Book Review: Homicide and Counseling: Issues in Corrections

• Author: Michael F. Whiddon
• Published date: 01 September 1979
• DOI: 10.1177/009385487900600310
• Date: 01 September 1979
• Subject Matter: Articles

302

HOMICIDE

AND

COUNSELING:

ISSUES

IN

CORRECTIONS

PRISON

HOMICIDE.

By

Sawyer

F.

Sylvester,

John

B.

Reed,

and

David

O.

Nelson.

New

York:

Spectrum,

1977.

Pp.

126.

COUNSELING

IN

CORRECTIONAL

ENVIRONMENTS.

By

Lawrence

A.

Bennett,

Thomas

S.

Rosenbaum,

and

Wayne

R.

McCul-

lough.

New

York:

Human

Sciences

Press,

1978.

Pp.

94.

A

research

project

supported

by

an

LEAA

grant

studied

128

homi-

cides

that

occurred

in

prisons

in

27

states

during

1973.

The

report

of this

project

was

published

in

a

book,

Prison

Homicide,

with

82

pages

of

text

and

44

pages

of

notes,

bibliography,

and

index.

The

intent

of

the

report

was

described

in

the

foreword

by

John

C.

Ball

as

a

&dquo;data

base&dquo;

concern-

ing

prison

homicides,

assuming

that

greater

understanding

of the

factors

contributing

to

homicide

in

prisons

should

assist in

bringing

about

a

reduction

in

the

number

of

such

homicides.

The

authors

state

that

con-

trol

of

contributing

factors

should

improve

the

internal

order

and

psychological

atmosphere

of

prisons,

allowing

counseling

and

educa-

tion

efforts

greater

opportunity

to

be

effective.

The

initial

chapter

offered

a

comparison

of

mortality

rates

during

1973

in

prisons

and

in

the

free

world.

The

homicide

rate

was

identical

in

terms

of

risk

of

mortality

overall.

The

federal

prisons

had

a

smaller

rate

of

mortality

than

did

state

prisons.

The

risk

of

death

by

accident

is

less

in

prison,

but

the

risk

of

death

by

suicide

appeared

to

be

twice

that

in

the

general

population.

Examination

of

the

characteristics

of

the

victims,

assailants,

and

circumstances

of

these

prison

homicides

allowed

the

authors

to

draw

several

conclusions.

Death

by

stabbing

by

a

single

inmate

assailant

was

the

most

probable

way

in

which

a

prison

homicide

would

occur.

These

homicides

seemed

primarily

motivated

by

personal

interactions

between

victim

and

assailant

(such

as

homosexual

activity,

argument,

or

debt).

Single-assailant

homicide

seemed

spontaneous.

Multiple-assailant

homicide

appeared

more

planned

and

related

to

the

social

order

of

prisons

(snitching,

gang

activity,

or

drug

traffic).