The sample population responded to a questionnaire asking them whether they intended to conform to society's norms in the future and whether their prison term had improved their attitude toward the law. In addition, previous criminal records of the sample population were studied to determine recidivist offenders. The recidivism rates argued against the effectiveness of incarceration since one third of the inmates had committed previous offenses. On the other hand, 87 percent of the sample affirmed that they would respect society's laws in the future, and, according to 85 percent, this attitude had been brought about by their prison term. The study concludes that the prison term may be effective for negligence offenders, but that additional research is required, especially since 50 percent of the offenders also claimed that their punishment had been undeserved. Some bibliographical footnotes appended