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Harsh Punishment Backfires

August 10, 2009 by

U.S. prisons are too punitive and often fail to rehabilitate, but targeting prisoners' behavior, reducing prison populations and offering job skills could reduce prisoner aggression and prevent recidivism, a researcher told the American Psychological Association on Saturday. "The current design of prison systems don't work," said criminal justice expert Joel Dvoskin, PhD, of the University of Arizona.