{"id":2275,"date":"2020-10-22T12:45:43","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T19:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=2275"},"modified":"2020-10-23T11:03:48","modified_gmt":"2020-10-23T18:03:48","slug":"is-the-united-states-incarceration-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=2275","title":{"rendered":"Is the United States “Incarceration Nation”?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kent discussed here<\/a> the recently released BJS Report<\/a> showing that the prison population in America declined again last year.\u00a0 “Reform” advocates are likely to use the report as evidence that declining incarceration does not result in more crime.\u00a0 As Kent explains, this is so much sleight of hand.\u00a0 Part of the overall decrease in crime rates over the last decade stems from the trend in some large states to simply refuse to label more and more anti-social behavior (e.g., retail theft, small-time drug use) as crime, and part results from systemic delay, to wit (1) the delay between cause and effect, and (2) the delay between the commission of crime, its adjudication, its collection in crime statistics, and the statistics’ publication.<\/p>\n

Still, it’s worthwhile looking at the BJS statistics themselves.\u00a0 Even with their shortcomings, they tell a very different story from the one you’re going to hear from “reform” advocates.<\/p>\n

First, let’s take a look at the big picture.\u00a0 The BJS Report starts out:<\/p>\n

The combined state and federal imprisonment rate for 2019 (419 per 100,000 U.S. residents), based on sentenced prisoners (those sentenced to more than one year), decreased 3% from 2018 (432 per 100,000 U.S. residents) (figure 1). This was the lowest imprisonment rate in 24 years, dating back to 1995.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When is the last time you heard a reform advocate tell you, amidst the thundering about how grossly and abnormally punitive the USA is, that we have the lowest incarceration rate in a generation (to wit, through the administrations of Presidents Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump)?<\/p>\n

And when is the last time you heard a reform advocate tell you, amidst that same thundering about how America is “incarceration nation,” that 99.58% of the population is not<\/em><\/strong> incarcerated?\u00a0 When less than one-half of one percent of your population is imprisoned, labeling your country “incarceration nation” is preposterous as well as insulting.<\/p>\n

Here’s the next sentence in the Report:<\/p>\n

Since 2009, the imprisonment rate\u2014the portion of U.S. residents who are in prison\u2014has dropped 17% overall, including 29%among black residents, 24% among Hispanic residents, and 12% among white residents.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When is the last time you heard a reform advocate tell you, amidst the thundering about how America is a racist cauldron with little if any moral or practical distance from the days of Jim Crow, that over the last decade, the substantial decrease in imprisonment has occurred at more than twice the level for blacks and Hispanics as it has for whites?<\/p>\n

A leading reform advocate, Prof. Doug Berman, takes note of the BJS Report<\/a> and, overall, is happy about it, but notes:<\/p>\n

This news and the broader trends represented are good news for those who care about human liberty, though I am disinclined to celebrate too much given that the US incarceration remains the highest in the world…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Doug thus repeats a standard line among “reformers,” to wit, that the USA leads the world in incarceration and\/or incarceration rates.\u00a0 And that could be true\u00a0 —\u00a0 if one believes the incarceration statistics put out by China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, North Korea, and Cuba, etc., etc., but I doubt that Doug does or that any serious scholar does.\u00a0 Yet I see the claim repeated again and again without any caution that it’s highly questionable, if not outright baloney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kent discussed here the recently released BJS Report showing that the prison population in America declined again last year.\u00a0 “Reform” advocates are likely to use the report as evidence that declining incarceration does not result in more crime.\u00a0 As Kent explains, this is so much sleight of hand.\u00a0 Part of the overall decrease in crime rates over the last decade stems from the trend in some large states to simply refuse to label more and more anti-social behavior (e.g., retail theft, small-time drug use) as crime, and part results from systemic delay, to wit (1) the delay between cause and effect, and (2) the delay between the commission of crime, its adjudication, its collection in crime statistics, and the statistics’ publication. Still, it’s worthwhile looking at the BJS statistics themselves.\u00a0 Even with their shortcomings, they tell a very different story from the one you’re going to hear from “reform” advocates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-studies"],"yoast_head":"\nIs the United States "Incarceration Nation"? - Crime & Consequences<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=2275\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is the United States "Incarceration Nation"? - Crime & Consequences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kent discussed here the recently released BJS Report showing that the prison population in America declined again last year.\u00a0 “Reform” advocates are likely to use the report as evidence that declining incarceration does not result in more crime.\u00a0 As Kent explains, this is so much sleight of hand.\u00a0 Part of the overall decrease in crime rates over the last decade stems from the trend in some large states to simply refuse to label more and more anti-social behavior (e.g., retail theft, small-time drug use) as crime, and part results from systemic delay, to wit (1) the delay between cause and effect, and (2) the delay between the commission of crime, its adjudication, its collection in crime statistics, and the statistics’ publication. 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