Justice Under Pressure analyzes the effects of prison crowding on
the justice system. The authors focus on dramatic changes in the
administration of criminal justice in Texas during the 1980s and the
influence of those changes on the three-year survival rates among
parolees released between 1984 and 1987. Setting out to identify
differences in recidivism and the crime rate as a result of the changes
instituted in Texas, the authors report the findings of their
comparative "survival analysis" of 4 successive cohorts of parolees,
plus a chapter specifically directed at a comparative analysis of an
emergency release cohort. The final chapter compares prison construction
policies and crime rate trends in Texas and California to highlight the
major policy implications of the findings. This book is of particular
interest to criminologists, forensic psychologists, forensic
psychiatrists, and students in these fields.