Keith Soothill's Books

The Prisoner's Release

A Study of the Employment of Ex-Prisoners

By: Keith Soothill

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The Prisoner's Release

A Study of the Employment of Ex-Prisoners

By: Keith Soothill

For well over one hundred years society had considered ways of helping prisoners on their release from prison, but there had been no serious attempt to assess in a scientific manner the value of such efforts. Originally published in 1974, this book broke with this tradition and was the first full-scale work published in this country evaluating carefully whether an active policy of finding suitable employment for men immediately on their release from prison had beneficial results. The first part of the book discusses the historical development of prison after-care from its early origins in the nineteenth century and indicates how, up to the Second World War, the primary object of after-care had been regarded as the reinstatement of the ex-prisoners in employment. Gradually the specific task of finding jobs for ex-prisoners had become a peripheral activity considered as the responsibility of the Department of Employment. The effectiveness of the Department’s pre-release procedure for prisoners is discussed. The rest of the book considers the fascinating Apex project set up to examine the effectiveness of finding work for ex-prisoners. The work of Apex continued to develop and expand, but the present study considers the first five years when over four hundred men were randomly selected from two London prisons and offered the services of a specialist employment agency. The outcome for these men is compared with a control group of over three hundred men randomly selected from the same prisons. This study is concerned with the general run of the prison population and interestingly shows how some prisoners accept and others reject the offer of an employment service. It further indicates the enormous efforts sometimes needed to find suitable employment for prisoners on release. The outcome of the job interviews, arranged in terms of the proportions attending the interviews, starting the jobs and the length of time men stayed in the jobs arranged, is vital reading for anyone involved in after-care. An important part of the work is the examination of the subsequent reconviction rates for the various groups of offenders and the implication that it seems possible to predict men who are unlikely to be helped by the simple provision of employment on release. The final chapter considers critically some of the assumptions upon which the Apex project was based, and the possible use of computer techniques in the individualization of treatment is briefly discussed. The author was particularly well qualified to discuss this subject, for, apart from his work over a number of years with several after-care organizations, the present project involved working in prisons for over three years as well as interviewing and talking to men after their release. The findings of this study will interest the wide variety of people concerned with prison after-care. Criminologists, sociologists, probation officers and all others working in prisons and after-care will recognize the important implications of the material presented in this book.

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Page Count

275

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Published Date

ISBN 10

1000968138

ISBN 13

9781000968132

Selfless Offspring

Filial Children and Social Order in Medieval China

By: Keith N. Knapp

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Selfless Offspring

Filial Children and Social Order in Medieval China

By: Keith N. Knapp

Both Western and Chinese intellectuals have long derided filial piety tales as an absurd and grotesque variety of children’s literature. Selfless Offspring offers a fresh perspective on the genre, revealing the rich historical worth of these stories by examining them in their original context: the tumultuous and politically fragmented early medieval era (A.D. 100–600). At a time when no Confucian virtue was more prized than filial piety, adults were moved and inspired by tales of filial children. The emotional impact of even the most outlandish actions portrayed in the stories was profound, a measure of the directness with which they spoke to major concerns of the early medieval Chinese elite. In a period of weak central government and powerful local clans, the key to preserving a household’s privileged status was maintaining a cohesive extended family. Keith Knapp begins this far-ranging and persuasive study by describing two related historical trends that account for the narrative’s popularity: the growth of extended families and the rapid incursion of Confucianism among China’s learned elite. Extended families were better at maintaining their status and power, so patriarchs found it expedient to embrace Confucianism to keep their large, fragile households intact. Knapp then focuses on the filial piety stories themselves—their structure, historicity, origin, function, and transmission—and argues that most stem from the oral culture of these elite extended families. After examining collections of filial piety tales, known as Accounts of Filial Children, he shifts from text to motif, exploring the most common theme: the "reverent care" and mourning of parents. In the final chapter, Knapp looks at the relative burden that filiality placed on men and women and concludes that, although women largely performed the same filial acts as men, they had to go to greater extremes to prove their sincerity.

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Page Count

312

Publisher

University of Hawaii Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0824874552

ISBN 13

9780824874551

The Civil Service

By: Keith Dowding

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The Civil Service

By: Keith Dowding

Radical reforms of the civil service during the 1980s and 90s have broken up the old unified hierarchical structures. In their place are peripheral agencies concerned with policy implementation and a central core comcerned with policy-making. The radical reforms are described and assessed in terms of the public choice and public management theories which underpin them. Bureau-maximizing and bureau-shaping models are used to predict the directions we should expect the reforms to take and their likely success. The key central chapter of the book examines the equivocal use of the term "efficiency" used to justify the managerial changes. This is the first textbook which critically examines theories of bureaucracy together with an introductory and descriptive account of the civil service today.

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Page Count

220

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1134903804

ISBN 13

9781134903801

The Sociology of Work

Introduction

By: Keith Grint

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The Sociology of Work

Introduction

By: Keith Grint

The third edition of this best-selling textbook has been carefully revised to provide an up-to-date, indispensable introduction to the sociology of work. It not only includes clear explanations of classic theories and evidence, but also covers the most cutting-edge research, data, and debates. In addition to being revised throughout, the book contains substantive new sections on globalisation, including global branding and slave labour, and a new chapter on the myths and realities of modern employment. Chapter-by-chapter, Keith Grint examines different sociological approaches to work, emphasising the links between social processes, the institutions of employment, and their social and domestic contexts. His use of an international range of empirical evidence helps to make his account especially accessible to undergraduate readers. The book has been specially designed to support students’ understanding, and to develop their critical responses to the literature. Written in a lively and accessible style, it provides student-friendly chapter summaries, suggestions for further reading, a glossary and practice essay questions. This third edition will be essential reading for students of the sociology of work, industrial sociology, organisational behaviour and industrial relations. Students studying business and management courses with a sociological component will also find the book invaluable.

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Page Count

472

Publisher

Polity

Published Date

ISBN 10

0745632505

ISBN 13

9780745632506

Understanding Criminal Careers

By: Keith Soothill,Claire Fitzpatrick,Brian Francis

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Understanding Criminal Careers

By: Keith Soothill,Claire Fitzpatrick,Brian Francis

This is an accessible text which clarifies the crucial theoretical and methodological debates surrounding the study of criminal careers looking at the issues of prediction, risk and specialisation

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Page Count

217

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1843925036

ISBN 13

9781843925033

The Developing Human

Clinically Oriented Embryology

By: Keith L. Moore,T. V. N. Persaud

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The Developing Human

Clinically Oriented Embryology

By: Keith L. Moore,T. V. N. Persaud

A medical text on human prenatal development, filled with more than five hundred color photos, photomicrographs, and three-dimensional figures, covering the development of the various body parts and systems, birth defects, molecular biology, teratology, and other related topics, with case studies and clinically oriented problems and annotated answers.

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