Harm in American Penology: Offenders, Victims and Their Communities (S U N Y Series in New Directions in Crime and Justice Studies)

By Todd R. Clear

Book Overview

This book analyzes the sources and results of the fourfold increase in the U.S. correctional population since 1970. It considers the following themes: the value of punitiveness, defined as penal harm; research on crime and criminals; concerns about victims of crime; and concerns about community safety. It also analyzes the relationship between social problems and penal harm, such as poverty and crime during the twenty-year period of correctional expansion.

The author argues that a careful review of proposals for expanded penal harm cannot be justified. The growth in corrections was not caused by crime nor has it reduced crime. Clear describes a new strategy for corrections based on his examination of the politics of social control and the growth in penal harm.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0791421740
• ISBN13: 9780791421741
• Release Date: December 1994
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 258 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.9"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher