Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here for more information

Click here to sign up for SAGE Journal Email Alerts today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Criminal Justice and Behavior
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (4)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Cunningham, M. D.
Right arrow Articles by Sorensen, J. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?

Nothing to Lose? A Comparative Examination of Prison Misconduct Rates Among Life-Without-Parole and Other Long-Term High-Security Inmates

Mark D. Cunningham

Dallas, Texas

Jon R. Sorensen

Prairie View A&M University

The impact of life-without-parole (LWOP) sentencing for inmate misconduct has important implications for inmate classification, prison management, capital sentencing determinations, and public policy considerations. This study seeks to illuminate these issues by comparing the disciplinary behavior of 1,897 inmates sentenced to LWOP in the Florida Department of Corrections to that of 7,147 inmates serving sentences of 10 to 30 or more years. The sample is restricted to inmates admitted between January 1, 1998, and December 31, 2002, sentenced to a prison term of 10 years or longer, who remained in prison on December 31, 2003, and classified to close custody. The data show that the likelihood and pattern of disciplinary infractions and potentially violent rule infractions among LWOP inmates during 1998 to 2003 is broadly similar to that of other long-term inmates, supporting a conclusion that LWOP inmates act as a stabilizing rather than disruptive force in the prison environment.

Key Words: life without parole • prison violence • risk assessment • capital punishment • classification

Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol. 33, No. 6, 683-705 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0093854806288273
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Criminal Justice and BehaviorHome page
A. Kuanliang, J. R. Sorensen, and M. D. Cunningham
Juvenile Inmates in an Adult Prison System: Rates of Disciplinary Misconduct and Violence
Criminal Justice and Behavior, September 1, 2008; 35(9): 1186 - 1201.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 The Prison JournalHome page
M. D. Cunningham and J. R. Sorensen
Predictive Factors for Violent Misconduct in Close Custody
The Prison Journal, June 1, 2007; 87(2): 241 - 253.
[Abstract] [PDF]