Newjack

Friday, June 13th, 2008 by Book Guy | No Comments »

Newjack
Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing is the story of Conover’s rookie year as a guard at Sing Sing. It is a nerve-jangling account of his passage into the storied prison and the culture of its guards - both fresh-faced "newjacks" like Conover and brutally hardened veterans. As he struggles to be a good officer, Conover angers inmates, dodges blows, works to balance decency with toughness, and participates in prison rituals - strip frisks, cell searches, cell "extractions" - that exact a toll on inmates and officers alike.

The tale begins with the corrections academy and ends with the flames and smoke of New Year’s Eve on Conover’s floor of the notorious B-Block. Along the way, Conover also recounts the history of Sing Sing, from draconian early punishment, to fame as the citadel of capital punishment, to its present status as New York State’s "bottom of the barrel" prison.

This book will become a landmark of American journalism - the definitive presentation of the impasse between the need to imprison criminals and the dehumanization of inmates and guards - that almost inevitably takes place behind bars.

"Newjack is an astonishing work by a gifted - and dedicated - journalist. Ted Conover takes us into the dangerous, sad, amusing and instructive soul of one of America’s best known prisons." — Tom Brokaw
Publisher: Brilliance Audio Inc
Author: Ted Conover
Narrator: Ted Conover
ISBN: 9781596006331
Download Price: $24.95

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Punishment

Friday, May 16th, 2008 by Book Guy | No Comments »

Punishment is a harm or deprivation, imposed by a legitimate authority, based on a
legitimate conviction of wrongdoing. In assessing guilt, considerations of intention, action and results
are all relevant.

Any understanding of punishment depends heavily on our interpretation of both authority and responsibility.
Paternalism is one set of beliefs about who should have authority; it obviously has been applied within the
family, and it has a highly controversial application in government. The authority of law and the state is a
topic of philosophical interest extending at least back to Socrates.

The way one understands the role and power of the state in turn depends on assumptions about human
nature. The philosopher Thomas Hobbes emphasized the benefits of a common power, based on the view
that mankind is naturally warlike, acquisitive, and egoistic. By contrast, John Locke emphasized the benefits
of liberty, based on the view that people are naturally free and equal, forming governments only for the purpose
of protecting life and property.

Criminal responsibility requires that a person be able to freely conform his conduct to law. An act is excused
if the perpetrator did not act voluntarily (e.g. due to insanity); it is justified if there was good reason to voluntarily
commit the act. Assigning criminal responsiblity is one of the most difficult and immediate problems in any
criminal justice system. Controversy continues today between corporal punishment, imprisonment and capital
punishment. Society questions if any of these methods offer retribution for the crime committed.

University of Alabama
Publisher: Blackstone Audio Inc
Author: Dr. Crispin Sartwell
Narrator: Cliff Robertson and Robert Guillaume
ISBN: 0-7861-6727-0
Download Price: $12.95 Discover this audio book

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