Triggering Federal Court Intervention in State Prison Reform

1993 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRADLEY STEWART CHILTON ◽  
DAVID C. NICE
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Causal Model ◽  
Federal Court ◽  
Prison Reform ◽  
State Prison ◽  
Judicial Intervention ◽  
Court Intervention ◽  
Prison Systems ◽  
Reform Litigation ◽  
And Behavior

What “triggers” federal court intervention in prison reform litigation? The authors present a causal model of federal judicial intervention in the prison reform litigation of 48 states (all except Alaska and Hawaii). From analysis of variables posited by numerous qualitative case studies to be critical, the causal model indicates that federal court intervention in state prison systems can be correlated to various factors, including political ideology, socioeconomic factors, and the “problem environment” of state prison conditions. The authors offer the analysis in the hope that it will stimulate additional discussion of the jurisprudence and behavior of federal judicial intervention in prison reform litigation.

The downside of downsizing: Persistence of racial disparities following state prison reform

2021 ◽  
pp. 146247452110060
Author(s):  
Amy E Lerman ◽  
Alyssa C Mooney
Keyword(s):  
Racial Disparities ◽  
Prison Population ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
Prison Reform ◽  
State Prison ◽  
Probation And Parole ◽  
Substantial Progress ◽  
Prison Populations ◽  
Racial Ethnic ◽  
Double Digit

Nationwide, prison populations have declined nearly 5% from their peak, and 16 states have seen double-digit declines. It is unclear, though, how decarceration has affected racial disparities. Using national data, we find substantial variation in state prison populations from 2005–2018, with increases in some states and declines in others. However, although declines in the overall state prison population were associated with declines for all groups, states with rising prison populations experienced slight upticks in prison rates among the white population, while rates among Black and Latinx populations declined. As a result, greater progress in overall decarceration within states did not translate to larger reductions in racial disparities. At the same time, we do not find evidence that a decline in prison populations is associated with a rise in jail incarceration for any racial/ethnic group. In additional exploratory analyses, we suggest that recent incarceration trends may be driven by changes in returns to prison for probation and parole violations, rather than commitments for new crimes. Our results make clear that while efforts to reverse mass incarceration have reduced the size of prison populations in some states, they have not yet made substantial progress in resolving the crisis of race in American criminal justice.

Developments in the Classification Process

1988 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT B. LEVINSON
Keyword(s):  
Single Institution ◽  
Classification Approach ◽  
State Prison ◽  
System Data ◽  
Correctional System ◽  
Inmate Behavior ◽  
Prison Systems ◽  
Recent Refinement

Increasingly, classification in corrections is recognized as a series of procedures that result in inmates being sorted into management- and program-relevant groups. Internal classification is a more recent refinement of this process. A number of different methods have been devised for systematically categorizing (and differentially housing) a single institution's prisoner population. This article discusses the advantages gained by conceptualizing a single institution as being a “mini-correctional system.” Data are reported (from both federal and state prison systems) that indicate reductions in both the seriousness and frequency of disruptive inmate behavior subsequent to the implementation of an internal classification approach; postrelease information is also presented.

Solitary Confinement—From Extreme Isolation to Prison Reform

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Jules Lobel ◽  
Peter Scharff Smith
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Solitary Confinement ◽  
Prison Reform ◽  
Reform Movements ◽  
The World ◽  
Prison Systems

For nearly two centuries the practice of solitary confinement has been a recurring feature in many prison systems all over the world. Solitary confinement is used for a panoply of different reasons although research tells us that these practices have widespread negative health effects. Besides the death penalty, it is arguably the most punitive and dangerous intervention available to state authorities in democratic nations. These facts have spawned a growing international interest in this topic and reform movements which include, among others, doctors, psychologists, criminologists, sociologists, prisoners, families, litigators, human rights defenders, and prison governors. This chapter sets the scene by briefly describing this context and by presenting the structure of the book and the chapters that follow.

HIV Prevention and Education in State Prison Systems

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Lyons ◽  
Emmanuel Osunkoya ◽  
Ivonne Anguh ◽  
Adedeji Adefuye ◽  
Joseph Balogun
Keyword(s):  
Hiv Prevention ◽  
State Prison ◽  
Prison Systems

Aggregative mechanisms and behavior in ring-billed gulls departing from a colony

1985 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 2767-2774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger M. Evans ◽  
Clive V. J. Welham
Keyword(s):  
Causal Model ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
Visual Contact ◽  
Social Attraction ◽  
Direct Flight ◽  
Contact Calls ◽  
Spatial Grouping ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
And Behavior

Departures of ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis) from a breeding colony were significantly clumped in time and space. Mean departure directions did not correlate among successive days, but were highly correlated with wind direction. Most gulls circling about the colony did not depart. Gulls that did depart typically flew directly away from the colony and approximately half emitted distinctive "contact" calls. Significantly more gulls departed when others were soaring on nearby thermals than at other comparable times. Playback experiments showed that contact calls and calls from thermal flocks attracted other gulls. A causal model of flock formation, derived from the assumption that temporal clumping arises from social facilitation superimposed upon random departure times, was supported by (i) random fly-up times by nondeparting gulls, (ii) demonstrated attractiveness of contact calls, (iii) characteristically direct flight paths of departing gulls, and (iv) by simulations of departing gulls. Social attraction, temporal and spatial grouping, wind, and visual contact between successively departing birds all appear to facilitate aggregation within localized regions of the habitat.

Are There Ideological Differences in Intergroup Bias? Examining Liberal-Conservative (A)symmetries in Minimal Group Cognition and Behavior

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Ruisch ◽  
Rajen Alexander Anderson ◽  
Amy Rose Krosch
Keyword(s):  
Political Ideology ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Intergroup Bias ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Ideological Differences ◽  
And Behavior

The liberal-conservative divide is one of the most contentious divisions in modern society. Several influential theoretical perspectives contend that this divide hinges primarily on orientations towards social groups, such that conservatives (versus liberals) generally tend to be more oriented towards protecting and benefitting their social “ingroups” (i.e., social groups to which they themselves belong), and exhibiting greater discrimination and aggression towards social “outgroups.” However, empirical support for this theoretical perspective has been mixed. We argue that the empirical stalemate that characterizes this area of research stems from inherent limitations of the research paradigm used by both sides of the debate: examining attitudes towards real-world social groups. Drawing on research and theory from the social identity literature, we propose a novel approach—using “minimal groups” (i.e., experimentally constructed groups)—to answer whether, when, and why ideological differences in intergroup bias may exist. In this Registered Report proposal, we describe pilot data that we have collected that provide new insights into this longstanding debate, documenting both ideological symmetries and asymmetries in intergroup cognition, and suggesting that ideological extremity may also independently play a role in driving intergroup bias. We then propose additional research to more decisively answer these questions. We believe that this research will help reconcile this longstanding debate and provide a deeper understanding of the psychological underpinnings of political ideology.

Stuck between Justice and the Carceral State

2020 ◽  
pp. 311-339
Author(s):  
Robert T. Chase
Keyword(s):  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
Federal Court ◽  
The State ◽  
Federal System ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
Massive Resistance ◽  
Carceral State ◽  
Political Project ◽  
Court Orders ◽  
Court Intervention

Chapter 9 analyzes the Ruiz trial itself as drawing from prisoner-initiated narrative, but it situates even the most far-reaching courtroom victory within a political arrangement of carceral massive resistance, where southern Democrats resisted court orders and new southern Republicans consciously reinterpreted the court’s intent as part of mass incarceration’s broader political project. In the immediate aftermath of the 1980 Ruiz decision, the prisoners’ courtroom victory was stuck over a political struggle between the state and the federal system. Prisoners were at the mercy of a variation on “massive resistance,” where the TDC resisted federal court intervention at every turn. Making matters worse, as mass incarceration was now fully taking hold, the prisons were becoming more and more overcrowded and prone to violence. Trapped between the court and the state, prisoners had fewer external political allies as the 1980s dawned.

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