NCJ Number
134323
Journal
Justice Quarterly Volume: 8 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1991) Pages: 283-303
Date Published
1991
Length
21 pages
Annotation
All State directors of corrections and district attorneys in New York counties containing State prisons were surveyed in an exploratory effort to provide empirical data and analysis of the enforcement of criminal law in American penal institutions.
Abstract
Only half of the 40 responding corrections systems possessed data on the number of prison crime cases they refer to law enforcement agencies for investigation and prosecution, and only four of those States (California, Illinois, Texas, and New York) kept disposition data on their referrals. Many State prison systems refer fewer than 24 criminal cases per year for prosecution. Emerging as the major exception to the extreme underreporting of intraprison crime, California corrections officials referred more than 5,400 cases for investigation and prosecution in 1985. Both factors related to the special exigencies of the prison setting and to the priorities, competencies, and interests of prison officials, police investigators, and prosecutors under enforcement in prisons. There is no convincing rationale for the policy of underenforcement of criminal law in prison. 4 tables and 13 references