Overview

This comprehensive examination of the effectiveness of prisons is virtually alone in showing that prisons are moderately effective in achieving specific and general deterrence and collective and selective incapacitation. Wright provides evidence which defends prisons as important social institutions and argues that noninterventionist alternative measures are less likely to prevent crime than conventional imprisonment policies. He also offers sentencing recommendations that may maximize the effectiveness of prisons as agents of social control. This up-to-date assessment is required reading for students, teachers, policymakers, and practitioners in corrections, penology, and criminal justice.

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.,. includes an array of research literature related to prisons and imprisonment. Wright's treatment of this literature is in-depth and detailed. He is forthright about the polemic nature of the book; as the title states, Wright defends prisons, from both real and perceived threats, on a number of fronts. This book is useful for its presentation of the research literature and because it raises important issues related to the reform of prisons. The chapters are well organized and written. The information and ideas presented in them are likely to provoke thinking and rethinking of positions and stimulate debate between and amongst students and scholars of corrections. -Journal of Criminal Justice

".,.""includes an array of research literature related to prisons and imprisonment. Wright's treatment of this literature is in-depth and detailed. He is forthright about the polemic nature of the book; as the title states, Wright defends prisons, from both real and perceived threats, on a number of fronts. This book is useful for its presentation of the research literature and because it raises important issues related to the reform of prisons. The chapters are well organized and written. The information and ideas presented in them are likely to provoke thinking and rethinking of positions and stimulate debate between and amongst students and scholars of corrections.""-Journal of Criminal Justice .,.""very well written and achieves an exhaustive review of the extensive criminological literature on the topics of punishment, incapacitation, imprisonment, and crime deterence.""-Criminal Justice Review ?...includes an array of research literature related to prisons and imprisonment. Wright's treatment of this literature is in-depth and detailed. He is forthright about the polemic nature of the book; as the title states, Wright defends prisons, from both real and perceived threats, on a number of fronts. This book is useful for its presentation of the research literature and because it raises important issues related to the reform of prisons. The chapters are well organized and written. The information and ideas presented in them are likely to provoke thinking and rethinking of positions and stimulate debate between and amongst students and scholars of corrections.?-Journal of Criminal Justice ?...very well written and achieves an exhaustive review of the extensive criminological literature on the topics of punishment, incapacitation, imprisonment, and crime deterence.?-Criminal Justice Review ?Wright presents his arguments in a logical, readalbe, straightforward manner, with much documentary support. This assessment of the value of prisons is worthwhile reading for faculty, students, policy makers, and practitioners in corrections and criminal justice.?-Choice ...""very well written and achieves an exhaustive review of the extensive criminological literature on the topics of punishment, incapacitation, imprisonment, and crime deterence.""-Criminal Justice Review ""Wright presents his arguments in a logical, readalbe, straightforward manner, with much documentary support. This assessment of the value of prisons is worthwhile reading for faculty, students, policy makers, and practitioners in corrections and criminal justice.""-Choice ...""includes an array of research literature related to prisons and imprisonment. Wright's treatment of this literature is in-depth and detailed. He is forthright about the polemic nature of the book; as the title states, Wright defends prisons, from both real and perceived threats, on a number of fronts. This book is useful for its presentation of the research literature and because it raises important issues related to the reform of prisons. The chapters are well organized and written. The information and ideas presented in them are likely to provoke thinking and rethinking of positions and stimulate debate between and amongst students and scholars of corrections.""-Journal of Criminal Justice"

Author Information

RICHARD A. WRIGHT, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Scranton, is the author of many publications dealing with the sociology of punishment, and his recent books include Crime and Control: Syllabi and Instructional Materials for Criminology and Criminal Justice (1989). His current research interests deal with deterrence, women and crime, and teaching criminal justice.

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