Lecture 20: Comparative Penology - United States

Question 1

What characterizes the U.S. political economy?

Answer 1

Neo-liberalism

Question 2

What is the U.S. approach to social welfare benefits?

Answer 2

Minimal means-tested

Question 3

What best describes economic inequality in the U.S.?

Answer 3

High

Question 4

What is the U.S. Congress comprised of?

Answer 4

A bicameral legislature

Question 5

What characterizes the U.S. Supreme Court?

Answer 5

Political appointees

Question 6

What was the average prison sentence length in the U.S. in 2017?

Answer 6

9 years

Question 7

When were federal sentencing guidelines introduced in the U.S.?

Answer 7

1980s

Question 8

What contributed to longer sentences under the 1994 Crime Act?

Answer 8

• Mandatory minimums
• Three strikes law

Question 9

What ruling confirmed 25 years to life under three strikes laws is constitutional?

Answer 9

Ewing v California

Question 10

What reforms have California voters supported?

Answer 10

• Reducing non-serious third strikes
• Reclassifying felonies as misdemeanors

Question 11

How many U.S. states impose life without parole (LWOP) sentences?

Answer 11

49

Question 12

What purpose do extremely long sentences in the U.S. serve?

Answer 12

Expressing outrage

Question 13

Approximately what percentage of prisoners in the U.S. are people of color?

Answer 13

43%

Question 14

What type of U.S. prison houses pre-trial detainees?

Answer 14

County jails

Question 15

What differentiates supermaximum security prisons in the U.S.?

Answer 15

Solitary confinement

Question 16

What Supreme Court case confirmed supermax conditions are constitutional?

Answer 16

None

Question 17

What is a key effect of felony disenfranchisement in the U.S.?

Answer 17

Loss of voting rights

Question 18

What percentage of African Americans in the U.S. are disenfranchised (not allowed to vote)?

Answer 18

16%

Question 19

Which practices makes reintegration more difficult after release?

Answer 19

• Stigma
• Housing restrictions

Question 20

What factor encourages increased punitiveness and spending on prisons?

Answer 20

Special interests

Question 21

What rhetoric promotes conflictual partisan politics on criminal justice issues?

Answer 21

Liberal leniency

Question 22

What percent of Americans are disenfranchised from voting due to prior felony convictions?

Answer 22

2.3%

Question 23

What gave rise to the first American supermax prison for high risk prisoners?

Answer 23

Alcatraz closure

Question 24

What Supreme Court ruling upheld sex offender registration laws as constitutional?

Answer 24

Smith v Doe

Question 25

What characterized politics on criminal justice issues in the U.S.?

Answer 25

Polarisation

Question 26

What key force shocks public opinion on criminal justice?

Answer 26

Victims' families

Question 27

What Supreme Court case barred juvenile life without parole?

Answer 27

Miller v Alabama

Question 28

What helps explain the expansion of U.S. prison populations since the 1980s?

Answer 28

- Higher crime rates - Stricter drug laws - Longer sentences

Question 29

What is not a purpose of solitary confinement in supermax prisons?

Answer 29

Rehabilitation

Question 30

What is seen to encourage the ‘prison industrial complex’ in the U.S.?

Answer 30

Public-private partnerships

Question 31

What is the 'prison-industrial complex'?

Answer 31

The interconnection between the CJS, political system and economic system - profit from incarceration

Question 32

What is a supermax prison?

Answer 32

- For 'the worst of the worst' - Brutalist design - 23 hours of solitary confinement

Question 33

Why are people of color disproportionately affected by growth in imprisonment?

Answer 33

- Higher recidivism rates - Concentrated urban poverty - Underlying racism in the legal system

Question 34

What has the government’s ‘war on drugs’ contributed to since the 1980s?

Answer 34

Racial disparities in imprisonment

Question 35

What helped lobby for passage of the 1994 Crime Act?

Answer 35

- Prison guard unions - Gun manufacturers - Victims advocacy groups

Question 36

What makes U.S. imprisonment rates the highest in the world?

Answer 36

Harsh sentencing laws

Question 37

What do comparative studies show about the use of imprisonment in different countries?

Answer 37

It indicates societal values on punishment