From the Salem witch trials to death row, this work is a gripping analysis of the evolution of punishment practices, policies, and problems in America. From Puritan ducking stools to boot camps and supermax prisons, Punishment in America investigates the evolution of punishment in the United States. Intriguing inquiries into penitentiaries, parole, capital punishment, and other sanctions reveal how the rationales behind them-retribution, rehabilitation, and deterrence-reflect changes in society, culture, and values. Reaching beyond the typical focus on prisons and incarceration to extralegal lynchings and vigilante operations and the treatment of the poor and the mentally challenged, this remarkable review also explores the impact of stricter laws on pedophiles and drug offenders and the effect of three-strikes legislation and truth in sentencing. This thought-provoking work will help readers understand the conflicting roles that punishment has played in delivering justice and promoting rehabilitation. A chronology tracking the history of punishment in the United States begins with ancient practices like blood feuds A chapter on facts and data presents studies on the impact of the war on drugs and the truth-in-sentencing laws on the prison population

Offering perspectives from a range of experts, both academic and nonacademic, this reference book examines the development of prisons in the United States and addresses the principal contemporary issues and controversies of our prisons and prison systems. Prisons were initially created as a means of reforming offenders, but over time, the objective of rehabilitation gave way to a strategy of mass imprisonment-a system that has resulted in correctional facilities dealing with serious problems such as overcrowding, prison gangs, pervasive violence, and a significant incidence of mental illness among inmates. Prisons in the United States: A Reference Handbook examines the history of corrections in America, detailing how well-intentioned policies intended to "get tough on crime" sanctioned the dismantling of parole systems and resulted in laws that imposed mandatory minimum sentences. These changes contributed to the United States now having the biggest incarcerated population worldwide and the highest rate of incarceration. The book offers an accessible history of the development of the prison system in the United States and analyzes the various problems and controversies associated with prisons in the present day. The coverage includes key related issues, including those of race and gender, and enables readers to understand how past developments continue to affect public and official perceptions of the prison experience-for example, how the practice of keeping inmates in solitary confinement for lengthy periods has been reinvented and represents a return to a historically discredited practice. Accounts of former inmates and of correctional officers are integrated into the text, adding context and offering rarely heard perspectives on difficult issues affecting prisons. Presents a comprehensive yet succinct history of the development of men's and women's prisons in the United States Offers a range of author perspectives that identify and explore the principal issues associated with prisons and imprisonment Documents the shift from an intent to reform inmates in prisons to retribution and an attempt to remove all criminals from society, using prisons for "warehousing" of undesired elements Provides a complete reference guide for the understanding of prisons and imprisonment as a punishment

A concise survey of the treatment of jailed women in America since the early 1800s, their unique problems, the effect on their families, and the state of prisons today. Focusing on an often overlooked subject, this volume explores women's incarceration, from the first women-only prison to modern state-of-the-art facilities. It explores controversies, problems, and solutions, such as excessive discipline, the lack of training programs, sexual abuse, medical services, and visitation policies. The book also investigates key issues such as the background of inmates, the disproportionate number of African American and Hispanic prisoners because of the "war on drugs," and how women cope with the separation from their children and families. A full chapter is devoted to important people and events, from the first female jail keeper in 1822 to changing prison goals and the impact of feminism. Includes an abundance of resources for further research including extensive statistics on the number of women in state and federal prisons by race, the proportion of women jailed for violent offenses, and characteristics of female state prison inmates An annotated bibliography of print and nonprint resources such as Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, Journal of Offender Rehabilitation, Corrections Today, and Women, Crime, and Justice

Youth, Crime and Justice takes a critical issues approach to analyzing the current debates and issues in juvenile delinquency. It encourages readers to adopt an analytical understanding encompassing not only juvenile crime, but also the broader context within which the conditions of juvenile criminality occur. Students are invited to explore the connections between social, political, economic and cultural conditions and juvenile crime. This book engages with the key topics in the debate about juvenile justice and delinquency: juvenile institutions delinquency theories gender and race youth and moral panic restorative justice youth culture and delinquency. It clearly examines all the important comparative and transnational research studies for each topic. Throughout, appropriate qualitative studies are used to provide context and explain the theories in practice, conveying a powerful sense of the experience of juvenile justice. This accessible and innovative textbook will be an indispensable resource for senior undergraduates and postgraduates in criminology, criminal justice and sociology.

Youth, Crime and Justice takes a critical issues approach to analyzing the current debates and issues in juvenile delinquency. It encourages readers to adopt an analytical understanding encompassing not only juvenile crime, but also the broader context within which the conditions of juvenile criminality occur. Students are invited to explore the connections between social, political, economic and cultural conditions and juvenile crime. This book engages with the key topics in the debate about juvenile justice and delinquency: juvenile institutions delinquency theories gender and race youth and moral panic restorative justice youth culture and delinquency. It clearly examines all the important comparative and transnational research studies for each topic. Throughout, appropriate qualitative studies are used to provide context and explain the theories in practice, conveying a powerful sense of the experience of juvenile justice. This accessible and innovative textbook will be an indispensable resource for senior undergraduates and postgraduates in criminology, criminal justice and sociology.

"A superb book on the treatment of race, gender, and punishment."- Susan L. Miller, professor of sociology and criminal justice, University of Delaware "This volume stands as first-rate evidence that the sociological imagination is alive and well. The contributors move the discussion of race, gender, and social control beyond the statistical morass with their historically-situated analyses that simultaneously demonstrate the diversity of socially constructed categories."-Claire M. Renzetti, University of Dayton The disproportionate representation of black Americans in the U.S. criminal justice system is well documented. Far less well-documented are the entrenched systems and beliefs that shape punishment and other official forms of social control today. In this book, Mary Bosworth and Jeanne Flavin bring together twelve original essays by prominent scholars to examine not only the discrimination that is evident, but also the structural and cultural forces that have influenced and continue to perpetuate the current situation. Contributors point to four major factors that have impacted public sentiment and criminal justice policy: colonialism, slavery, immigration, and globalization. In doing so they reveal how practices of punishment not only need particular ideas about race to exist, but they also legitimate them. The essays unearth troubling evidence that testifies to the nation's brutally racist past, and to white Americans' continued fear of and suspicion about racial and ethnic minorities. The legacy of slavery on punishment is considered, but also subjects that have received far less attention such as how colonizers' notions of cultural superiority shaped penal practices, the criminalization of reproductive rights, the link between citizenship and punishment, and the global export of crime control strategies. Mary Bosworth is University Lecturer in criminology and fellow of St. Cross College at the University of Oxford. Jeanne Flavin is an associate professor in the sociology and anthropology department at Fordham University.