Is America really so punitive? : exploring a continuum of U.S. state criminal justice policies / Besiki Kutateladze.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kutateladze, Besiki, 1976-

Series:

Criminal justice (LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC)

Criminal justice : recent scholarship

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Criminal justice, Administration of--United States.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (302 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

El Paso : LFB Scholarly Pub., 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Kutateladze explores variations in punitiveness among American states. He uses state punitiveness to refer to criminal justice policies that target suspects, defendants, convicts, inmates, and releasees. Based on the examination of 44 variables across 50 states and the four regions, into which these states were grouped, Florida emerged as the most punitive, and Maine as the least punitive. The study also suggests that the American South is highly punitive, the West and the Midwest moderately punitive, and the Northeast relatively non-punitive. The success of this method in measuring state puni

Contents:

CONTENTS; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Previous Works on Punitiveness; What is "State Punitiveness"?; Theoretical Framework of Punitiveness; "State Punitiveness" Defined for the Purpose of this Work; How "State Punitiveness" is Measured in this Study; PART ONE: Political and Symbolic Punishment; Life Imprisonment; Death Penalty; Sex Offender Registries; Disenfranchisement Laws; Three-Strikes Laws; Summary; PART TWO: Incarceration; Incarceration Rates; Average Prison Sentences; Summary; PART THREE: Punishing "Immorality"; Statutory Rape and Age of Consent

Arrests for Prostitution and Commercialized ViceArrests for Drug Abuse; Arrests for Gambling; Arrests for Public Drunkenness; Summary; PART FOUR: Conditions of Confinement; Prison Overcrowding; Money Spent on Prisoners; Inmates' Deaths; Inmate-on-inmate and Staff-on-inmate Sexual Violence; Lawsuits Filed Against Agencies or Staff; Summary; PART FIVE: Juvenile Justice; Age for Juvenile Court Jurisdiction; Treating Juveniles as Adults; Juvenile Incarceration Rate; Juveniles Serving Life without Parole; Overcrowding in Juvenile Facilities; Summary; What I Have Found

State-by-State Variations in State PunitivenessRegional Variations in State Punitiveness; Revisiting Diana Gordon's ""Topography of Criminal Justice"; The Multidimensionality of "State Punitiveness"; Addressing the Measurement Issues; A Comparison of Two Scales of State Punitiveness; The Initial Quest for the Causes of State Punitiveness; Last Thoughts on Punitiveness; References; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781593325534

1593325533

OCLC:

773565175