To be committed or not: examining effects of personal and workplace variables on the organizational commitment of Southern prison staff

This study examined how personal and workplace variables were related to organizational commitment among staff working at a large Southern prison. The personal variables were gender, age, position, tenure, educational level, and supervisory status. The workplace variables were assessment of training, job variety, role clarity, input into decision-making, and instrumental communication. The results indicate workplace variables play a greater role in shaping affective commitment of surveyed Southern prison staff than do personal variables. The personal variables explained only 10% of the variance in the commitment index, while workplace factors accounted for approximately 59% of the variance and were significant determinants of organizational commitment among the respondents. In the multivariate regression analysis, age, assessment of training, job variety, role clarity, input into decision-making, and instrumental communication all had positive associations with commitment. Educational level had a negative relationship with commitment. Implications of these findings for policy and future research are also discussed.     

Capital Offenders in Texas Prisons: Rates, Correlates, and an Actuarial Analysis of Violent Misconduct

This study analyzed the records of 136 recently incarcerated capital murder offenders in the initial phase (M = 2.37 years, range = 6-40 months) of their life sentences in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Prevalence rates of institutional violence were inversely related to severity: potentially violent misconduct (36.8%), assaultive violations (14%), serious assaults (5.1%), and homicides (0%). Consistent with prior studies, factors correlated with assaultive misconduct included age (inversely), prior prison confinement, and concurrent robbery or burglary in the capital offense. A simplified Burgess scale entitled the Risk Assessment Scale for Prison-Capital (RASP-Cap) was moderately successful in identifying varying levels of improbability of committing violence-related misconduct however defined (AUC = .715-.766).     

Violent and Nonviolent Misconduct Among Female Inmates: An Exploration of Competing Theories

Extant literature on prison misconduct focuses primarily on male inmates or pooled samples of male and female inmates. Moreover, this research typically combines several types of misconduct into one global measure. To add to the literature, the current study gathered self-report data from over 300 female inmates to explore the impact of variables from three different theoretical perspectives upon four types of misconduct (i.e., physical assaults, nonviolent sexual activity, drug/alcohol, and property). Results show that importation and social control variables predict all types of misconduct, whereas deprivation variables provided some modest support for sexual misconduct and property misconduct.     

State Power and Penal Rhetoric: A Historical Analysis of the Prison System in Taiwan

The aim of this study is to present a construction of the history of the prison system in Taiwan in the context of the intertwined structures of penal discourses and the governmentality of the state. The prison system in Taiwan has been subject to different ruling political regimes, ranging from colonised, authoritarian to liberal-democratic systems between 1895 and the present. The history of imprisonment can be divided into six stages, each of which consists of distinct governmental strategies that shape prominent penal discourses. My purpose was to uncover the exercising power of governmentality, further shaping, guiding and affecting the penal discourses via rationalities and technologies upon which prison administration depends.

未成年人重新犯罪实证研究

重新犯罪现象是困扰当今社会的主要犯罪问题,世界各国都高度重视对这一问题的防控与研究。未成年人作为重新犯罪中的一个极为重要的特殊群体,其犯罪的高发率、危害的长久性引起了社会普遍关注。这主要是因为其初犯时尚未成年,影响了他们实现正常的社会化,加大了再次犯罪的可能性。因此,从实证研究入手对未成年人重新犯罪的原因、特点进行科学分析,探究其重新犯罪规律,将有助于制定预防未成年人重新犯罪的刑事政策。     

论我国社区服刑人员矫正效果评估体系的构建

社区服刑人员矫正效果评估是检验社区服刑人员矫正质量和社区矫正工作效果的重要手段,是社区矫正工作的关键环节和基础工作。因此,以社区服刑人员再社会化为中心,遵循罪犯矫正的本质与规律,构建科学、实效的社区服刑人员矫正效果评估体系,是提升社区矫正工作整体水平,促进社区矫正工作发展的现实需要和必然要求。     

监外执行罪犯脱管漏管问题及对策——以云南省安宁市为视角

监外执行制度的设立,体现了我国惩罚罪犯与改造罪犯相结合的人道主义刑事政策。但是,因为制度上的不完善和执行监管不到位,监外执行制度在实践中存在诸多不足之处,如脱管漏管现象严重、对监外执行罪犯引导教育缺失等,严重损害了法律和刑罚执行的严肃性。文章以云南安宁市监外执行现状为视角,对监外执行罪犯脱管漏管问题进行调查研究,提出对策建议。     

Movie review

An invisible population exists which is doing time with prisoners serving sentences in New York state prisons. Mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, sisters, brothers, and children of prisoners suffer the same isolation, discrimination, and financial and emotional burdens that the prisoners do. The writer, who once served as a chaplain to prisoners receiving care in hospital, tells of her experiences, including her marriage to a prisoner who died within the walls. She discusses his medical care, death, and how she was able to set him free at last. While most of society believes prisoners to be dangerous sociopaths, another segment recognizes their similarities to the rest of us and loves them. Finally, the author calls for understanding and compassion and a restorative approach to justice.     

Accumulating meaning,purpose and opportunities to change ‘drip by drip’: the impact of being a listener in prison

Established in 1991, the Listener scheme, regulated by the Samaritans, is currently the best-established peer support scheme in place to help reduce suicide in prisons. Each prison Listener team is comprised of a group of inmate volunteers who provide face-to-face emotional support to their peers. Although the scheme has been in operation for over 20 years, empirical research on the scheme is limited. A deeper understanding of how being a Listener affects prisoners' attitudes, beliefs, emotions and experiences of imprisonment is needed. The present study is a qualitative analysis on the experience of being a Listener and the impact it has on individuals and their prison experience. Interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The analysis revealed two main superordinate themes: ‘Listening and Personal Transformation’ and ‘Countering Negative Prison Emotions’. These themes are unpacked and the analysis focuses on their implications for desistance and offender reform. Results suggest that prisoners who adopt Listener roles experience profound internal changes, shifts in self-identity and gain meaning and purpose from prison. Implications for how such schemes may be utilised in the future and suggestions for further research are offered.     

Recidivism Among Young Males Sentenced to Prison and Youth Custody

In 1999, Sweden introduced a new Act focused on young persons aged 15–17 who commit serious offences. The object of the Act was to replace prison sentences with a new sanction in the form of youth custody, which would involve a placement in a special approved home. This study constitutes a follow-up comparison of criminal recidivism among young males sentenced to prison prior to the introduction of the Youth Custody Act (1991–1998) and young males sentenced to youth custody following the introduction of the Act (1999–2003). The study shows that the sanction has not only been used as a replacement for prison sentences, but has also led to an expansion in custodial sentencing in the form of ‘net-widening’. There has also been a substantial increase in the length of custodial sentences awarded in connection with the new sanction. A comparison with the youth sanction in Denmark raises questions about the consequences of having expanded the group of youths sentenced to a custodial sanction in Sweden, and of the increased length of the custodial sentences to which this group is subjected.