Mass Incarceration and Crime PDF

MASS INCARCERATION AND CRIME Roadmap What is mass incarceration? What role did crime play in the rise of mass incarceration? Next class: What role did mass incarceration play in the U.S. crime decline? The Contemporary American Penal System Incarceration Local Jail – Misdemeanor, s...

MASS INCARCERATION AND CRIME Roadmap What is mass incarceration? What role did crime play in the rise of mass incarceration? Next class: What role did mass incarceration play in the U.S. crime decline? The Contemporary American Penal System Incarceration Local Jail – Misdemeanor, sentences under one year; awaiting court action 734,500 Prison – Felony, sentences over one year 1,430,200 2,164,700 Community Supervision Probation – In lieu of incarceration 3,492,900 Parole – Conditional release from incarceration 878,900 4,371,800 Total Correctional Supervision 6,536,500 Source: U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (2018), Correctional Populations in the U.S., 2020 (2019 data) Mass Imprisonment What are the defining characteristics of mass imprisonment (Garland 2001)? Sheer abnormal size: “mass imprisonment implies a rate of imprisonment and a size of prison population that is markedly above the historical and comparative norm for societies of this type.” Social concentration of effects: “the systematic imprisonment of whole groups of the population.” Specifically: young, Black, non-college men in large urban centers. Social position: age, race, class, & gender (+ geography). Mass Imprisonment What are the defining characteristics of mass imprisonment (Garland 2001)? Sheer abnormal size: “mass imprisonment implies a rate of imprisonment and a size of prison population that is markedly above the historical and comparative norm for societies of this type.” Social concentration of effects: “the systematic imprisonment of whole groups of the population.” Specifically: young, Black, non-college men in large urban centers. Social position: age, race, class, & gender (+ geography). At peak rates, 1 in 3 Black men aged 20-29 were under correctional supervision. Historical trends in U.S. incarceration  International comparative perspective Source: Prison Policy Initiative, 2018  State variation Top 5 (2016) Louisiana, 695 Oklahoma, 693 Mississippi, 626 Arkansas, 589 Arizona, 559 Bottom 5 (2016) Vermont, 187 Minnesota, 179 Rhode Island, 158 Massachusetts, 145 Maine, 135 Source: The Sentencing Project  California Texas Florida New York Numbers in context: Illinois Pennsylvania Ohio Georgia What if the population North Carolina Michigan New Jersey under correctional Virginia Washington Supervision Arizona supervision were a Massachusetts Indiana Tennessee Missouri state? Maryland Wisconsin Minnesota Colorado South Carolina Alabama Louisiana Kentucky Oregon Oklahoma Connecticut Iowa Utah Mississippi Arkansas Kansas Nevada Incarcerated New Mexico Nebraska West Virginia Idaho Hawaii New Hampshire Maine Rhode Island Montana Delaware South Dakota North Dakota Alaska Vermont Wyoming 0! 5,000,000! 10,000,000! 15,000,000! 20,000,000! 25,000,000! 30,000,000! 35,000,000! 40,000,000! 9,000,000 Numbers in context: 8,000,000 What if the population 7,000,000 under correctional 6,000,000 supervision were a city? 5,000,000 4,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 0 se s o io a n go es on k ix d lla r eg hi to n te Yo en Jo el ica isi to lp us Da Di ra ng rv de o An w n Ch Ho ce Ph n pe Sa sA Ne ila Sa r n ca Su Sa Ph Lo In  Lo s 0 500,000 1,000,000 1,500,000 2,000,000 2,500,000 3,000,000 3,500,000 4,000,000 4,500,000 An ge le Sa s n D ie go Sa C n or Sa Jo re n se ct Fr io a nc na lS is up co er vi si o n C or re ct C io hi na ca lS g o up er vi si o n Au ro ra R oc kf or d Jo lie t H ou Sa st on n An to n io C D or al re la ct s io na Au lS st up in er vi si o n footprint at the state level? Ja ck so C nv or ille re ct io M na ia lS m up i ev is io n Ta m pa O rl a nd o Numbers in context: how big is the penal system’s Social concentration of effects Cumulative Risk of Imprisonment by 1979, 1999 by Birth Cohort (Western 2006) Did crime cause mass incarceration? Observations: U.S. Violent Crime and Imprisonment Rates per 100,000 Imprisonment rates started climbing about a decade 800 after crime rates. 700 Both crime and imprisonment 600 generally increased from mid-70s to early 90s. 500 400 But, between the early 70s and late 90s, imprisonment growth was steady; 300 crime rates were not. 200 Crime rates began declining in 1991 100 and kept declining for two decades. 0 But, imprisonment kept growing 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 through the 1990s and 2000s. Violent Crime Rate Imprisonment Rate Did crime cause mass incarceration? Takeaways: U.S. Violent Crime and Imprisonment Rates per 100,000 Crime rates and imprisonment rates are only loosely related. 800 700 This relationship depends on the time period. 600 Crime and imprisonment rates rose 500 (roughly) together until 1991 400 Afterward, they decoupled: crime 300 declined and imprisonment grew. 200 This is strong evidence against the 100 idea that crime alone caused mass incarceration. 0 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 Violent Crime Rate Imprisonment Rate Source: Tonry 1999 Source: Tonry 1999 If alone crime is not the culprit, what is? “American imprisonment rates did not rise simply because crime rates rose. They rose because American politicians wanted them to rise” (Tonry 1999). A distinct set of punitive policies and practices drove mass incarceration. This we know. Why we adopted those policies is a long story. But, a combination of: Racial politics Partisan competition Crime as context for later punitive laws If alone crime is not the culprit, what is? Examples of policies? States that have: 1980 1990 2000 Sentencing guidelines 2 10 17 Abolished, limited parole 17 21 33 Three-strikes laws 0 0 24 Truth-in-sentencing laws 3 7 40 Adapted from Western (2006) Bringing it all together: what is the role of crime in the rise of mass incarceration? It depends on the time period. High crime rates helped raise imprisonment rates between the mid-1970s and 1991. But from the 1990s through present, crime and imprisonment have become largely disconnected. The 1990s were an especially punitive decade – these harsh policies replaced rising crime rates as the driver of mass incarceration.