"Crime is one of the most pressing issues facing contemporary society. While the fear of crime is currently at an all-time high, uncertainty exists as to how the criminal justice systems should deal with the offender. In recent years public institutions have increasingly embraced a punitive approach, as evidenced in higher incarceration rates and longer prison sentences. Yet little evidence exists to show that this approach improves the public's long-term safety. This book suggests that the way to reduce expenditures and decrease recidivism rates is through prison specialization, and a hybrid correctional system under which the public prison retains those offenders who warrant elevated levels of security, while the private sector houses and treats the more malleable offenders and shields them from the corrupting influence of prisoners who seek to disrupt treatment processes."--BOOK JACKET.