“All the News That's Fit to Print”: A Content Analysis of the Correctional Debate in the New York Times

Abstract

Scholarship over the past three decades has generated considerable insight into the roles of the media, politicians, and law enforcement officials in constructing images of criminal justice; still, that body of research has rarely ventured into the realm of corrections. Filling this void, we drew a sample of 206 newspaper articles on corrections published in the New York Times for the purpose of examining news sources and their quoted statements. Our findings reveal that the New York Times relies heavily on political and government sources who—not surprisingly—express support for the prevailing correctional policies and practices. Whereas the New York Times also quoted sources critical of the government's correctional strategies, the dominance of political sources in the press offers evidence of agenda setting in the debate over corrections.

To punish or rehabilitate revisited: an analysis of the purpose/goals of state correctional statutes, 1991–2002

“…Despite the movement towards harsher punishment and longer sentences, rehabilitation appears to be an important goal in corrections (Applegate et al, 1997;Bazemore & Feder 1997;Burton et al, 1997;Clear, 1994;Latessa et al, 2001;Maguire & Pastore, 1997;Welch et al, 2000).…”

“…All 34 articles supported rehabilitation and programming for offenders and the only complaint found was the stance that programming should be more readily available to inmates. Welch et al (2000) further assert that the debate over rehabilitation is really a false dichotomy. That is, the public supports rehabilitation more than politicians realize, however, during the campaign season, politicians typically issue statements about crime control in an effort to ensure re-election.…”

“…Rehabilitative programs have declined since the 'nothing works' stigma of the 1970s (Martinson, 1974). However, there is research that suggests that rehabilitation is still considered a viable option by criminal justice professionals, policy makers and the public (Applegate, Cullen, & Fisher, 1997;Burton et al, 1993;Clear, 1994;Welch, Weber, & Edwards 2000).…”

“…Legislators Welch et al (2000) examined the views of policy makers and correctional administrators regarding rehabilitation and support for the current state of corrections. They conducted a content analysis of 206 articles published in the New York Times between 1992 and 1995.…”

“…The remaining quoted sources came from correctional commissioners, wardens and managers. Of all the articles examined in this study, Welch et al (2000) found a total of 34 articles on correctional programs and 209 quotes relating to the correctional debate.…”