Correctional Boot Camps
Military Basic Training or a Model for Corrections?
- Doris L. MacKenzie - University of Maryland, USA
- Gaylene S. Armstrong - University of Nebraska, Omaha, USA
Correctional Management
Boot camps have developed over the past two decades into a program that incorporates a military regimen to create a structured environment. While some critics of this method of corrections suggest that the confrontational nature of the program is antithetical to treatment, authors Doris Layton MacKenzie and Gaylene Styve Armstrong present research knowledge and personal discussions with community leaders that offer insight into both the strengths and weaknesses of this controversial form of corrections.
Correctional Boot Camps: Military Basic Training or a Model for Corrections? provides the most up-to-date assessment of the major perspectives and issues related to the current state of boot camps. The book goes beyond cursory examinations of the effectiveness of boot camps, presenting an in-depth view of a greater variety of issues. Correctional Boot Camps examines empirical evidence on boot camps drawn from diverse sources including male, female, juvenile, and adult programs from across the nation.
The book explores empirical research on both the punitive and rehabilitative components of the boot camp model and the effectiveness of the "tough on crime" aspects of the programs that are often thought of as punishment or retribution, in lieu of a longer sentence in a traditional facility. Thus, offenders earn their way back to the general public more quickly because they have paid their debt to society by being punished in a short-term, but strict, boot camp.
Correctional Boot Camps is a comprehensive textbook for undergraduate and graduate students studying corrections and juvenile justice. The book is also a valuable resource for correctional professionals interacting with offenders.
"The primary strength of the book is that it provides a fairly comprehensive reader for researchers, teachers, and students interested in a detailed examination of boot camps. In addition, it consolidates a wide variety of articles that discuss the topic of correctional boot camps in one easily accessible location. Consequently, readers interested in the topic of correctional boot camps will walk away from this book with a more detailed knowledge about correctional boot camps then when began and, as such, will find the book a worthwhile read."
