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Testing Orthodox Utilitarian And Extrajudical Determinants Of Incarceration In The U.S. At The State-Level, 1980-2005, Pavel V. Vasiliev Aug 2013

Testing Orthodox Utilitarian And Extrajudical Determinants Of Incarceration In The U.S. At The State-Level, 1980-2005, Pavel V. Vasiliev

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This project is a theory-driven secondary data analysis of state-level incarceration trends in the U.S. between 1980 and 2005. I replicate and advance Smith's (2004) study of the relationship between the socioeconomic, demographic, political, electoral, and criminal justice factors and incarceration rates at the state level. The purpose of this project is to determine the empirical validity of the major explanations of the incarceration trends in the U.S. I advance Smith's (2004) study using important novel elements. First, I extend the scrutinized historic period by a decade by compiling time-series data for 1980-2005. Second, I employ a more sophisticated analytic …


Incarceration American-Style, Sharon Dolovich Mar 2013

Incarceration American-Style, Sharon Dolovich

Sharon Dolovich

In the United States today, incarceration is more than just a mode of criminal punishment. It is a distinct cultural practice with its own aesthetic and technique, a practice that has emerged in recent decades as a catch-all mechanism for managing social ills. In this essay, I argue that this emergent carceral system has become self-generating—that American-style incarceration, through the conditions it inflicts, produces the very conduct society claims to abhor and thereby guarantees a steady supply of offenders whose incarceration the public will continue to demand. I argue, moreover, that this reproductive process works to create a class of …


Cruelty, Prison Conditions, And The Eighth Amendment, Sharon Dolovich Mar 2013

Cruelty, Prison Conditions, And The Eighth Amendment, Sharon Dolovich

Sharon Dolovich

The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, but its normative force derives chiefly from its use of the word cruel. For this prohibition to be meaningful in a society where incarceration is the primary mode of criminal punishment, it is necessary to determine when prison conditions are cruel. Yet the Supreme Court has thus far avoided this question, instead holding in Farmer v. Brennan that unless some prison official actually knew of and disregarded a substantial risk of serious harm to prisoners, prison conditions are not “punishment” within the meaning of the Eighth Amendment. Farmer’s reasoning, however, does not …


After Dothard: Female Correctional Workers And The Challenge To Employment Law, Brenda V. Smith, Melisa C. Loomis Jan 2013

After Dothard: Female Correctional Workers And The Challenge To Employment Law, Brenda V. Smith, Melisa C. Loomis

Project on Addressing Prison Rape - Articles

This article examines a profession where women have made great strides—corrections. Using an equality framework, corrections and other non-traditional professions were the first targets of the feminist movement in the 1970s. By and large, feminists were successful in creating greater porosity for women in law enforcement, emergency services, corrections, and the military. While women have entered these traditionally masculine spaces, they still suffer from an achievement gap. They are still underrepresented in leadership positions and marginalized in these settings; are still the targets of discrimination based on race, gender, and perceived sexual orientation; and are less likely than men to …


Process Evaluation Of The Basic Training Program At A State Corrections Academy In The Southeast, Wendy Dawn Williams Jan 2013

Process Evaluation Of The Basic Training Program At A State Corrections Academy In The Southeast, Wendy Dawn Williams

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to provide law enforcement and corrections administrators with current information about the components of basic training that can affect the retention of newly employed trainees during basic training. Attracting qualified applicants for law-enforcement jobs is a challenging task, and the preemployment screening and hiring processes are very expensive for agencies already plagued with reduced budgets. By the time a trainee actually makes it to basic training, a great deal of time and money has already been invested by the agency, and the trainee becomes an investment. When more than 20% of trainees exit a basic …