Criminal Justice Ethics
Fourth Edition
Video and Multimedia
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Audio Resources
- California Proposes Selling San Quentin Prison
- Roundtable: Lebanon Cease-Fire, Prison Guinea Pigs
- The Ethics of Torture, Explored in a Painful Fable
- States Push for Prison Sentence Overhaoul; Prosecutors Push Back
Some red states like Louisiana and Texas have emerged as leaders in a new movement: to divert offenders from prisons and into drug treatment, work release and other incarceration alternatives. By most counts, Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the country. In recent years, sentencing reformers in the capital, Baton Rouge, have loosened some mandatory minimum sentences and have made parole slightly easier for offenders to get. But as reformers in Louisiana push for change, they're also running into stiffening resistance — especially from local prosecutors.
- The Cost of Housing Inmates Who Cannot Make Bail
Thousands of inmates are sitting in America's jails because they can't make bail, which sometimes is set at as little as $50. Housing them while they await trial is estimated to cost taxpayers $9 billion this year alone. NPR's Crime and Punishment Correspondent, Laura Sullivan, joins Talk of the Nation to discuss the business of bail bonds.
Video Resources
- USA Reality – Jason Ng’s Death, August 6th, 2008
This 10:02 clip is about a thirty-four-year-old Chinese computer engineer, Hiu Lui Ng, who overstayed his visa, and died in a Rhode Island immigration detention center. He had cancer in his liver, lung and bones, and a fractured spine. Despite repeated complaints of severe pain, Mr. Ng was refused independent medical evaluation by immigration officials. Before Mr. Ng died on August 6th, he told his sister that the nurses at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Center in Rhode Island had told him to "stop faking" his illness. Jason Ng's story is the latest in a series of similar cases of neglect and abuse at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE.
- FFV Doc: The Stanford Prison Experiment
This 29:01 video explores the renowned Stanford Prison Experiment. The Stanford prison experiment was a study of the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. The experiment was conducted from August 14th to 20th, 1971 by a team of researchers led by Psychology professor Philip Zimbardo at Stanford University. Twenty-four students were selected out of 75 to play the prisoners and live in a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford psychology building.
- Guards vs. Inmates
In this 3:52 clip, prison guards must stun inmates into submission in order to maintain control. Some argue that the force used is excessive.
Web Resources
- American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project
- Amnesty International Women in Prison
- Amnesty International Women’s Human Rights
- Correctional Association of New York
- The Corrections Connection
- Corrections Officers Codes of Ethics
- Family and Corrections Network
- Human Rights Watch: Prisons
- International Center for Prison Studies
- National Institute of Corrections (NIC)
- National Prison Rape Elimination Commission
- Penal Reform International
- Prison Reform Advocacy Center
- Rightsforall-usa.org
- Stop Prisoner Rape
- United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (UNAFEI)
- Vera Justice Institute
- Women Coping in Prison