SOCIO-PHYSICS BOOK
If you are looking for the most innovative, creative and progressive book on criminal justice and penology written within the past 25 years, look no further. This is it!
This book is the first (and only) to utilize scientific theories borrowed from biology and physics to gain greater insight into the behaviors of correctional officials, correctional institutions, and inmates. Readers will develop a greater understanding of why our criminal justice and penal systems are currently ineffective.
Attention is given to recidivism rates, prison specialization, peer pressure, the evolution of the prison, sub-atomic particles, thermodynamics, chaos theory, gravity, and prison expansion and contraction.
This interdisciplinary book is the first of its kind to apply socio-physics to criminal justice and penology.
Book Description
Using the natural sciences to examine social dynamics is not new. However, this is the first sustained attempt to apply this approach to the fields of criminal justice and penology.
The authors intend their new theoretical/conceptual framework to promote innovative, creative and critical thought.
In this revised/expanded edition, particular attention is paid to the manner in which each chapter builds then transitions to the next. Updated data/statistics are used throughout. Two additional chapters have been included. These chapters contribute substantially to the position that social and natural systems are comparable.
Excerpt from page 192 - "It appears clear then that there is a rubber band effect observable within the social realm. A rubber band can only be stretched so far, a universe can expand only so much, and a prison can grow only so large before a situation is created that may result in disaster."
Chapter One - The Prison: An Institution in Crisis
Chapter Two - A Living Organism
Chapter Three - Evolutionary Science
Chapter Four - Sub-atomic Particles and Prisoners
Chapter Five - Thermodynamics and Newtonian Motion
Chapter Six - Chaos Theory
Chapter Seven - Applying Humanized Physics to Penology
Chapter Eight - Prison Specialization and Offender Amenability
Chapter Nine - Literary Equations
Chapter Ten - Ich Bin Feuer und Flamme Dafur
About Us
Managing Editor - International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences
Curtis R. Blakely, Associate Professor - Truman State University, holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the University of Nebraska, a specialist degree from the University of Central Missouri and a doctorate from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Curtis has served as a probation/parole officer for the State of Missouri, was a classification specialist for the New Mexico Department of Corrections, and has served as a police training specialist for the Union Pacific Railroad Police Department and for Eastern Kentucky University's Regional Community Policing Institute.
Curtis has written several books including Socio-Physics: Applying the Natural Sciences to Criminal Justice and Penology Revised/Expanded Edition (2017) and Socio-Physics: Applying the Natural Sciences to Criminal Justice and Penology (2016) each of which were co-authored with his wife Dr. Michelle Blakely; Prisons, Penology and Penal Reform: An Introduction to Institutional Specialization (2007); and America’s Prisons: The Movement toward Profit and Privatization (2005). Additional publications include What Podolsky, Einstein and Others Have Taught Me About Greatness (Socrates, 2016); Sub-Atomic Particles and Prisoners: A Novel Examination of Socio-Physics and Penology (IJCJS, 2011); Bio-Penology: The Protean Approach co-authored with former student Alice Walkley (L.A.E. Journal, 2010); and A Physicist, a Philosopher and a Politician: What Penologists can Learn from Einstein, Kant and Churchill also co-authored with Alice Walkley (IJC, 2010).
Editorial Board Member – Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy (RSAP)
and Innovations in Pharmacy (Science Section)
Michelle Blakely, Director of Disability Services - Truman State University, holds a Ph.D. in Social and Behavioral Sciences and a M.Ed. in Counseling from Auburn University. Michelle graduated Summa Cum Laude with Psychology Departmental Honors from the University of South Alabama. She is a Motivational Interviewing expert and has extensive experience teaching MI to a variety of health care professionals including physicians, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, case managers, and counselors. Michelle is also an active scholar, having authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and an interdisciplinary book (Socio-Physics: Applying the Natural Sciences to Criminal Justice and Penology, Revised/Expanded Edition, 2017) that combines the natural and social sciences to increase our understanding of human behavior.
Michelle was faculty at the University of Connecticut (UConn) in the Department of Pharmacy Practice before her arrival at Truman. While at UConn, her fields of specialization included social and behavioral sciences, communications, and patient health care. Michelle has delivered lectures at Yale-New Haven Hospital (Yale University), the Lincoln Medical Center (NYC), and Virginia Commonwealth University.
Other presentations were delivered to audiences at the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Annual Meetings and Seminars and the American Pharmacists Association Annual Conferences.
Selected Publications
Socio-Physics: Applying the Natural Sciences to Criminal Justice and Penology (2016)
What Podolsky, Einstein and Others Have Taught Me About Greatness (Socrates, 2016)
Sub-Atomic Particles and Prisoners: A Novel Examination of Socio-Physics and Penology (IJCJS, 2011)
Bio-Penology: The Protean Approach (L.A.E. Journal, 2010)
A Physicist, a Philosopher and a Politician: What Penologists can Learn from Einstein, Kant and Churchill (IJC, 2010)
Prisons, Penology and Penal Reform: An Introduction to Institutional Specialization (2007)
America’s Prisons: The Movement toward Profit and Privatization (2005)