Download Mass Incarceration

Mass Imprisonment
and the Life Course
SOC 331
Population and Society
08.12.09
Mass Imprisonment
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
Imprisonment as Life Course Event
Trends in US incarceration rates
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

Levels
Crimes
Impacts on Demographic Outcomes



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Marriage and Family (Sykes)
Labor Market (Mark of a Criminal Record)
Health
Spatial Inequality and Selective enforcement
The Study of the Life Course

Life Course Event



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Important seminal events often experience by a
large proportion of the population
The ordering of major life events
Example: Marriage, Labor Market Entry/Exit, First
birth
These events carry with them large
consequences for both those who engage in
them and avoid them
Contact with the Criminal
Justice System

Prison is fast becoming an event experienced
by an unprecedented number of individuals


Some groups disproportionately effected


Especially pronounced in the U.S.
If a certain segment of the population is
experiencing some event beyond what they
represent in the general population, they are said
to be disproportionately effected
Contact with the CJS has long lasting
impacts for these groups
Trends


The penal population has grown every year for the
last 36 years (AAAS) and the U.S. imprisons more
people than any other country in the world (China is
second)
Incarceration rates in the U.S. are among the
highest in the World


Canada and England/Wales - 1/5 of the U.S. rate
700/100,000 prisoners

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Canada 101/100,000
England/Wales 126/100,000
Change in incarceration rates
Incarceration Rates 1981-2001
800
700
500
United States
Canada
England
400
300
200
100
Year
Source: Boe 2004, Correctional Services of Canada
01
20
00
99
20
98
19
97
19
19
96
95
19
94
19
19
93
92
19
91
19
90
19
19
89
88
19
87
19
19
86
19
85
84
19
83
19
19
82
19
81
0
19
Rate per 100,000
600
Recent Updates on the
Number incarcerated
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According to the Department of Corrections
which uses the total population in the
denominator there are about 1 in 130 people
in prison
The Pew Center for State Studies which uses
only the adult population finds 1 in 100 are in
prison (2008)
Demography of U.S. prisons

Has impacted African American Men most
dramatically


Highly stratified by education
Incarceration rates are roughly 8 times higher
for black men than for whites

According to the Pew estimates:


1 in 36 Hispanic adult men is in prison
1 in 15 black men is in prison (for those aged 20-34 it
is 1 in 9)
Washington State
Prison Population: Washington State
90
80
70
Percentage
60
White
Black
Hispanic
NA Indian
Asian
Unknown/other
50
40
30
20
10
0
WA State Prison Pop.
National Average
Populations
Source: Washington State Department of Corrections, Census 2000
WA State Pop.
Effect of Crime and Sentencing

Most prisoners are there for non-violent drug crime
which explains a large amount of the growth in the
prison population
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60% of Federal prisoners are drug offenders (Pettit and
Western 2004)
40% of state prisoners are drug/property offenders
Until recently drug penalties were harsher for crack
than for powder cocaine

Any racial disparity here may explain some of the
disproportional make-up of prison populations
Explaining the Boom
1.
2.
Criminal offending at the lower end of the
class hierarchy resulted from depletion of
economic opportunities (Freeman)
Alternatively some argue that punitive drug
policies are responsible by effected lowskilled men (Blumestein and Beck)
Demographic Outcomes

Marriage Market (Sykes)
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Lack of eligible men
Labor Market (Ridgeway)
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“Mark of a Criminal Record”
Those with criminal records are less likely to get a job
interview and this effect is worse for Black men.
 White men with a criminal record were more likely to get a
job interview than black men without
“Secondary Labor Market” – precarious and with few
benefits
Demographic Outcomes (Cont)
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Health

Prisoners have worse health on average than the
non-incarcerated population

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Effects last after prison as well?
A criminal drug offense often bars one from
benefits like TANF
Spatial Inequality
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“Selective Enforcement” (Cause and
Consequence?) - Link to punitive explanation
Integration more difficult
Demographic Outcomes (cont)
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Family
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A quarter of black children born in 1990 had a father in
prison before they were 14 (up from 13% in 1978)
Increases the likelihood of contact with the CJS for the
child
Political Participation
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Felon disenfranchisement – 48 of 50 states ban felons
from voting
4 million people without the right to vote and roughly 14%
of black men unable to vote
Invisible
Inequality/Punishment

Our understanding of various statistical
measures to track economic wellbeing is
clouded by not counting prison populations


Employment rates among those most likely to go
to prison are artificially inflated
Appears that economic expansion over the 1990s
helped to reduce economic wellbeing gaps but
after factoring in prison populations, there seems
to be little effect
Cost

National Association of State Budget Offices:
44 billion dollars on state corrections (2007)


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Up from 10.6 billion in 1987
A 127% increase when adjusted for inflation
Cost per prisoner vary by state but on
average it is about $24,000 annually (2005)

“Mass imprisonment among recent birth
cohorts of non-college black men challenges
us to include the criminal justice system
among the key institutional influences on
American social inequality.” (Pettit and
Western 2004)


What are some policies to address this issue?
What might be some barriers to instituting policies
to reduce contact with the criminal justice system?