Size: 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall; First Trade Paperback Edition in Near Fine

Size: 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall; First Trade Paperback Edition in Near Fine Condition. Bright and clean wraps, with painting of "The Exercise Yard", by Vincent Van Gogh. Tight, solid and square binding. Internals in Fine Condition. A team of scholars reveals how our ideas of crime and practices of punishment have changed over time and offers a vivid account of the rise and development of institutions of punishment. Tracing the tension between the desire to punish and the hope for rehabilitation, this work recounts the evolution from the rowdy and squalid English jails of the 1700s, to the sober and stark 19th century penitentiaries, and finally to the "big houses" of the current American prison system. There is also a gripping look at the world of prisoners and their keepers over the centuries and chapters that explore jails, reform schools, women's prisons, political imprisonment, and prison and literature. 425 pages indexed. 6.2 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches. 1998, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford.