Week #9 - Comparative International Rates of Incarceration - Mauer Flashcards
What is US exceptionalism?
o U.S. rate of incarceration of 702 inmates per 100,000 population represents not only a record high, but situates this nation as the world leader in its use of imprisonment.
o U.S. now locks up its citizens at a rate 5-8 times that of the industrialized nations to which we are most similar, Canada and western Europe
How are African Americans in US exceptionalism?
o African American males are clearly the most heavily affected by current policies, with one of every eight black males in the age group 25-29 currently in prison or jail
o A black male born today has a 29% chance of spending time in state or federal prison in his lifetime
o 75% of black males in Washington, D.C. can expect to go to prison or jail during his lifetime
Comparing US crime rates internationally
- Comparing crime rates across national boundaries is a complicated task
- Overall, U.S. rates of victimization are generally in the mid-range of the nations surveyed
- Over the past decade we have seen a sharp, and welcome, decline in homicides in the U.S., falling from a rate of 9.8 per 100,000 in 1991to 5.6 in 2001. Yet despite this 43% drop, the homicide rate in the U.S. is still about four times that of most nations in western Europe.
Comparing US criminal justice policies internationally?
- half the inmates in U.S. prisons (and a smaller proportion in jails) are incarcerated for a violent offense.
- over the past two decades, the most significant change in the composition of the U.S. prison population has been the dramatic increase in the number of persons incarcerated for a drug offense
- despite the fact that the U.S. has a higher rate of violent crime than other industrialized nations, much of the unprecedented prison population increase of recent years is explained not by crime rates but by changes in sentencing and drug policy.
What are the impacts of high rates of incarceration on crime rates?
o Two leading studies have examined the relationship between these two trends, concluding that about 25% of the decline in violent crime during this period resulted from the rise in imprisonment.
o 75% of the decline was not due to higher rates of imprisonment
o crack epidemic, changes in policing strategies toward community policing, and behavioral changes among young people in high crime neighborhoods toward safer conduct.
o improvements in the economy, changes in the age structure, or other social factors.
What are the social impacts of US exceptionalism?
o These are the social and economic dynamics that are set in play by imprisonment, and which need to be calculated in order to assess the full impact of these policies
o Large-scale imprisonment also results in growing numbers of families and communities experiencing the ripple effects of incarceration
o It is increasingly clear that a commitment to a large-scale prison system entails sacrifices in other areas of community life.
What factors explain the high rate of imprisonment in the US?
- A higher rate of violent crime than other industrialized nations.
- Harsher sentencing practices than in other nations, particularly for property and drug offenses.
- Sentencing policy changes over a period of three decades, particularly the shift toward mandatory and determinate sentencing, restrictions on judicial discretion, and a greater emphasis on imprisonment as a preferred sanction.
- Policy changes adopted as part of the “war on drugs,” leading to a vastly increased use of the criminal justice system as a means of responding to drug problems.
What does Mauer argue/ discuss in conclusion?
What we can learn from an international perspective on the use of incarceration is that the means by which different nations respond to issues of crime and punishment is very much a reflection of policy choices
