Prisoners' Rights The Supreme Court and Evolving Standards of Decency

Subjects:

• Law » Constitutional Law
• Law » Legal History
• Political Science » Public Policy
• Crime & Justice » Corrections & Penology

Reviews:

• Fliter offers a rich and substantive framework within which to reflect meaningfully about society's need to ensure fundamental human rights even to those who have violated fundamental human and legal rights. Highly recommended for all libraries.
  —Choice December 2001
• Fliter's book is nothing less than successful. The author's dual contribution to the study of constitutional law and judicial politics make this essential background reading for students facing doctoral exams in public law. Each chapter is impeccably referenced and the essential features of each Supreme Court decision are immediately apparent.
  —The Law and Politics Book Review

• Endorsement From Christopher E. Smith
  Professor of Criminal Justice
  Michigan State University: Generations of scholars have studied legal change--and, in so doing, have brought a multitude of perspectives to bear on it, from the doctrinal and jurisprudential to the behavioral and institutional. And, yet, for all their differences, many of the resulting studies share a common feature: a focus on highly salient and controversial areas of law. As Professor Fliter reminds us, if we are to develop a fuller appreciation of the subject, we must move beyond the salient and controversial areas of the law that some regard as less interesting and exciting. Prisoners' rights is one, and Fliter does a masterful job in exploring and explaining the profound--and, yes, fascinating--legal changes that have occurred over the last 200 years.
• Endorsement From Lee Epstein
  Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor of Political Science
  Professor of Law
  Washington University: Prisoners' Rights: The Supreme Court and Evolving Standards of Decency provides a valuable account of the development of constitutional rights in the context of corrections. Professor Fliter has carefully drawn together material on the U.S. Supreme Court's involvement in shaping prisoners' rights and placed that material within the analytical framework of political scientists' studies on judicial decision making and policy making. This book will be a useful resource for anyone interested in the U.S. Supreme Court, judicial policy making, or corrections law.

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• Introduction
• Federal Courts, Politics, and Prisoners' Rights
• Law, Politics, and Strategy in Supreme Court Decision Making
• Early Court Decisions and Prisoners' Rights
• The Warren Court and Prisoners' Rights, 1953-1969
• The Burger Court and Prisoners' Rights, 1969-1986
• The Rehnquist Court and Prisoners' Rights, 1986-Present
• Prisoners' Rights, the Supreme Court, and Evolving Standards of Decency
• Bibliography
• Index