Issues and Misconceptions in Prisoner Litigation

A Critical View

Bibliographic Data

ID9681588
AuthorsJim Thomas (Northern Illinois University, corresponding author), DEVIN KEELER (Northern Illinois University, corresponding author), Kathy Harris (Northern Illinois University, corresponding author)
Year1986
Volume24
Issue4
Pages775-797
Publication date1986-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCriminology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0011-1384 • E-ISSN: 1745-9125
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1745-9125.1986.tb01511.x
OpenAlexW2041552481
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited10

In the past quarter‐century, the number of suits filed by prisoners in federal courts has substantially increased. Critics have borrowed metaphors from ballistics or pathologv to describe this increase as an “epidemic” of “legal pollution” or an “explosion.” The causes of this “hyperlexis,” or excessive litigation, are often attributed to prisoners' attempts to retry their cases once they have lost, or to some psychological attribute of plaintiffs who view litigation as a means of striking back at their keepers. This paper examines several common conceptions of prisoner litigation. National ling data from federal district courts are used to assess the merits of each. The data provide little support for many of the conceptions of and explanations for prisoner suits. It is suggested that prisoners' use of courts may be a form of social resistance to conditions for which there is no other legitimate avenue for relief

Criminology · Plaintiff · Political science · Quarter (Canadian coin · Resistance (ecology · Sociology · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis · History · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Legal Education and Practice Innovations · Psychology

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