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Living Inside Prison Walls Adjustment Behavior
(Click to Enlarge)
Victoria R. DeRosia
ISBN: 0-275-95895-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-95895-4
224 pages
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 12/30/1998
List Price: $106.95 (UK Sterling Price: £73.95)
Availability: Print on demand
Media Type: Hardcover
Also Available: Ebook
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
Description: Are advantaged offenders defenseless against the harshness of prison life? Based upon a qualitative study of the prison adjustment of advantaged offenders—those who, prior to prison, possessed college degrees and held high status occupations with commensurately high incomes—this book challenges the special sensitivity hypothesis and concludes that these offenders adjust well to incarceration. The author compared a group of advantaged offenders to a similar group of nonadvantaged offenders, both drawn from New York State prisons, and discovered that the advantaged offenders exhibited little (if any) engagement in institutional misconduct. They also adopted effective coping strategies.

DeRosia presents a thematic analysis of in-depth, focused interviews with both subsamples, as well as vignettes based upon those interviews. Her findings reveal that advantaged offenders hold a perspective on doing time, including prescriptions for avoiding trouble, and make conscious efforts to avoid trouble by using time beneficially. This study contains the most current statistics available on corrections in the U.S., including its organization, the overcrowding crisis, and prisoner profiles. The nature of life in prison and prior research on adjustment are also examined.
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
    Introduction
    The Prison Inmate: A Profile
    Prison Life
    Prior Research on Adjustment to Prison
    Research Approach and Methodology
    Advantaged and Nonadvantaged Offenders: Quantitative Data Analysis Discussion
    Qualitative Findings: Advantaged Offenders
    Qualitative Findings: Nonadvantaged Offenders
    Conclusion: Implications and Recommendations
    Appendix
    Bibliography
    Index
About the Author: VICTORIA R. DEROSIA is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice at Castleton State College where she has taught a wide variety of criminal justice courses over the past seven years. /e As a practitioner, Dr. DeRosia has worked as a prison teacher, probation and parole officer, crime prevention and grant specialist, and a certified police instructor in crime prevention.
LCC Class: 365
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