known and represented that prove the death penalty is consistently unjust, and it's precisely this fundamental--and lethal--injustice, Dow argues, that should compel us to abandon the system altogether.
"An honorably dispassionate and logical broadside against a shameful practice." --Kirkus Reviews
"Dow reveals the dirty little secret of American death-penalty litigation: procedure trumps innocence . . . [His book] is insightful and full of the kinds of revelations that may lead readers to reconsider their stand on the death penalty." --Steve Mills, Chicago Tribune
"Dow's book leaves all else behind. It is powerful, direct, informative, and told in compelling human terms. He makes us see that the issue is not sentiment or retribution or even innocence. It is justice." --Anthony Lewis, Pulitzer Prize-winning former columnist for the New York Times
David R. Dow is professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center and an internationally recognized figure in the fight against the death penalty. He is the founder and director of the Texas Innocence Network and has represented more than thirty death row inmates. Regularly quoted in publications like the New York Times and the Washington Post, Dow lives in Houston, Texas.

Most Americans readily support rehabilitation for convicted offenders - after all, on the face of it, many of these people have been dealt a bad hand, or at least have made poor choices, and surely would mend their ways if only they had access to enlightened forms of treatment, vocational training, or other programs. Yet an objective assessment of the research literature reveals that the majority of these rehabilitative programs have little or no lasting impact on recidivism. In this monograph, David Farabee critically reviews the most common forms of offender rehabilitation and outlines their underlying assumptions about the causes of crime (e.g., drug use, poor education, limited vocational skills, etc.). He contends that fundamental principles of deterrence, such as closer monitoring of parolees, swift application of sanctions, and indeterminate community supervision - the completion of which would be tied to the offender's performance - are in the long run far more humane than the progressive approaches that are becoming more popular today.

Prostitutes, shoplifters, vagrants, murderesses-Dodge tracks the history of such "improper" women as she explores the history of female incarceration in Illinois from 1835 to the present. In court and in prison, these women-some who are considered beyond all hope of reformation-have received vastly different treatment than their male counterparts. A woman's fate in court often hung on officials' estimates of her moral and sexual reputation. Alleged promiscuity, illegitimate births, venereal disease, interracial relationships, or use of alcohol could condemn her in the eyes of judge and jury. Ethnic and social prejudice played a role, too, as most incarcerated women poor, workingclass, immigrants, or members of a racial minority. In women's prisons, the slightest misbehavior-from poor table manners to inappropriate dress-could lead to disciplinary action. Guards vigilantly monitored female friendships, suspecting lesbianism in the most innocent acts. Instead of creating docile and dutiful subjects, such treatment stirred resistance among the prisoners and fostered a powerful inmate subculture. Highly readable yet theoretically sophisticated, Whores and Thieves of the Worst Kind provides a striking collective portrait of incarcerated women. Drawn from extensive primary sources, the voices of female prisoners emerge powerfully and poignantly as individuals tell their stories.

Two true-crime thrillers as seen on Discovery's Murder is Forever TV series.

MURDER, INTERRUPTED:
Rich, cheating financier Frank Howard wants his wife dead, and he's willing to pay Billie Earl Johnson whatever it takes, to the tune of $750,000. When his bullet misses the mark, Billie Earl and Frank will turn on each other in a fight for their lives...

MOTHER OF ALL MURDERS:
Dee Dee Blancharde is a local celebrity. Television reports praise her as a single mother who tirelessly cares for her wheelchair-bound, chronically ill daughter. But when the teenaged Gypsy Rose realises she isn't actually sick and Dee Dee has lied all these years, Gypsy Rose exacts her revenge...

Howard Williamson's 'Five Years' was a ground-breaking study of youth, poverty and crime in the 1970s. At its close, the boys he interviewed were left with few prospects and bleak futures. Twenty-five years later, Williamson returns to find out the sort of men these boys have become and narrates their stories in this extraordinary book.Of the original group of sixty-seven boys, seven are dead -- not one of natural causes. Williamson tracked down half of those remaining. Here they tell of their personal, family and social relationships, legal and illegal work, their experiences of the criminal justice system, and money. Contrary to what one might expect, their lives are startlingly diverse.The Milltown Boys Revisited is a riveting account of life on the edge during the Thatcher and Blair governments. It tells stories of dignity, human betterment and escape, of fatalism on the margins of criminal and drug cultures, and also of getting by in difficult circumstances. It is as much a celebration of individual resilience as an account of risk and vulnerability in the lives of the dispossessed.

As juvenile justice dominates the headlines, the time has come to reexamine the history of this controversial institution. In Transforming Juvenile Justice, Steven L. Schlossman traces the evolution of the idea that young lawbreakers, or potential lawbreakers, merit special treatment. He closely examines the Milwaukee Juvenile Court and the Wisconsin State Reform School to reveal how Progressive theory-the belief that rehabilitation and careful oversight should replace punishment of delinquent youth-played out in practice. Since its original publication in 1977, Schlossman's history of the juvenile justice system contributed to the debate on the delinquency problem and remains a landmark study today. In an engaging new introduction for this fresh edition of his classic, Schlossman reveals his sources of inspiration and relates his discovery of the rare records that offered an exclusive glimpse into the Milwaukee court's day-to-day operations. His account of the changing definitions of delinquency and reformers' attempts to remedy it offers insights on dilemmas that continue to plague American society.

In many modern wars, there have been those who have chosen not to fight. Be it for religious or moral reasons, some men and women have found no justification for breaking their conscientious objection to violence. In many cases, this objection has led to severe punishment at the hands of their own governments, usually lengthy prison terms. Peter Brock brings the voices of imprisoned conscientious objectors to the fore in "These Strange Criminals."

This important and thought-provoking anthology consists of thirty prison memoirs by conscientious objectors to military service, drawn from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and centring on their jail experiences either during the first or second world wars or in Cold War America. Voices from history - like those of Stephen Hobhouse, Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, Ian Hamilton, Alfred Hassler, and Donald Wetzel - come alive, detailing the impact of prison life and offering unique perspectives on wartime government policies of conscription and imprisonment. Sometimes intensely moving, and often inspiring, these memoirs show that in some cases, individual conscientious objectors - many well-educated and politically aware - sought to reform the penal system from within either by publicizing its dysfunction or through further resistance to authority. The collection is an essential contribution to our understanding of criminology and the history of pacifism, and represents a valuable addition to prison literature.

Criminal justice professionals and the media have noted the rise of juvenile crime rates nationwide and a growing surge in youth violence. This in turn has highlighted the debate over juvenile transfers to adult courts. Proponents of treating violent juvenile offenders as adults argue that juvenile offenders should be held accountable and receive punishment that is appropriate to the seriousness of their offences and that society must be protected by their removal from law abiding communities. They urge that young offenders must be held accountable for both lesser and more serious crimes, especially when the former offences, if unpunished, may lead offenders to commit the latter. Opponents of treating violent juveniles offenders as adults argue that harsh punishment of juvenile offenders is counterproductive, creating recidivism. Their contention is that youths who are committing crimes should still be tried in juvenile courts rather than adult courts, for a greater effect. This informative book presents all the current issues, problems, ideas, as well as some background on the controversies surrounding juvenile crime.

Robert Lindner's 1944 classic Rebel Without a Cause follows the successful analysis and hypnosis of a criminal psychopath, Harold. In full transcriptions of their forty-six sessions, Lindner takes his patient into the depths and recesses of his childhood memories. Plumbing the free-associative monologues for clues to unlock the causes of Harold's criminal behavior, Lindner portrays a man cut off from himself and unable to attach to others. Following the threads uncovered in the sessions, Lindner reveals to Harold long-hidden incidents from his infancy and childhood that served to propel him toward a troubled and chaotic adulthood, full of armed robbery, break-ins, and random sexual encounters. With care and diligence, patient and analyst begin to excavate events from Harold's childhood and reconstruct them as a foundation for analysis, allowing Harold to confront his demons. Heralded as a classic upon its publication, Rebel Without a Cause is the tale of a masterful analysis that is still relevant today, against the complex issues of sanity, rehabilitation, and crime that resonate in our legal system.

Internationally, there is now an acceptance of the need to develop new strategies in criminal justice which reflect restorative justice principles. At the same time, theory, research and practice in restorative justice is making rapid advances. This book provides an up to date and critical account of recent developments. It describes the practice of restorative justice with respect to young offenders in a number of jurisdictions - Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, South Africa, the United States and various continental European countries. Research findings on the three most common formats - conferencing, victims offender education and circles - are presented. Critical issues for the future development of restorative justice are identified. Two main themes run through the collection - the potential of restorative processes to transform criminal justice processes and the potential for aboriginal or indigenous communities to impact on conventional processes. Contributors include active researchers and leading theorists from around the world. '.. provides an up-to-date and critical account of recent developments in the rapidly advancing field of restorative justice..a thought provoking collection of papers from researchers and leading theorists from around the world. It will be of interest to all those who work in the youth justice field.' Childright '...[an] exceptional set of papers...their analyses are excellent.' Howard Journal of Criminal Justice

An uncompromising look at the rise of violent crimes by America's children and the steps parents, teachers and mentors can take to save our children.