Decarceration: Community Treatment and the Deviant - A Radical View

Decarceration examines the 1960s-70s movement to close mental hospitals and shift treatment of deviant populations into community settings. The book analyzes this major transformation in social control and institutional care through a historical and sociological lens. Drawing on extensive research in California and England, Scull investigates the economic, political and social forces that drove decarceration policies. He documents the roles of various stakeholders including government officials, medical professionals, reformers, and community organizations. The analysis traces how mental health treatment evolved from asylum-based care to a decentralized model, assessing both intended and unintended consequences. Scull examines the practical challenges of implementing community-based treatment programs and the impact on patients, families, and society. This work raises fundamental questions about social responses to deviance and the relationship between institutional power and reform movements. Through its systematic examination of decarceration, the book illuminates broader patterns in how societies manage and treat marginalized populations.

This book appears to have limited online reader reviews or ratings, with no entries on Goodreads or Amazon, making it difficult to compile a comprehensive summary of reader reception. As a 1977 academic text on prison reform and deinstitutionalization, most discussion comes from scholarly citations rather than consumer reviews. The main reader feedback comes from academic reviewers who noted: Liked: - Clear analysis of mental health deinstitutionalization failures - Historical documentation of community treatment programs - Strong critique of cost-cutting motivations behind reforms Disliked: - Dated examples and statistics - Dense academic writing style - Limited practical solutions offered No public star ratings or review counts could be found on major book platforms. The book appears to be primarily referenced in academic papers and sociology course syllabi rather than reviewed by general readers. Note: Given the scarcity of public reader reviews, this summary relies on limited academic sources and may not represent broader reader perspectives.

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🔷 Andrew Scull wrote this groundbreaking 1977 book while teaching at the University of Pennsylvania, challenging conventional wisdom about mental health care reform and deinstitutionalization policies. 🔷 The book was one of the first major works to critically examine how economic factors, rather than humanitarian concerns, drove the movement to close mental hospitals in the mid-20th century. 🔷 Scull's research revealed that many patients released from mental institutions ended up homeless or in prisons, leading him to coin the term "transinstitutionalization" to describe this shift. 🔷 The work predicted many of the problems that would emerge from rapid deinstitutionalization, including the criminalization of mental illness and the inadequacy of community-based treatment resources. 🔷 The book's arguments remain relevant today, as the United States prison system has become the largest provider of mental health services in the country, housing more mentally ill individuals than psychiatric hospitals.