As the number of prisoners in the UK, USA and elsewhere continues to rise, so have concerns risen about the damaging social and psychological effects of imprisonment - on prisoners themselves, on their families, on prison employees, on the communities they leave behind and, indeed, on society itself. This book brings together a group of leading, international authorities in prisons research to address the complex issues of the effects of imprisonment, to assess the implications and results of research in this field, and to suggest ways of mitigating the often devastating personal and psychological consequences of imprisonment.

First published in 1992. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The suicide rate for prisoners is often four times that of the general population. While previous studies have tended to rely on official statistics and prison records, "Suicides in Prison" draws directly on the experiences of both prisoners and staff. The interviews conducted by Alison Liebling help elucidate the circumstances which lead to suicide and attempted suicide. She provides further evidence to support the growing notion that suicide is not an exclusively psychiatric problem, but one in which a person's social support and coping mechanisms plays a crucial role.
"Suicides in Prison" shows how serious difficulties in the management of prisoners at risk of suicide may be exacerbated by problems of communication between departments, and that prison officers may lack the necessary training to play a major role in suicide prevention. Furthermore, Liebling insists that if staff perceptions and attitudes are not addressed, any attempt to improve procedures may well by ineffective.
"Suicides in Prison" is of interest to probation officers, social workers and prison wardens, as well as those studying penology courses. It traces the recent history of the problem, providing the first major theoretical discussion of the nature and causes of suicide in prison.

The number of prisoners in the US, UK, and elsewhere continues to rise, accompanied by growing claims of the reformative effects of imprisonment. At the same time, the post-second world war consensus regarding the damaging effects of institutions has largely faded from memory. This book now in paperback revisits the important question of whether the prison harms its inhabitants, its employees, prisoners' families, and others, and the book redirects the conversation among academics, policy-makers, and professionals on the effects of imprisonment. It brings together a group of leading scholars to examine the social, psychological, behavioral, and emotional impacts of the incarceration experience on prisoners and their families during and after their captivity and on society. The Effects of Imprisonment is an authoritative overview and will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in this field.

This book is a thoroughly updated version of the popular first edition of The Prison Officer. It incorporates the significant increase in knowledge about the work of prison officer since the first edition was published and provides a live account of prison work and ways of understanding the role of the prison officer in the late-modern context.

Few detailed narratives exist of prison work and the sort of role the prison officer occupies; this book addresses the gap. Using a range of quantitative and qualitative data and drawing on available theoretical literature it explores the role of the prison officer in an appreciative way, taking into account the little-discussed issues of power and discretion.

It provides a single accessible guide to the world and work of the prison officer, looking in detail at the present role of the prison officer in Britain and demonstrating the centrality of staff-prisoner relationships to every operation carried out by officers.

This book will be of relevance to anyone with an interest in the work of a prison officer; students and others looking for an introductory survey of the literature and essential reading for any established and aspiring officers.

This book is a thoroughly updated version of the popular first edition of The Prison Officer. It incorporates the significant increase in knowledge about the work of prison officer since the first edition was published and provides a live account of prison work and ways of understanding the role of the prison officer in the late-modern context.

Few detailed narratives exist of prison work and the sort of role the prison officer occupies; this book addresses the gap. Using a range of quantitative and qualitative data and drawing on available theoretical literature it explores the role of the prison officer in an appreciative way, taking into account the little-discussed issues of power and discretion.

It provides a single accessible guide to the world and work of the prison officer, looking in detail at the present role of the prison officer in Britain and demonstrating the centrality of staff-prisoner relationships to every operation carried out by officers.

This book will be of relevance to anyone with an interest in the work of a prison officer; students and others looking for an introductory survey of the literature and essential reading for any established and aspiring officers.

With contributions from leading authorities, this is the definitive guide to current criminological theory, research, and policy. The Oxford Handbook of Criminology provides a comprehensive collection of chapters covering the core and emerging topics studied on criminology courses, indispensable to students, academics, and professionals alike. · 43 chapters written by over 85 leading academics exploring relevant theory, cutting-edge research, policy developments, and current debates, encouraging students to appreciate the diverse and interdisciplinary nature of criminological discourse · Includes detailed references to aid further research · Chapters updated to reflect recent cases, statistics, and scholarship, as well as significant current events such as Covid-19 and social justice movements. · New chapters added presenting research on topical issues including victimology, hate crime, desistance, cybercrime, atrocity crimes, convict criminology, security and smart cities, prison abolitionism, comparative criminology, sex offending, and network criminology. Digital formats and resources The seventh edition is available for students and institutions to purchase in a variety of formats, and is supported by online resources. - The e-book offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with functionality tools, navigation features and links that offer extra learning support: www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/ebooks - The accompanying online resources include essay questions and links to useful websites for each chapter, along with guidance on answering essay questions and access to chapters from previous editions.

To honour the extraordinary contribution of Professor Anthony Edward Bottoms to criminology and criminal justice, leading criminologists and penal scholars have been asked to contribute original essays on the wide range of areas in which he has written. The book starts by reflecting on the depth and breadth of Anthony's contribution and his melding of perspectives from moral philosophy, social theory, empirical social science research, and criminal justice. This is no ordinary collection, because it also contains a major essay by Anthony Bottoms, on Criminology and 'positive morality', reflecting on social order and social norms. In similar vein, Jonathan Jacobs approaches criminology from a moral philosophical viewpoint, whilst Ian Loader and Richard Sparks ponder social theory and contemporary criminology. Topically, Peter Neyroud reflects on evidence-based practice and the process of trying to do experiments in relation to policing. In the second section of the book on Crime, Justice, and Communities, Loraine Gelsthorpe reminds us that justice is about people, in considering the treatment of women in community justice. Joanna Shapland draws parallels between the process of desistance from crime and the potential role of restorative justice in affecting offenders' journeys. P.-O. Wikstrom reflects on the social ecology of crime, whilst Antje Du Bois Pedain considers the theoretical and practical challenges of sentencing constructively. Finally, the book turns to Anthony Bottoms' major interest in punishment and penal order. David Garland puts penal populism under the microscope, whilst Alison Liebling explores the empirical evidence for theories of penal legitimacy. Mike Nellis looks back at the use of the creative arts in prisons in Scotland's Barlinnie Unit, whilst Justice Tankebe explores police legitimacy.

This book is the sequel to "Deaths in Custody: International comparisons," also published by Whiting and Birch. It sets out to identify examples of progress and good practice. Contributions by leading figures in the field look at issues of definition, vulnerability and risk, and at programmes aimed at the reduction of custodial suicide rates from many countries.

Based on an interdisciplinary conference held at the University of Cambridge in May 2012, Legitimacy and Criminal Justice: An International Exploration brings together internationally renowned scholars from a range of disciplines including criminology, international relations, sociology and political science to examine the meaning of legitimacy and advance its theoretical understanding within the context of criminal justice. In policy terms, the conference afforded a timely opportunity for criminal justice senior managers and researchers to discuss the practical applications and implications of legitimacy for policing and prisons. This resulting volume aims to: advance conceptual understanding of legitimacy in the contexts of policing and criminal justice; to develop a better understanding of the implications of analyses of legitimacy for the practical contexts of policing, prisons and criminal justice; and to recognise the growing number of contexts in which criminal justice personnel encounter ethnically and religiously diverse communities, such as the acute dilemmas for legitimate authority posed by perceived terrorist threats. Attention is also devoted to the growing importance of international organisations in relation to legitimacy, both in its international and domestic manifestations. The volume includes 16 substantial new contributions to this important field from leading political and theoretical scholars in the field, along with the results of several recent empirical studies. Together they constitute an unprecedented synthesis of disparate but leading thinkers in the growing field of legitimacy scholarship and should be of value to social scientists across different disciplines and to criminal justice practitioners.

This book constitutes a critical case study of the modern search for public sector reform. It includes a detailed account of a study aimed at developing a meaningful way of evaluating difficult-to-measure moral dimensions of the quality of prisons. Penal practices, values, and sensibilities have undergone important transformations over the period 1990-2003. Part of this transformation included a serious flirtation with a liberal penal project that went wrong. A significant factor in this unfortunate turn of events was a lack of clarity, by those working in and managing prisons, about important terms such as 'justice', 'liberal', and 'care', and how they might apply to daily penal life. Official measures of the prison seem to lack relevance to many who live and work in prison and to their critics. The author proposes that a truer test of the quality of prison life is what staff and prisoners have to say about those aspects of prison life that 'matter most': relationships, fairness, order, and the quality of their treatment. The book attempts a detailed analysis and measurement of these dimensions in five prisons. It finds significant differences between establishments in these areas of prison life, and some departures from the official vision of the prison supported by the performance framework. The information revolution has generated unprecedented levels of knowledge about individual prisons, as well as providing a management reach into establishments from a distance, and a capacity for 'chronic revision', that was unimaginable fifty years ago. Another major transformation - the modernisation project - brought with it a new, but flawed, 'craft' of performance monitoring and measurement aimed at solving some of the problems of prison management. This book explores the arrival and the impact of this concept of performance and the links apparently forged between managerialism and moral values.

This book makes public, for the first time, a full account of the development of the privatization of prisons, centred on the only full-scale empirical study yet to have been undertaken in Britain. After providing an up-to-date overview of the development of private sector involvement in penal practice in the United Kingdom, North America, Europe and Australia, the authors go on to describe the first two years in the life of Wolds Remand Prison - the first private prison in Britain. They look at the daily life for remand prisoners, assess the duties and morale of staff and compare the workings of Wolds to a new local prison in the public sector. The authors conclude by discussing some of the practical and theoretical issues to have emerged from contracting out, ethical issues surrounding the whole privatization debate and implications for the future of the prison system and penal policy.

This book makes public, for the first time, a full account of the development of the privatization of prisons, centred on the only full-scale empirical study yet to have been undertaken in Britain. After providing an up-to-date overview of the development of private sector involvement in penal practice in the United Kingdom, North America, Europe and Australia, the authors go on to describe the first two years in the life of Wolds Remand Prison - the first private prison in Britain. They look at the daily life for remand prisoners, assess the duties and morale of staff and compare the workings of Wolds to a new local prison in the public sector. The authors conclude by discussing some of the practical and theoretical issues to have emerged from contracting out, ethical issues surrounding the whole privatization debate and implications for the future of the prison system and penal policy.

This book constitutes a critical case study of the modern search for public sector reform. It includes a detailed account of a study aimed at developing a meaningful way of evaluating difficult-to-measure moral dimensions of the quality of prisons. Penal practices, values, and sensibilities have undergone important transformations over the period 1990-2003. Part of this transformation included a serious flirtation with a liberal penal project that went wrong. A significant contributory factor in this unfortunate turn of events was a lack of clarity, by those working in and managing prisons, about important terms such as 'justice', 'liberal', and 'care', and how they might apply to daily penal life. Official measures of the prison service seem to lack relevance to many who live and work in prison and to their critics. The author proposes that a truer test of the quality of prison life is what staff and prisoners have to say about those aspects of prison life that 'matter most': relationships, fairness, order, and the quality of their treatment by those above them. The book attempts a detailed analysis and measurement of these dimensions in five prisons. It finds significant differences between establishments in these areas of prison life, and some departures from the official vision of the prison supported by the performance framework. The information revolution has generated unprecedented levels of knowledge about individual prisons, as well as providing a management reach into establishments from a distance, and a capacity for 'chronic revision', that was unimaginable fifty years ago. Another major transformation - the modernisation project - brought with it a new, but flawed, 'craft' of performance monitoring and measurement aimed at solving some of the problems of prison management. This book explores the arrival and the impact of this concept of performance and the links apparently forged between managerialism and moral values.