Place and Punishment: The Spatial Context of Mass Incarceration

Objectives

Research on race and urban poverty views incarceration as a new and important aspect of social disadvantage in inner-city neighborhoods. However, in quantitative studies of the spatial distribution of imprisonment across neighborhoods, the pattern outside urban areas has not been examined. This paper offers a unique analysis of disaggregated prison admissions and investigates the spatial concentrations and levels of admissions for the entire state of Massachusetts.

Methods

Spatial regressions estimate census tract-level prison admission rates in relation to racial demographics, social and economic disadvantage, arrest rates, and violent crime; an analysis of outlier neighborhoods examines the surprisingly high admission rates in small cities.

Findings

Regression analysis yields three findings. First, incarceration is highly spatially concentrated: census tracts covering 15% of the state’s population account for half of all prison admissions. Second, across urban and non-urban areas, incarceration is strongly related to concentrated disadvantage and the share of the black population, even after controlling for arrest and crime rates. Third, the analysis shows admission rates in small urban satellite cities and suburbs comprise the highest rates in the sample and far exceed model predictions.

Conclusion

Mass incarceration emerged not just to manage distinctively urban social problems but was characteristic of a broader mode of governance evident in communities often far-removed from deep inner-city poverty. These notably high levels and concentrations in small cities should be accounted for when developing theories of concentrated disadvantage or policies designed to ameliorate the impacts of mass incarceration on communities.

     

Defining Defamation: Community in the Age of the Internet

The ability to instantly communicate with a global audience has created numerous legal uncertainties as jurists struggle to adapt age-old jurisprudence to modern-day technologies —and defamation jurisprudence is no exception. The definition of a plaintiff's community is critical to his or her ability to succeed in a defamation lawsuit, often determining whether the plaintiff is a public figure or whether the plaintiff's reputation has been injured in his or her community. This article examines federal and state defamation jurisprudence to compare the factors courts have used to define community in both traditional print and broadcast cases with the factors used in more recent Internet defamation cases. It then suggests three possible rubrics courts could employ to more uniformly define community in Internet defamation cases.     

The Use of Incarceration in the United States

The past two decades have produceda profound increase in imprisonment in theUnited States, resulting in a prison populationof two million and expenditures of over $35billion annually on corrections, while otherimportant government services are underfunded. Imprisonment is highest for minority maleslargely because of the War on Drugs, which hasalso dramatically increased the incarcerationof women and created nearly 1.5 millionchildren having a parent incarcerated. Inresponse to this trend, the American Society ofCriminology (ASC) directed the ASC NationalPolicy Committee (NPC) to draft a policy paperon the incarceration issue. This articleexplains the main ideas, themes, andrecommendations of the full policy paper. Itanalyzes the sources and effects of theincreased use of imprisonment, drawingattention to the negative effects of excessiveincarceration. The paper and itsrecommendations reflect a concern that the ASCneeds to set a research agenda that isindependent of the federal government andconventional wisdom. The NPC hopes this paperwill stimulate a healthy and much overduedebate on the role of the ASC in public policyin general, and the merits of widespreadincarceration in particular.     

Toward a Demographic Understanding of Incarceration Disparities: Race,Ethnicity, and Age Structure

Objectives

Non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics in the United States are more likely to be incarcerated than non-Hispanic whites. The risk of incarceration also varies with age, and there are striking differences in age distributions across racial/ethnic groups. Guided by these trends, the present study examines the extent to which differences in age structure account for incarceration disparities across racial and ethnic groups.

Methods

We apply two techniques commonly employed in the field of demography, age-standardization and decomposition, to data provided by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the 2010 decennial census to assess the contribution of age structure to racial and ethnic disparities in incarceration.

Findings

The non-Hispanic black and Hispanic incarceration rates in 2010 would have been 13–20 % lower if these groups had age structures identical to that of the non-Hispanic white population. Moreover, age structure accounts for 20 % of the Hispanic/white disparity and 8 % of the black/white disparity.

Conclusion

The comparison of crude incarceration rates across racial/ethnic groups may not be ideal because these groups boast strikingly different age structures. Since the risk of imprisonment is tied to age, criminologists should consider adjusting for age structure when comparing rates of incarceration across groups.

     

荷兰的缓刑制度

19世纪80年代,随着人道主义思想的传播,加之20世纪初传统刑法改革所提出的刑罚个别化的思想,行刑不再片面强调惩罚犯人与预防犯罪,犯人的矫正和重归社会得到更多关注,社区矫正和其他以社区为基础的现代刑罚措施开始彰显效益,缓刑制度逐渐受到人们的重视。19世纪90年代开始,欧洲     

论缓刑的性质

代表着宽容和节俭的缓刑制度,符合刑罚谦抑化的发展趋势和人类文明进步的潮流。本文从探讨缓刑性质的方法论入手,对缓刑的性质进行深层次剖析,拓展缓刑理论的深度和广度,推进司法实践中扩大缓刑适用率、强化社区矫正的步伐,来拓宽解决中国监狱膨胀,实现刑罚成本最大效率的途径。     

The Game of Probation

The structure, purpose, and procedure of probation, including the relationship between a probationer and a probation officer, are explained and discussed. The game theory model of decision-making and rational choice theory are discussed and applied to the relationship between a probationer and a probation officer as a basis for increasing the probationer’s likelihood of success. Applications and recommendations for both parties officers are discussed.     

美国的震慑缓刑制度及其借鉴

目前的犯罪形势使得改革刑罚执行制度以提高司法资源的利用效率与更好地发挥刑罚威慑犯罪、矫正犯罪人成为必要。美国自20世纪20年代以来逐渐发展完善的震慑缓刑制度虽然在实践中也出现了一些负面效应,但是瑕不掩瑜,其在节省司法资源、促进犯罪人回归社会、缓和社会矛盾方面所取得的成效表明其所蕴涵的合理因素仍然值得我们借鉴。本文介绍了震慑缓刑制度的产生、发展以及目前的适用情况,论述了该制度适用的条件与具体程序,并对在现行刑法规定的一般缓刑制度框架内借鉴其合理因素进行了构想。     

社区服刑人员分类管理分阶段教育模式的探索与实践

20世纪中叶以来特别是60～70年代以来,世界一些发达国家和地区在社区矫正工作中都极为重视罪犯个案管理模式的研究,并创造了一些不同的模式和方法。我国的社区矫正工作起步不久,尚处在试点摸索阶段。如何根据我国的国情,创设一种独具特色的个案管理模式?这已成为关系到社区矫正     

社区矫正新探索——以恢复性司法理念为视角

联合国经济及社会理事会《关于在刑事事项中采用恢复性司法方案的基本原则》指出，“恢复性程序系指通常在调解人帮助下，受害人和罪犯及酌情包括受犯罪影响的任何其他个人或社区成员，共同积极参与解决由犯罪造成的问题的程序。”联合国预防犯罪和刑事司法委员会的《关于在刑事事项中采用恢复性司法方案的基本原则宣言要素的修改稿》指出：“恢复性司法方案”是指采用恢复性程序并寻求实现恢复性结果的任何方案。“恢复性程序”是指通过犯罪人与被害人之间面对面的接触，并经过专业人士充当的中立的第三者的调解，促进当事方的沟通与交流，并确定犯罪发生后的解决方案。“恢复性结果”是指通过道歉、赔偿、社区服务、生活帮助等使被害人因犯罪所造成的物质精神损失得到补偿，使被害人因受犯罪影响的生活恢复常态，同时亦使犯罪人通过积极的负责任的行为重新融入社区，并赢得被害人及其家庭和社区成员的谅解。     

社区矫正中的检察监督

“社区矫正”是与监禁矫正相对的行刑方式,根据我国《最高人民法院、最高人民检察院、公安部、司法部关于开展社区矫正试点工作的通知》规定,社区矫正是指将符合社区矫正条件的罪犯置于社区内,由专门的国家机关在相关社会团体和民间组织以及社会志愿者的协助下,在判决、裁定或决定确定的期限内,矫正其犯罪心理和行为恶习并促进其顺利回归社会的非监禁刑罚执行活动。《通知》指出,根据我国现行法律的规定,社区矫正对象包括以下人员:一是被判处管制的;二是被宣告缓刑的;三是被批准暂予监外执行的,包括有严重疾病需要保外就医的、怀孕或正在哺…     

Re-Defining Defamation: Psychological Sense of Community in the Age of the Internet

In the era of traditional media, courts typically relied upon geographic constraints, including where a plaintiff lived or worked, to determine the appropriate community in defamation cases. The rise of the Internet has dramatically changed society – easily and immediately linking users across geography while allowing the rapid spread of information through a variety of channels that pose a challenge to the traditional media model centered around editorial judgment and professional ethics. Thanks in part to its global reach, the Internet has allowed users to engage in both business and social relationships around the world. Because of this, a person's need for a good reputation can no longer be confined solely to location. As a result, this article argues that courts must begin to evaluate other factors when determining relevant community in online defamation cases, positing that courts should utilize factors associated with psychological sense of community theory.     

美国缓刑制度考察

美国缓刑是社区矫正方式之一,起源于中世纪英国,经19世纪40年代一名叫约翰·奥古斯塔斯的波士顿制鞋匠之不懈努力,逐步发展,目前已成为美国使用最为广泛的刑种。由于犯罪率的逐年上升,使用缓刑对缓解美国监狱的拥挤现象起到了至关重要的作用,同时也给美国带来新的问题。     

Incarceration in The People's Republic of China: Functions and Implications

This paper delineates the place and functions of incarceration in the People's Republic of China. The comparative research on the topic will be particularly promising because those functions are grounded in a unique macro-control system framed to promote concurrently, first, the mobilization of the Chinese people in building a strong socialist society and, second, the management of broadly defined deviance. Observation of three correctional institutions is used to lend substance to the analysis. Because of the great difficulties to be overcome before valid comparative research can be accomplished, the paper is limited to justifying advocacy of future research on the implications of incarceration patterns in the People's Republic.