Research Catalog

Peer group influences in correctional programs / by LaMar T. Empey.

Title: Peer group influences in correctional programs / by LaMar T. Empey.
Author: Empey, LaMar Taylor, 1923-
Publication: [Washington, D.C.?] : President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, 1967.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Filter by

2 Items

Item details
Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Use in library	US 985 EMP	Off-site
Not available - Please for assistance.	Text	Use in library		Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

United States. President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice

Description

51, vii p.; 28 cm.

Summary

This report looks at the nature of peer groups, their influence on the individual in his transition to deviant behavior, and their continuing effect upon him within the prison. The author likens a subculture of delinquency to a game with an elaborate set of rules. A fundamental problem in understanding and dealing with crime is inadequate knowledge of the games being played. In prison, the inmate code is rigid and authoritarian. The members are at the bottom of the caste system and cannot tolerate the slightest breach of social solidarity. The author suggests that treatment should recognize the intrinsic nature of an offender's membership in the inmate system and direct its efforts to him as a member of that system and not as a social atom. This would involve group problem sharing and solving as a means of building a legitimately oriented subgroup within the prison. The author recommends guided group interaction to concentrate, not on the past, but on the here-and-now. This approach uses present conflict and the doubts and fears the inmate may have about his criminal behavior to disturb the status quo and discover alternate behavior and alternate group structures.

Subject

Note

Cover title.
Submitted to and reproduced by the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographic footnotes.

Processing Action (note)

committed to retain

Contents

Part I. Peer group influences in crime causation -- Part II. Peer influences in prison life -- Part III. The problem and its implications -- Footnotes.

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library