Rethinking America’s Correctional Policies

Commonsense Choices from Uncommon Voices

Anne S. Douds and Eileen M. Ahlin

Commonsense Choices from Uncommon Voices:Rethinking America’s Correctional Policies brings together the experiences of men who served time in prison with contemporary research on correctional policy. This work combines a voyeuristic desire to observe “evil” and the consequences of the system of punishment, with detached consideration of what those stories can tell us about who we are as a nation and how we treat those who have betrayed the social trust. The authors simultaneously examine first-person accounts of inmate experiences with the correctional system and what actually, works, in operation, to promote the rehabilitative and restorative models of justice so many of our policymakers espouse. Each chapter opens with a vignette, a recollection of an event or series of events, about an inmate’s experience during the various phases of correctional processing. These first-hand accounts have been collected from men who served time in prison. These men’s stories are examined in their own right, then extrapolated to a broader analysis of the underlying social and policy issues to which that vignette speaks. All chapters follow the same structure: (a) opening vignette about a former inmate; (b) analysis, which includes (i) identification of the underlying issue; (ii) reflection; and (iii) extrapolation to a larger policy issue; and (c) recommendations from the field for enacting practice and crafting policy more responsive to the identified issue.

Lexington Books

Pages: 290 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-1-4985-3040-8 • Hardback • June 2017 • $136.00 • (£105.00)

978-1-4985-3042-2 • Paperback • May 2019 • $50.99 • (£39.00)

978-1-4985-3041-5 • eBook • June 2017 • $48.00 • (£37.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Criminology, Social Science / Penology

Rethinking America’s Correctional Policies

Commonsense Choices from Uncommon Voices

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Commonsense Choices from Uncommon Voices:Rethinking America’s Correctional Policies brings together the experiences of men who served time in prison with contemporary research on correctional policy. This work combines a voyeuristic desire to observe “evil” and the consequences of the system of punishment, with detached consideration of what those stories can tell us about who we are as a nation and how we treat those who have betrayed the social trust. The authors simultaneously examine first-person accounts of inmate experiences with the correctional system and what actually, works, in operation, to promote the rehabilitative and restorative models of justice so many of our policymakers espouse. Each chapter opens with a vignette, a recollection of an event or series of events, about an inmate’s experience during the various phases of correctional processing. These first-hand accounts have been collected from men who served time in prison. These men’s stories are examined in their own right, then extrapolated to a broader analysis of the underlying social and policy issues to which that vignette speaks. All chapters follow the same structure: (a) opening vignette about a former inmate; (b) analysis, which includes (i) identification of the underlying issue; (ii) reflection; and (iii) extrapolation to a larger policy issue; and (c) recommendations from the field for enacting practice and crafting policy more responsive to the identified issue.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 290 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-1-4985-3040-8 • Hardback • June 2017 • $136.00 • (£105.00)

978-1-4985-3042-2 • Paperback • May 2019 • $50.99 • (£39.00)

978-1-4985-3041-5 • eBook • June 2017 • $48.00 • (£37.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Criminology, Social Science / Penology

Author

Anne S. Douds is lecturer of criminal justice in the School of Public Affairs at Penn State Harrisburg and former trial lawyer.

Eileen M. Ahlin is assistant professor of criminal justice in the School of Public Affairs at Penn State Harrisburg.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Section I: Pre-Incarceration
Chapter One: Plea Bargaining and Using Children to Coerce Cooperation
Chapter Two: Children at Arrest
Chapter Three: An Alford Plea Conundrum
Section II: Incarceration
Chapter Four: Time Fades to Grey
Chapter Five. The Yard Ball Paradox – Before Time Turns Grey
Chapter Six. Vernon Can’t Read: Prison Education
Chapter Seven: Doing the Schizophrenic Shuffle: Mental Health and Psychopharmacology
Chapter Eight: Abe’s Abscess
Chapter Nine: Deliberate Indifference or Indifferently Deliberate: How the Slow Pace of Prison Health Care Killed Matthew
Chapter Ten: End of Life Care
Section III: Post-Incarceration
Chapter Eleven: Walking Around Money and the Bus to Nowhere
Chapter Twelve: Get a J-O-B
Chapter Thirteen: Burned Bridges
Conclusion: RAP’ing Up

Reviews

Readers who understand the criminal justice landscape of the US, based on their own careers and/or their academic scholarship, know that the country's correctional policies are perennially in need of rethinking. The outcomes hoped for are so distant from the actual outcomes that frustration is ubiquitous, for victims, offenders, attorneys, judges, correctional officers, wardens, and communities. The inventive approach adopted by criminal justice professors Douds and Ahlin (both, Penn State Harrisburg) to invite yet more reflection on the shortcomings of current policy and practice is to introduce the biographies of men whose experience of arrest, plea negotiation, incarceration, and reentry tell provoking stories. Salient elements of their stories serve as anchors to every chapter, so that readers are drawn into law and policy analysis through the power of personal anecdotes…. [This] volume…presents current and cogent arguments for why justice would be better served through a wide range of policy initiatives. Policies articulated here blend the authors’ recognition of what research suggests and what the application of professional practice norms could reasonably embrace. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries.
— Choice Reviews

Professors Douds and Ahlin have done a masterful job of weaving compelling true stories into a narrative that brings to the forefront the shortcomings of our penal and legal system in a way that mere statistics cannot convey. This book challenges us to reexamine our views of punishment and the ways we treat our fellow citizens. It is a must read for anyone interested in improving our system of justice.
— Edward Latessa, Professor, School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati

America’s correctional system is dominated by self-defeating policies that reflect stereotypes and misdirected emotionalism. This book lays out the case for smarter, humane, and defensible changes. It is a primer in evidence-base policy making.
— Todd R. Clear, Rutgers University