Legal Mandates and Changes in Prisons (From Are Prisons Any Better? Twenty Years of Correctional Reform, P 23-42, 1990, John W Murphy and Jack E Dison, eds. -- See NCJ-124361)

• NCJ Number: 124363
• Author(s): D L Peck; J O Smykla
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 20 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

Laws and court decisions designed to increase the severity and speed of punishments, with life without parole and the death penalty becoming more popular, have not reduced crime but have increased social and corrections costs.

Abstract

As the character-building institutions of society have diminished in their influence on the development of law-abiding behavior, the criminal justice system has become the last resort for dealing with violent and predatory behaviors. Under political pressure and a loss of faith in rehabilitation, criminal justice policies have focused on harsher and speedier punishments. Life without parole (LWOP) and capital punishment are the ultimate penalties. Although these penalties reduce the number of offenders on the streets, they are costly in economic and social terms. Those sentenced to LWOP or death suffer a debilitating experience, without hope of being free from confinement until they die. They have been judged unsalvageable. As the laws increase in number and severity, placing more and more persons in prison, prison overcrowding and the cost of maintaining the prison population will increase. 27 references.