In Defense Of Prisons

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. 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