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Abstract: 

This issue presents three thoughtful articles plus a literature review that support the arguments that it is time for a new approach to crime and punishment. The first article, by Dr. Francis T. Cullen, was delivered at one of the plenary sessions at the ICCA Research Conference in Cincinnati in September 2011. Cullen makes the case for a new penology that embraces what we have learned from research and practice. He argues that we are standing at a special time in corrections in which it is possible to move corrections in a fresh direction. The second article, by Dr. Randy Shively, adds to our understanding of polysubstance dependence in the populations we serve. This article is in keeping with Cullen’s call for taking rehabilitation seriously and offers guidance to the practitioner as well as cautioning that, as practitioners, we sometimes do not deal with relapse as an opportunity to learn but rather as a reason to punish and label the offender with a “criminal mentality.” Working with this type of offender is difficult and challenging and calls for training and development of expertise in dealing with addictions. The next article contains the remarks from Laurie Robinson, Assistant Attorney General at the Office of Justice Programs and ICCA’s 2011 Margaret Mead Award recipient. Ms. Robinson underscores the value of evidence (noting that policymakers and politicians have turned to science for direction), the importance of getting knowledge disseminated, and the effectiveness of the Justice Reinvestment movement, which seeks to reallocate resources both to save money and to reduce recidivism. Ms. Robinson closes her address with a reminder of the need to strengthen the relationship between the researcher and the practitioner. In our regular “Worth Reading” feature, our book review editor has provided us with four excellent reviews of timely books featuring Ernest Drucker’s “A Plague of Prisons: The Epidemiology of Mass Incarceration in America” which takes a public health approach to examining mass imprisonment and provides many fruitful avenues for exploration, and Michael Tonry’s edited reader on punishment, “Why Punish? How Much?”

Keywords: Crime Policy; Sentencing and Corrections Reform; Addiction

Affiliations:  1: Journal Editor.