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229 Notes Chapter 2 Prisons, Crime, and Other Related Matters 1. Interestingly, there is little research that compares punitiveness across cultures (e.g., Newman, 1980). Much of the existing research on that topic employs Table E.N. 1 Average Sentence Length in Months for Six Crimes (Burglary (1), Motor Vehicle Theft (2), Robbery (3), Assault (4), Rape (5), Homicide (6), and the average sentence length for these offenses in each nation (7)) for Eight Nations (Percentage of U.S. Sentence Length in Parentheses). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 U.S. 35.0 20.7 76.4 40.4 115.9 250.0 96.6 England 19.3 8.3 40.0 14.0 76.5 179.9 56.3 (55) (40) (52) (35) (66) (72) (58) Australia 34.3 27.9 72.0 36.2 82.8 178.3 71.8 (98) (135) (94) (90) (72) (71) (74) Canada 9.0 1.6 24.2 5.0 106.6 120.8 44.5 (26) (8) (31) (12) (92) (48) (46) Netherlands 12.7 8.5 12.4 5.0 17.4 100.4 26.1 (36) (41) (16) (12) (15) (40) (27) Scotland 8 5.4 29.6 17.2 81.4 191.6 55.5 (23) (26) (39) (43) (70) (77) (58) Sweden 8.2 4.0 29.8 5.4 36.9 94.5 29.8 (23) (19) (39) (13) (32) (38) (31) Switzerland 19.1 9.4 35.6 11.7 49.7 96.6 37.0 (55) (45) (47) (29) (43) (39) (38) Average 18.2 10.7 40 16.2 70.9 151.5 (52) (51) (52) (40) (61) (61) This table was adapted from: Farrington, David P., Patrick Langan, and Michael Tonry, 2004, “Cross National Studies in Crime and Justice,” Bureau of Justice Statistics, NCJ 200988,Washington , DC: U.S. Department of Justice, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ pdf/cnscj.pdf. Data for England/Wales,Canada,Netherlands,Scotland,and Switzerland are from 1999.Data for U.S., Australia, and Sweden are from 1996. Percentage scores are rounded to nearest whole number. questionnaires, and uses questionnaire responses to develop measures of crime seriousness as perceived by respondents. For the purposes of this book, a better measure of punitiveness is sentence length or time served in prison, which measures actual penal severity imposed by governments rather that the perceived punitiveness of citizens. While cross-national sentence length data are limited, the few studies of this issue (Farrington, 2000; Farrington, Langan, and Tonry, 2004; J. Lynch, 1993, 1988) supports the contention that U.S. sentence lengths are significantly longer than those found in other nations.Average sentence lengths for eight nations and six crime types are found in table E.N. 1. This table clearly indicates two important points. First, average sentence lengths in the United States tend to be longer than in other nations. Because sentence lengths for only a limited number of nations have been examined, there may indeed be nations where the average prison sentence is longer than in the United States. However, average sentence lengths for crime are significantly longer in the United States than in other nations.The one exception to this generalization is noted for the criminal sentences in Australia. For three of the seven crimes, however, Australian sentence lengths are less than two-thirds of those found in the United States. For motor vehicle theft, Australian sentences are quite severe, exceeding U.S. penalty lengths by an average of 7.2 months. Second, the average sentence lengths and sentence trends displayed in this table illustrate that U.S. sentence lengths are significantly longer than those in other nations.This finding challenges popular public opinion in the United States that prison sentences are not severe enough. Clearly, in comparison to other nations, U.S. sentence lengths are long, and the average sentence length in other nations is between 40 and 61 percent shorter than in the United States.We can conclude from these data, though the data are limited, that the U.S. sentencing system is very punitive. Chapter 4 Raising Questions About America’s Big Prison System 1. The Durkheimian position on crime and punishment has a number of interesting ramifications and implications, and has influenced both the development of theories of crime (e.g., anomie, social disorganization, social control theory) and punishment (e.g., stability of punishment hypothesis). There is, however, one assumption contained within Durkheim that is most dif...

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