It’s About Time America’s Imprisonment Binge

by Austin, James; Irwin, John

• ISBN13: 9780534514983
• ISBN10: 0534514987
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-06-14
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

IT'S ABOUT TIME provides a compelling argument, based on extensive research, illustrating how the U.S. attempts to lower crime by using our correctional system as the primary solution. The book includes personal accounts from prisoners to illustrate the brutal aspects of prison life and the intent of the U.S. to create a prison industrial complex. This book often exposes students for the first time to varying points of view of the corrections system. The authors, one of whom served 10 years in prison and is now a noted criminologist in the field, present the material in a powerful but compassionate manner. The book's strong research base and accessible style make it a popular choice for a wide variety of courses.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xi
Preface	xiii
Our Imprisonment Binge	1	(16)
America's Growing Correctional Industrial Complex	1	(4)
The Politics of the Fear of Crime	5	(4)
America's History of Warehousing Prisoners	9	(3)
What Has Been Accomplished by the Imprisonment Binge?	12	(1)
The Costs of the Imprisonment Binge	13	(2)
Notes	15	(2)
Who Goes to Prison?	17	(33)
Public Misperceptions About Who Goes to Prison	17	(2)
National Trends on Prison Admissions	19	(3)
A Closer Look at Who Goes to Prison	22	(3)
How Serious Are Their Crimes?	25	(6)
Patterns of Crime	31	(7)
Habitual Offenders	38	(8)
Conclusions	46	(1)
Notes	47	(3)
The Imprisonment of Children and Women	50	(14)
The Children's Imprisonment Binge	50	(7)
The Imprisonment Binge of Women	57	(5)
Notes	62	(2)
The Private Prison Binge	64	(26)
Background	64	(3)
Privatization of Corrections: A Historical Overview	67	(4)
The Debate	71	(6)
A Closer Look at State Prison Privatization	77	(8)
The Future of Privatization	85	(1)
Notes	86	(4)
Doing Time	90	(27)
Warehousing Prisoners	90	(1)
The Development of the Contemporary Prison	91	(6)
The Bureaucratic Prison	97	(3)
The Prisoner Experience	100	(8)
Coping with Violence	108	(1)
Crippled	109	(2)
Alienated	111	(1)
Notes	112	(5)
Super Max	117	(22)
What Is Super Max?	117	(2)
History of Administrative Segregation	119	(1)
The Official Program	120	(1)
The Reality of Lockup	121	(1)
Turmoil in Lockup	121	(4)
New Maximum-Security Prisons	125	(4)
A Closer Look at a Contemporary Lockup Unit: The Texas Administrative Segregation Population	129	(2)
The Consequences of Lockup	131	(6)
Notes	137	(2)
Release	139	(21)
The Growing Number of Prison Releases	139	(4)
The Rising Tide of Parole Failures	143	(3)
Obstacles to Making It After Release	146	(5)
Those Who Make It	151	(6)
Notes	157	(3)
The Correctional Treatment Industrial Complex	160	(24)
Introduction	160	(2)
Factors Related to Criminal Behavior	162	(3)
What Does Work?	165	(2)
Boot Camps	167	(2)
Prison Drug Treatment	169	(10)
Summary	179	(1)
Notes	180	(4)
The Three Strikes and You're Out Movement	184	(35)
Introduction	184	(2)
Diversity Among the States	186	(5)
Comparison of the New Laws with Preexisting Sentencing Provisions	191	(4)
Description and Legislative History of the California Law	195	(2)
Impact of California's Law on the Courts	197	(4)
Variation by Counties in the Application of the Law	201	(1)
Impact on State Prison Systems	202	(2)
Who Are the Strikers?	204	(4)
Impact on Correctional Costs in California	208	(2)
Impact on Crime Rates Within California	210	(2)
Impact on Crime Rates Among the States	212	(1)
Summary	213	(1)
Notes	214	(5)
It's About Time	219	(34)
The Financial Cost	220	(2)
The ``Incarceration Reduces Crime'' Debate	222	(14)
Voodoo Criminology	236	(3)
America's Farm System for Criminals	239	(1)
Our Prison System in the Twenty-First Century	240	(4)
It's About Time	244	(5)
Notes	249	(4)
Index	253