RT Article
T1 Effectiveness of the habitual offender act: An assessment of criminal histories
JF American journal of criminal justice
VO 15
IS 1
SP 105
OP 121
A1 Sigler, Robert
A2 Culliver, Concerta
LA English
YR 1990
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1764205812
AB Habitual offender acts have been adopted by 43 states and are under consideration in the legislatures of others. These acts have been adopted with relatively little evaluation of the costs involved in the implementation of this legislation. This study seeks to evaluate the extent to which Alabama’s habitual offender statute captures serious career criminals. The results indicate that the differences between those in the prison population sentenced under habitual offender statutes and those sentenced under other statutes is not significant. There does appear to be support for the contention that the majority of prisoners have substantial criminal histories; however, it is noted that many have not committed a severe crime. The exaggerated claims for the number of crimes committed by “typical” offenders and resultant high costs of non-incarceration are examined and challenged. The authors suggest that the resources available to deal with offenders could be better invested in the development and testing of community-based programs designed to divert offenders from a life of crime rather than in programs which intervene after criminal histories are severe and which invoke life-long incarceration as a remedy.
K1 Career Criminal
K1 Violent Offense
K1 Justice Statistics
K1 Criminal History
K1 Prison Population
DO 10.1007/BF02887459