Mass Incarceration Mass Incarceration Glenn C. Loury Brown University Brown University March 2010 Presentation based on data provided by Bruce Western of Harvard University
Mass Imprisonment David Garland (2001, 1) defines mass imprisonment: . . . a rate of imprisonment. . . that is markedly above the historical and comparative norm for societies of this type. . . [imprisonment] ceases to be the incarceration of individual offenders and becomes the systematic imprisonment of whole groups of the population.
Mass Imprisonment David Garland (2001, 1) defines mass imprisonment: . . . a rate of imprisonment. . . that is markedly above the historical and comparative norm for societies of this type. . . [imprisonment] ceases to be the incarceration of individual offenders and becomes the systematic imprisonment of whole groups of the population.
Incarceration in Western Europe, 2001 UK 126 Germany 96 N'lands 95 Italy 95 Austria 85 Belgium 85 France 77 Sweden 68 Denmark 59 0 0 200 200 400 400 600 600 Incarceration Rate (per 100,000)
Incarceration in Western Europe and the US, 2001 USA 686 UK 126 Germany 96 N'lands 95 Italy 95 Austria 85 Belgium 85 France 77 Sweden 68 Denmark 59 0 0 200 200 400 400 600 600 Incarceration Rate (per 100,000)
US Imprisonment Rate, 1925−1972 500 400 Prisoners per 100,000 300 200 ●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● ● 100 ● 1940 1960 1980 2000
US Imprisonment Rate, 1925−2006 500 ● ●●●●● ● ●● ● ● ● 400 ● Prisoners per 100,000 ● ● ● 300 ● ● ● ● ● 200 ● ● ● ● ● ●●● ● ●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● ● ● 100 ●● ● 1940 1960 1980 2000
US Imprisonment Rate, 1925−2006 500 ● ●●●●● In 2007: ● ●● ● * 1.5m in prison ● ● 400 ● Prisoners per 100,000 ● ● ● 300 ● ● ● ● ● 200 ● ● ● ● ● ●●● ● ●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● ● ● 100 ●● ● 1940 1960 1980 2000
US Imprisonment Rate, 1925−2006 500 ● ●●●●● In 2007: ● ●● ● * 1.5m in prison ● ● 400 * 780,000 in jail ● Prisoners per 100,000 ● ● ● 300 ● ● ● ● ● 200 ● ● ● ● ● ●●● ● ●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● ● ● 100 ●● ● 1940 1960 1980 2000
US Imprisonment Rate, 1925−2006 500 ● ●●●●● In 2007: ● ●● ● * 1.5m in prison ● ● 400 * 780,000 in jail ● Prisoners per 100,000 * 800,000 on parole ● ● ● 300 ● ● ● ● ● 200 ● ● ● ● ● ●●● ● ●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● ● ● 100 ●● ● 1940 1960 1980 2000
US Imprisonment Rate, 1925−2006 500 ● ●●●●● In 2007: ● ●● ● * 1.5m in prison ● ● 400 * 780,000 in jail ● Prisoners per 100,000 * 800,000 on parole ● ● * 4.2m on probation ● 300 ● ● ● ● ● 200 ● ● ● ● ● ●●● ● ●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● ● ● 100 ●● ● 1940 1960 1980 2000
Inmates per 100,000 0 0 10000 10000 20000 20000 30000 30000 40000 40000 214 All 750 2008 1980 Incarceration by Race and Education
Incarceration by Race and Education 40000 40000 1980 2008 30000 30000 Inmates per 100,000 20000 20000 11950 10000 10000 2350 650 1750 750 214 0 0 All Men 20−34 Men 20−34 <HS White
Incarceration by Race and Education 40000 40000 37150 1980 2008 30000 30000 Inmates per 100,000 20000 20000 11950 11430 10000 10000 10580 5240 2350 650 1750 750 214 0 0 All Men 20−34 Men 20−34 Men 20−34 Men 20−34 <HS <HS White Black
Men's Risk of Imprisonment by 30−34 70 70 1979 Cumulative Risk of Imprisonment (%) 60 60 50 50 40 40 30 30 20 20 14.7 12.1 9.0 10 10 4.2 1.8 1.2 0 0 All Non−college Dropouts All Non−college Dropouts Whites Blacks
Men's Risk of Imprisonment by 30−34 69.0 70 70 1979 2009 Cumulative Risk of Imprisonment (%) 60 60 50 50 40 40 35.7 30 30 20.7 20 20 15.3 14.7 12.1 9.0 10 10 6.3 4.2 3.3 1.8 1.2 0 0 All Non−college Dropouts All Non−college Dropouts Whites Blacks
US Imprisonment Rate, 1925−2006 500 ● ●●●●● In 2007: ● ●● ● ● ● 400 ● Prisoners per 100,000 ● ● ● 300 ● ● ● ● ● 200 ● ● ● ● ● ●●● ● ●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● ● ● 100 ●● ● 1940 1960 1980 2000
Imprisonment and the Life Course White and black men, born 1975–1979 experiencing a life event by 2009 (percent). Whites Blacks Marriage 68% 47% Bachelor’s Degree 34 17 Military Service 10 9 Imprisonment 5 27
Imprisonment and the Life Course White and black men, born 1975–1979 experiencing a life event by 2009 (percent). Whites Blacks Marriage 68% 47% Bachelor’s Degree 34 17 Military Service 10 9 Imprisonment 5 27
What Are the Implications for Inequality? Inequality created by incarceration is: ◮ Invisible ◮ Cumulative ◮ Intergenerational
What Are the Implications for Inequality? Inequality created by incarceration is: ◮ Invisible ◮ Cumulative ◮ Intergenerational
What Are the Implications for Inequality? Inequality created by incarceration is: ◮ Invisible ◮ Cumulative ◮ Intergenerational
What Are the Implications for Inequality? Inequality created by incarceration is: ◮ Invisible ◮ Cumulative ◮ Intergenerational
Invisible Inequality ◮ Inequality created by incarceration is invisible, because incarceration is concentrated and segregative , hidden from mainstream society ◮ Important for sociology: Incarceration is often overlooked in social accounting, and inequality is underestimated
Invisible Inequality ◮ Inequality created by incarceration is invisible, because incarceration is concentrated and segregative , hidden from mainstream society ◮ Important for sociology: Incarceration is often overlooked in social accounting, and inequality is underestimated
Employment Rate, Black Male Dropouts, 20−34 ● 60 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Percent Employed ● ● 50 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 40 30 CPS only ● ● 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Employment Rate, Black Male Dropouts, 20−34 ● 60 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Percent Employed ● ● 50 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 40 ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 30 ● ● ● ● CPS only ● ● ● ● ● Including incarcerated ● 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
Cumulative Inequality ◮ Inequality created by incarceration diminishes the economic status of those whose employment and wage rates are already very low ◮ Panel data estimates show that incarceration reduces earnings by about 40% ◮ Experimental evidence indicates employment is reduced by a third to a half.
Cumulative Inequality ◮ Inequality created by incarceration diminishes the economic status of those whose employment and wage rates are already very low ◮ Panel data estimates show that incarceration reduces earnings by about 40% ◮ Experimental evidence indicates employment is reduced by a third to a half.
Cumulative Inequality ◮ Inequality created by incarceration diminishes the economic status of those whose employment and wage rates are already very low ◮ Panel data estimates show that incarceration reduces earnings by about 40% ◮ Experimental evidence indicates employment is reduced by a third to a half.
20−year Earnings Mobility Among Low−Income Men 70 64.4 60 Mobile out of 1st Quartile (%) 50 41.3 40 36.6 30 24.6 20 10 0 Not Incarcerated Low AFQT <HS Incarcerated
Intergenerational Inequality ◮ Large prison populations means large numbers of children with parents in prison ◮ Stigma of incarceration for children, new research showing behavioral problems, particularly for boys
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