Crime and Punishment

Description

Robert Johnson and Hans Toch's Crime and Punishment: Inside Views is an edited volume of original essays written by offenders "in their own words." The book provides a unique, inside view of crime, prisoners, and the experience of punishment.

These essays represent the worldviews of 52 offenders, introducing the reader to the forces that shaped their lives and compelled them to commit crimes, their struggles with their own feelings, and their experiences--often rocky--with prison life and the criminal justice system.

Crime and Punishment: Inside Views is useful as a supplement for courses in criminal justice, corrections, and criminology. It illuminates a wide array of individuals, settings, and issues, offering a stimulating introduction to the study of crime and punishment. These writings will sharpen student's critical thinking skills as they compare and judge these offenders' own words against the context of their textbooks. Editors Johnson and Toch's insightful introductions and commentaries at the beginning of each section and each essay serve as a useful "road map," framing the various writings and putting them into perspective.

Table of Contents

Section I: Doing Crime
1. Astro Creep, Kent Williams
2. The St. Francis Hotel, Darell Jordan
3. Wasted Days, Wasted Nights, Michael Gabrish
4. Perfectly Impaired, Rita Biggs
5. Robbery, Travis Lewis
6. Interstate Flight, Lance E. Fleming
7. Better You Than Me, Michael Aquilar
8. We Are All Human Beings, Michael B. Majors
9. Reflections from Death Row, Michael B. Ross
10. Socio-Economic Suppression and Crime, Marcus Johnson
Section II: Rehabilitation
11. My Rehabilitation, Josh Wesley Elam
12. A True Story, Kenny Rogers
13. Freedom Within, Jennifer Howard
14. After the War, James G. Fuller
15. Prison, Crime, and Addiction, Gary James Boyle
16. Facing Your Problem, Brandon Buckles
17. No One Ever Asked Me, Why?, Gerald V. Murphy
18. A View From Within, Rudolph Churchill
Section III: Finding Faith
19. Prayer, Selvyn Tillett
20. Paradox Shrugged, Terry Patterson
21. A Life Restored, Brad Barnes
22. Reflections from the Cell, Timothy J. Lippa
23. Blessed in Prison, Tiberius Mays
24. Mending a Broken Heart, Blanca Chavez
Section IV: Being Imprisoned
25. Freedom: A Magnificent Possession, Janelle Cole
26. Life in a Microwave, Dianne Hamill Metzger
27. Meaning of Life in Prison, Ernest Patrick
28. Big Trouble in Li'l Chilli, Kim Redifer
29. A Single Unheard Voice, Donald D. Hairgrove
Section V: Living in Prison
30. Behind the Wall, Mike York
31. Control, James W. Harkleroad
32. Prison Is a Place, James W. Harkleroad
33. A Career Statement, Joseph A. Johnson
34. Michael, Christina Nankervis
35. Foreigner, Selvyn Tillett
36. Beethoven, Marshall Earl Fitzgerre
37. A Weekend With the Inmate Plumber, Raymond E. Williams
38. A Deadly Game, Antonio A. Gilbreath and Joshua D. M. Rogers, IV
39. The Sixth Commandment, Michael Wayne Hunter
40. The Long-Awaited Day of Freedom, Eliseo E. Padron
Section VI: Justice and Injustice
41. Number Twenty-Seven, Christopher L. McIntire
42. The L.A. County Jail, Noah Lhotsky
43. California Cesspool, Noah Lhotsky
44. The Manipulation Game, Diane Hamill Metzger
45. Prisoners, Poverty, and the Politics of Slavery, Ronald A. Young
46. In Search of Win, Hal Elkins
47. There Is No Justice in Florida, Mr. Brown
48. I'm Not Guilty, But Kill Me Anyway, Michael Ross
49. Adjudicated Probation, Gary Jay Walker
50. Unmasking the Face of Death, Michael Ross