1932

Abstract

Incarceration rates in the United States are far higher than in the world's other Western democracies, so high that they are referred to as mass incarceration. After nearly 40 years of sustained growth in US incarceration rates, a broad consensus exists to bring them down. The Iron Law of Prison Populations directs attention to the fact that 51 different jurisdictional-level penal policies, rather than crime, drive incarceration rates, making systematic policy reform difficult. However, the fact that prison populations have already begun to decline, combined with the emerging public will to reduce incarceration and dropping age-specific incarceration rates, promotes optimism in the decarceration agenda. Three issues remain to be resolved: the eventual target rate of incarceration, what to do with people convicted of violent crimes, and how to avoid the distracting focus on reentry programming.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-052820-032924
2021-01-13
2024-03-29
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/criminol/4/1/annurev-criminol-052820-032924.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-052820-032924&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Aebi MF, Tiago MM. 2019. SPACE-2018: prison populations Rep., Counc. Eur Strasbourg, Fr: http://wp.unil.ch/space/files/2019/06/FinalReportSPACEI2018_190611-1.pdf
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Alexander M. 2012. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness New York: New Press
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Alper M, Durose MR, Markman J 2018. 2018 update on prisoner recidivism: a 9-year follow-up period (2005–2014) Spec. Rep., US Dep. Justice Washington, DC:
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Austin JF, Rosenfeld R, Clear TR 2019. Explaining the past and projecting future crime rates Rep., Harry Frank Guggenheim Found New York:
  5. Bernat F. 2019. Immigration and crime. Criminol. Crim. Justice. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.013.93
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  6. Blokland AJ, Nagin DS. 2012. Estimating the effects of imprisonment: intended and unintended consequences of incarceration. Incapacitation: Trends and New Perspectives M Malsch, M Duker 221–36 Farnham, UK: Ashgate
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Blumstein A, Beck AJ. 1999. Population growth in US prisons, 1980–1996. Crime Justice 26:17–61
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Blumstein A, Beck AJ. 2012. Trends in U.S. incarceration rates (1980–2010) Presentation at the National Research Council Committee on Causes and Consequences of High Rates of Incarceration Washington, DC:
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Blumstein A, Cohen J. 1973. A theory of the stability of punishment. J. Crim. Law Criminol. 64:198–207
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Bradach JL. 2003. Going to scale: the challenge of replicating social programs. Stanford Soc. Innov. Rev. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/going_to_scale
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Bronson J, Carson EA. 2019. Prisoners in 2017 Rep. NCJ 252156, Bur. Justice Stat., US Dep. Justice Washington, DC: https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p17.pdf
  12. Bur. Justice Stat. 2020. Publications & products: prisoners. Bureau of Justice Statistics https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbse&sid=40
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Bushway SD. 2020. The beginning of the end of mass incarceration Keynote address to the Endogenous Rules, Risk, and Legal Institutions Workshop Claremont Grad. Coll: Febr. 21, 2020
  14. Campbell MC, Schoenfeld H. 2013. The transformation of America's penal order: a historicized political sociology of punishment. Am. J. Soc. 118:1375–423
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Carson EA. 2020. Prisoners in 2018 Rep. NCJ 253516, Bur. Justice Stat., US Dep Justice Washington, DC: https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p18.pdf
  16. Chaiken J, Chaiken M, Rhodes W 1994. Predicting violent behavior and classifying violent offenders. Understanding and Preventing Violence, Vol. 4: Consequences and Control AJ Reiss, JA Roth 217–95 Washington, DC: Natl. Acad. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Clear TR. 2007. Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse New York: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Clear TR, Frost NA. 2013. The Punishment Imperative: The Rise and Failure of Mass Incarceration in America New York: NYU Press
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Clear TR, Frost NA. 2020. Coercive mobility in an era of declining prison populations. Criminal Justice Theory: Explanations and Effects C Chouhy, JC Cochran, CL Jonson 187–98 Adv. Criminol. Theory Vol. 26 New York: Routledge
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Clear TR, Reisig M. 2018. American Corrections Boston: Cengage, 13th ed..
  21. della Cava M. 2020. New, more progressive prosecutors are angering police, who warn approach will lead to chaos. USA Today Febr. 8. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/02/08/criminal-justice-police-progressive-prosecutors-battle-over-reform/4660796002/
    [Google Scholar]
  22. DiIulio JJ. 1995. The coming of the super-predators. The Weekly Standard Novemb. 27: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/the-coming-of-the-super-predators
    [Google Scholar]
  23. DiIulio JJ. 1996. Who really goes to prison in Wisconsin? Rep., Wis. Policy Res. Inst Milwaukee:
  24. Dowden C, Andrews DA. 2000. Effective correctional treatment and violent reoffending: a meta-analysis. Can. J. Criminol. 42:449–67
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Fowler M. 2020. Evangelicals support prison reform in theory, but less in practice. Christianity Today Jan. 15. https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/january/evangelical-prison-fellowship-criminal-justice-reform-barna.html
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Frost NA. 2006. The Punitive State: Crime, Punishment, and Imprisonment Across the United States New York: LFB Sch. Publ.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Ghandnoosh N. 2019. U.S. prison population trends: massive buildup and modest decline Rep., Sentencing Proj Washington, DC: https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/u-s-prison-population-trends-massive-buildup-and-modest-decline/
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Gottschalk M. 2014. Caught: The Prison State and the Lockdown of American Politics Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Hare RD. 1998. The Hare PCL-R: some issues concerning its use and misuse. Leg. Criminol. Psychol. 3:101–22
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Hatch A, Gerstein T. 2020. Re-envisioning the roles of prosecutors and attorneys general to make the justice system work for everyone. Stanford Social Innovation Review https://ssir.org/articles/entry/re_envisioning_the_roles_of_prosecutors_and_attorneys_general_to_make_the_justice_system_work_for_everyone
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Ill. State Comm. Crim. Justice Sentencing Reform. 2017. Final reports I and II Rep., Ill. State Comm. Crim. Justice Sentencing Reform Springfield, IL:
  32. Lewis CS. 2012 (1940). The Problem of Pain London: Collins
  33. MacKenzie DL. 2006. What Works in Corrections: Reducing the Criminal Activities of Offenders and Delinquents New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Mann S. 2018. Crime and the media in America. OUPblog April 5. https://blog.oup.com/2018/04/crime-news-media-america/
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Mears DP, Cochran JC, Bales WD, Bhati AS 2016. Recidivism and time served in prison. Criminology 106:83–106
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Natl. Advis. Comm. Crim. Justice Stand. Goals. 1973. Corrections Rep., US Gov. Print. Off Washington, DC:
  37. Natl. Comm. Law Enforc. Adm. Justice. 1967. The challenge of crime in a free society Rep., US Gov. Print. Off Washington, DC:
  38. Nellis A, Mauer M. 2018. The Meaning of Life: The Case for Abolishing Life Sentences New York: New Press
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Off. Juv. Justice Delinquency Prev. 2020. Juvenile arrest rate trends Rep., Off. Juv. Justice Delinquency Prev Washington, DC: https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/crime/JAR_Display.asp?ID=qa05201
  40. Porter LC, Bushway S, Tsao HS, Smith HL 2016. How the US prison boom has changed the age distribution of the prison population. Criminology 54:30–55
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Prendergast ML, Pearson ML, Podus D, Hamilton ZK, Greenwell L 2013. The Andrews’ Principles of Risk, Need, and Responsivity as applied in drug abuse treatment programs: meta-analysis of crime and drug use outcomes. J. Exp. Criminol. 9:275–300
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Prison Fellowsh. 2020. Justice reform Rep., Prison Fellowsh Washington, DC: https://www.prisonfellowship.org/about/justice-reform/#
  43. Raphael S, Stoll M. 2013. Why Are So Many Americans in Prison? New York: Russell-Sage
  44. Reitz KR 2017. American Exceptionalism in Crime and Punishment New York: Oxford Univ. Press
  45. Rhodes W, Gaes GG, Kling R, Cutler C 2018. Relationship between prison length of stay and recidivism: a study using regression discontinuity and instrumental variables with multiple break points. Criminol. Public Policy 17:731–69
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Sawyer W. 2019. Youth confinement: the whole pie 2019. Prison Policy Initiative Dec. 19. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/youth2019.html
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Schindler M, Ziedenberg J. 2016. Violent crime shouldn't be left out of prison reform debate. The Hill Sept. 12. https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/crime/295217-violent-crime-shouldnt-be-left-out-of-prison-reform-debate
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Sentencing Proj. 2018. Policy brief: Can we wait 75 years to cut the prison population in half? Rep., Sentencing Proj Washington, DC: https://www.sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Can-we-wait-75-years-to-cut-the-prison-population-in-half.pdf?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=ca1c01c1-4a87-47eb-afa8-e1964a5b832e
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Sered D. 2019. Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair New York: New Press
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Sharkey P. 2018. Uneasy Peace: The Great Crime Decline, the Renewal of City Life, and the Next War on Violence New York: WW Norton
    [Google Scholar]
  51. Shen Y, Bushway SD, Sorenson L, Smith HL 2020. Locking up my generation: cohort differences in prison spells over the life course. Criminology https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12256
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  52. Simon J. 2009. Governing Through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear New York: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Snodgrass GM, Blokland AAJ, Haviland A, Nieuwbeerta P, Nagin DS 2011. Does the time cause the crime: an examination of the relationship between time served and reoffending in the Netherlands. Criminology 49:1149–94
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Spelman W. 1994. Criminal Incapacitation New York: Springer
  55. Stone C. 2014. Ending mass incarceration. Open Society Foundations Novemb. 7. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/ending-mass-incarceration
    [Google Scholar]
  56. Tonry M. 2014. A ten-step blueprint for moving past incarceration. Criminol. Public Policy 13:503–33
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Travis J, Western B, Redburn S 2014. The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences Washington, DC: Natl. Acad. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Unit. Univers. Assoc. 2005. Criminal justice and prison reform Soc. Justice Statement Unit. Univers. Assoc. Boston, MA: https://www.uua.org/action/statements/criminal-justice-and-prison-reform
  59. Wacquant L. 2009. Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity Durham, NC: Duke Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Walmsley R. 2018. World Prison Population List London: Inst. Crim. Policy Res, 12th. ed. https://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/wppl_12.pdf
  61. Western B. 2006. Punishment and Inequality in America New York: Russell-Sage
  62. Wilson JQ. 1975. Thinking About Crime New York: Basic Books
  63. World Popul. Rev. 2020. Crime rate by country 2020 Rep., World Popul. Rev Walnut, CA: http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/crime-rate-by-country/#dataTable
  64. Zedlewski E. 1987. Making confinement decisions Res. Brief., Natl. Inst. Justice Washington, DC:
  65. Zgoba K, Clear TR. 2020. A review of the reality of violent criminal offending and the administration of justice. Crim. Justice Policy. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0887403420919471
    [Google Scholar]
  66. Zimring FE. 2017. The complications of penal federalism: American exceptionalism or fifty different countries?. American Exceptionalism in Crime and Punishment KR Reitz 181–93 New York: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-052820-032924
Loading
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-criminol-052820-032924
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error