scholarly journals Prison overcrowding and over-occupation: what we are talking about and the situation in Spanish prisons

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 93-95
Author(s):  
A Marco ◽  
J García-Guerrero
Keyword(s):  
Prison Overcrowding

I dannati delle carceri. Una pronuncia della Corte Suprema degli Stati Uniti: una lezione da seguire

2012 ◽  
pp. 72-83
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Grande
Keyword(s):  
Public Safety ◽  
Zero Tolerance ◽  
Prison Population ◽  
Zero Tolerance Policy ◽  
Prison Overcrowding ◽  
Ultimate Failure ◽  
The U.S

Building new prisons is not a solution for prison overcrowding; to the contrary, it is part of the problem. This is the U.S. Supreme Court's lesson in one of its most recent decisions, Brown v. Plata, confirming the previous order of a three-judge court to reduce California's prison population by around 40.000 persons within two years. Finding cruel and unusual the punishment imposed to prisoners in California, because of the terrible conditions in serving their sentence, the Court shows the ultimate failure of a sentencing system based upon incapacitation and a zero tolerance policy. Public safety is better served without rather than with prisons: this seems to be the message that Brown v. Plata is sending to legislators, administrators and citizens. It is a message that Europeans and Italians should listen to very carefully.

scholarly journals Current trends and practices in the use of imprisonment

2016 ◽  
Vol 98 (903) ◽  
pp. 761-781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Coyle ◽  
Catherine Heard ◽  
Helen Fair
Keyword(s):  
El Salvador ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Rapid Rise ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Prison Overcrowding

AbstractThis article charts the rapid rise in the use of imprisonment in recent decades before considering some of the most pressing issues of concern in the use of imprisonment today. First among these is prison overcrowding, which continues to blight the record of many countries in their treatment of prisoners. To illustrate the potentially dire consequences of overcrowding – a problem common to many other countries and regions – an account is given of a recent visit to a prison in El Salvador. The article then provides an overview of the relevant regional and international standards on the treatment of prisoners, referring also to the role of judicial bodies in ensuring implementation.

Punishment Severity and Crime: The Case of Arkansas

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehdi Barati
Keyword(s):  
Prison Overcrowding ◽  
Marginal Change ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This paper investigates the impact of a marginal change in punishment severity on the incidence of crime. I explore Arkansas’ (AR) milder punishment for theft, which was adopted in 2011 in order to deal with prison overcrowding. The decrease in punishment contributed to growing theft rates in AR, suggesting criminals respond to the reduced crime-specific punishment. The findings also indicate that the likely lower incarceration for theft did not lead to an increase in other types of crime.

Sanction Threats in Court-Ordered Programs: Examining Their Effects on Offenders Mandated into Drug Treatment

2000 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 542-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila Royo Maxwell
Keyword(s):  
Drug Treatment ◽  
The Past ◽  
Lengths Of Stay ◽  
Prison Overcrowding ◽  
Court Orders ◽  
Treatment Procedures ◽  
Sanction Threats

During the past decade, court-ordered diversion and treatment procedures have proliferated in response to the problems of court congestion and prison overcrowding. Underlying these court orders are stiff sanctions that are often used to threaten offenders to comply with the court's mandate. Given the widespread use of court orders and their stiff penalties for violations, the effectiveness of sanction threats in enforcing compliance among offenders has rarely been examined. Using a sample of offenders mandated by the courts into drug treatment, this article examines the effects of sanction threat on the offenders' perceptions of threat and their lengths of stay in drug treatment.

Cutting Prison Overcrowding in Great Britain

1980 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-21
Author(s):  
Martin Wright
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Financial Structure ◽  
National Association ◽  
Voluntary Organizations ◽  
Punitive Attitudes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Prison Overcrowding ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Correctional System

There is a wide range of projects for dealing with offenders in the com munity, but strongly punitive attitudes receive wide publicity. These at titudes are shared by many working-class people, although the most alienated are often anti-authority. Pressure for change has sometimes come from within the system; voluntary organizations such as the Howard League and the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders have also worked for reform, as have individual volunteers. Forces impeding correctional reform include the public, although most people generally can be persuaded to give a new project a try; and the workings and financial structure of the correctional system itself.

Determinants of Intercountry Prison Incarceration Rates and Overcrowding in Latin America and the Caribbean

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-29
Author(s):  
Katherine E. Limoncelli ◽  
Jeff Mellow ◽  
Chongmin Na
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Prison Population ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Multiple Time ◽  
Government Effectiveness ◽  
Prison Overcrowding ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Time Varying Covariates

Research on prison population rates and prison overcrowding has largely been limited to U.S. populations. While these studies offer valuable insight into the broader-level factors affecting rates of imprisonment, along with correlates associated with pervasive levels of crowding, less is known about the macro-level causes of elevated imprisonment rates and increasingly high levels of prison crowding across Latin America and the Caribbean. A modified version of negative binomial random-effects model with between- and within-country transformations of time-varying covariates was utilized to test the influence of political, social, and economic factors on the prison population rate between countries and within countries over multiple time points. An ordinary least squares regression model was adopted to analyze the extent to which countries’ levels of political stability, government effectiveness, intentional homicide rates, and unemployment are related to national levels of prison overcrowding percentages. Findings demonstrate that government effectiveness and political stability are significantly and positively associated with increased prison population rates both between countries and within countries over time, while government effectiveness is simultaneously negatively related to prison overcrowding across countries.

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