Prisons are intended to rehabilitate criminal offenders, as well as to punish and incapacitate them. The education and training systems operating within most prisons are a key component of the rehabilitation mission of prisons. Previous studies have shown a relationship between participation in educational programs and recidivism rates, with…

Prisons are usually oppressive, bureaucratic, alienating places that sever or suspend the prisoner's sense of community and restrict the possibility (or desire) for social and civic participation. They produce a nihilistic culture that encourages a numbing detachment from others. How is it that we can speak of democracy in places such as these?…

The attentional blink (AB) is a robust phenomenon that has been consistently reported in the cognitive literature. The AB is found when two target images (T1, T2) are presented within 500 ms of each other and errors are induced on the perceptual report of T2. The AB may increase when T1 has some salience to the viewer. This study examined the…

Suicide prevention training for the prison service in England and Wales has been criticized. STORM is a package emphasizing the practice and review of interactions with suicidal persons and was evaluated in a pilot study for use in prisons. Trainees completed questionnaires immediately before and after training and at 6 to 8 months follow-up.…

Decision making is one of the essential skills advocated by the National Council for the Social Studies for effective citizenship in a democratic society. Leaders in any society make decisions that influence many lives. In a democratic society, we expect that deductive and inductive reasoning guide decisions made for the common good. However, what…

The effect of psychiatric disorders on human immunodeficiency virus/sexually transmitted infection (HIV/STI) risk behaviors in juvenile justice youths is examined. Prevalence, persistence and prediction are addressed among four mutually exclusive diagnostic groups and results show a high prevalence rate of many HIV/STI sexual risk behaviors that…

There is considerable debate about the assessment of psychopathic traits in adolescence due in part to questions regarding the stability of traits. We investigated the 6-month stability of psychopathic traits in a sample of 83 male adolescent offenders using an augmented protocol for the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version and the self-report…

We investigate whether the intervention designed by Kuhn and Udell (2003) to develop argument skills could be implemented productively among adolescent males in a residential juvenile detention facility--boys who were educationally disengaged and severely disadvantaged academically as well as socially. Compared to a control group from the same…

This article presents data on a measure of depersonalization and derealization which are germane to the hypothesized independence of this syndrome from diagnosis and other factors of psychopathology. (Author)

The statement reviews experience of the Department of Justice with cases of child abuse in institutions, discusses the extent of the problem, and proposes some remedies for prevention of abuse of institutionalized children. The decisions of four court cases in three states are reported to demonstrate the type of child abuse occurring in…

The proceedings from the Congressional hearings on extension of Title I monies for delinquent and neglected children in state institutions present statements of three professionals (G. Ahart, Director, Human Resources Division, General Accounting Office; G. Decell, Director, South Carolina Department of Youth Services; and P. Mancini, program…

This study investigates the effects of setting an overt level of aspiration on the standing long jump performance of mildly and moderately retarded institutionalized children. Thirty-three mildly retarded and seven moderately retarded students were randomly assigned to either an overt level of aspiration (OLA) group or a control group. Each…

Correlational analysis is used to examine associations between the 50 states' rates of juvenile and adult institutionalization and levels of four crime categories (total index, violent, property, and burglary). No associations are found between states' crime and juvenile institutionalization rates. Associations are found between states' crime and…

A former ghetto teacher recounts a meeting he had with a former student who was committed to a state psychiatric hospital. (IRT)