Research Note: The Death Sentence and Inmate Attitudes

Stevens, Dennis J.

doi:10.1177/0011128792038002010

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…One implication arising from this finding is that neither the threat of prison nor long prison sentences are a deterrence of crime. This thought finds congruence with earlier research suggesting that criminally violent offenders are rarely afraid of incarceration or capital punishment (Stevens 1992a(Stevens , 1992b. American prisons seem to inadequately protect society and long prison terms under authoritative regimes seem to undermine the social values that were intended to curb crime.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 87%

“…Additionally, male inmates most likely to anticipate a crime-free future were those who had spent the least time in prison and vice versa. This thought is also consistent with the argument that perceived severity of sentence including capital punishment is little deterrent to criminality (Bursik, Grasmick and Chamlin 1990;Stevens 1992aStevens , 1992b.…”

Section: Length Of Time-served Contributed To Expectations Of Crimesupporting

confidence: 83%

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The Impact of Time‐Served and Regime on Prisoners' Anticipation of Crime: Female Prisonisation Effects

Stevens

1998

The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice

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To examine the extent of time-served and regime on incarcerated females, 304 inmates were surveyed about prior lifestyles, violent orientations, and future anticipations of future crime. Results show that women who led a non-violent lifestyle prior to incarceration might, once released, commit crimes of violence largely due to prison experiences through a prisonisation process. A conclusion arising from this finding is that short prison sentences can be as effective a punishment as long prison sentences with less future options toward acts of criminality. Some implications of this finding are that organisational membership changes attitudes and that female prisonisation is as salient among female inmates as it is among male inmates. A longitudinal study should be conducted on released female offenders and recidivism.American female prison populations have grown by 75% from 1986 to 1991, and among women with a previous sentence, about a third were serving a sentence for a violent offence (Snell 1994). Sparse, yet conflicting literature on women prisoners suggests that experiences of female inmates have not been thoroughly examined providing an urgency for this study (Brett 1993). Do female inmates assimilate into a normative prison culture affecting future recidivism or do they bring their orientations to prison and continue to behave as they had before confinement? Deprivation ModelAll human environments have a social component to them as we are reared in families, live in communities, and work and play in groups (Johnson 1995). Thus, the importance of understanding human interactions once we are confined could lend itself to more effective controls of crime. Therefore, begging inquiry: Is the very practice of confinement helping the cause of violence? Donald Clemmer (1940, 1958) held one answer when he coined the term prisonisation to refer to the longer inmates were incarcerated, the stronger their identification with inmate norms and values, and the more difficulty they would have adjusting, once released from prison. Clemmer suggests that inmate environments possess social components, too, and therefore, like other social groups, have a culture which he defines as mode of life or thought that is not peculiarly individual but which can be

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 87%

Section: Length Of Time-served Contributed To Expectations Of Crimesupporting

confidence: 83%

The Impact of Time‐Served and Regime on Prisoners' Anticipation of Crime: Female Prisonisation Effects

Stevens

1998

The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice

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“…This finding suggests extremely high concordance between the two groups of inmates on the ranking of offender types. Given the work of Vaughn (1990a, 1990b) and others (Akerstrom, 1986;Stevens, 1992) on sex-offending and homicidal inmates, this finding must be viewed as relatively strong evidence for the importation of general values about crimes and offenders from the street into prisons.…”

Section: Values and Prisoners: Inmate Views On Earning Respect And Extending Respectmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Attitudes toward the death penalty provide an instructive case in point. Stevens (1992) explored support for the death penalty among maximum and minimum security inmates incarcerated in Illinois, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Noting that the majority of the public supports capital punishment, Stevens (1992, p. 275) reported that many prison inmates also supported the increased use of the death penalty to rid society of unwanted and dangerous individuals.…”

Section: Inmate Culture and Prisoner Valuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prisoner Perspectives on Inmate Culture in New Mexico and New Zealand: A Descriptive Case Study

Winfree

Newbold

Tubb³

2002

The Prison Journal

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Medium security prisoners in two nations provided personal insights into the inmate social systems found in their facilities: Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility is located near New Mexico's border with Mexico; Christchurch Prison is in New Zealand's South Island. Besides personal biographical and sociolegal questions, the inmates in both facilities responded to a series of closed- and open-ended questions about inmate values and norms. The only modification was to cast them in terminology relevant to the prisoners in each facility. In this analysis, the authors turn to three critical dimensions of alleged inmate values. Inmate orientations on qualities or features in others that they respect provide the first focus. The second explores the respect given to a series of 15 different types of criminal offenders. The final focus is the nature and extent of prison code adoption in both facilities. The authors also address several theoretical and practical concerns revealed by these analyses.

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“…Thus, researchers check their survey/interview data with prison files (Scully 1990). But, this process violates the confidentiality and candor of the respondents (Peterson, Harriet and Polich 1984;Stevens 1992b); therefore, the participants in this study were asked potentially dangerous questions without revealing their identity.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prison Regime and Drugs

Stevens

1997

The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice

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Examining the effects of regime on drug trafficking, 172 offenders in one prison and 229 offenders in a similar custody level prison were surveyed. Data rejected the hypothesis that a restrictive regime with formal inmate-custodian relations has greater control over drug trafficking in prison than a less restrictive regime with informal inmate-custodian relations. More authoritative supervision produces more disciplinary actions than a less supervised close inmate-custodian environment. One reason for these findings is that correctional staff are also affected by regimes. Lastly, convicted drug smugglers implicated correctional staff rather than correctional officers as drug traffickers. More research needs to be conducted on enforcers and nurturing perspectives.

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Research Note: The Death Sentence and Inmate Attitudes

Cited by 14 publications

References 2 publications

The Impact of Time‐Served and Regime on Prisoners' Anticipation of Crime: Female Prisonisation Effects

The Impact of Time‐Served and Regime on Prisoners' Anticipation of Crime: Female Prisonisation Effects

Prisoner Perspectives on Inmate Culture in New Mexico and New Zealand: A Descriptive Case Study

Prison Regime and Drugs

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