Incarceration nation exam 4

class is not fun

What is the most serious crime & the easiest to measure? Why?

Homicide is both the most serious crime and the easiest to measure because it is almost always detected, reported, and recorded consistently across countries and time.

What was the homicide rate in 1970 of the US in comparison to Japan, Scotland, & England & Wales, respectively?

In 1970, the U.S. homicide rate was 415% of Japan’s, 496% of Scotland’s, and 1,144% of England & Wales’s, showing the U.S. was an extreme global outlier.

(No numbers) how does our homicide rate in 2010 compare to the rest of the developed world?

The U.S. still had the highest homicide rate among developed nations in 2010, even though the rate dropped significantly from prior decades.

Describe the between crime/incarceration ratio in the US

(look at box plot at beginning o slideshow) The U.S. incarcerates far more people per crime than any other developed country, meaning punishment levels are extremely high relative to crime levels.

What is the relative cost of homicide? Why does this matter?

Homicide costs society nearly $9 million per offense, making it by far the most expensive crime; preventing even a small number of homicides yields massive social benefits.

What are some indirect costs of homicide?

Indirect costs include lost lifetime earnings, medical and mental health treatment, pain and suffering, criminal justice system costs, and community destabilization.

How is crime victimization distributed, equally or unequally?

Victimization is unequally distributed, heavily concentrated in poor and especially Black communities.

What are the 3 ways incarceration can affect crime (DIR), & define them quickly

(you should know this)! Deterrence (people avoid crime because punishment is likely), Incapacitation (offenders can't commit community crimes while locked up), and Rehabilitation (programs reduce reoffending).

3 components of deterrence

Deterrence relies on certainty of punishment, swiftness of punishment, and severity of punishment.

Issue with deterrence

People often don’t know actual punishments, certainty is low, and increasing severity rarely affects impulsive or high

Describe Project HOPE

Project HOPE uses swift, certain, and short jail sanctions for probation violations and reduced violations more effectively than traditional probation.

Which works better according to studies: swift, certain, short incarceration, or increasing already long sentences?

Studies show swift, certain, short punishments work far better than making already long sentences even longer.

Incapacitation theory + its problems Incapacitation

prevents offenders from committing crimes in the community, but it has diminishing returns, may target low

What is the coercive mobility hypothesis + problems

The hypothesis argues that removing too many men destabilizes communities and increases crime; the problems are mixed evidence and difficulty proving causality.

Problems with estimating incarceration crime relationship

Crime and incarceration influence each other (simultaneity), high crime places use more incarceration (endogeneity), and many unobserved factors bias estimates.

Why does crime matter, & how may incarceration affect it? Use your answers for the questions above!!

Crime carries huge social and economic costs, especially homicide. Incarceration may reduce crime through deterrence or incapacitation but may also increase crime by harming families, communities, and economic opportunities.

3 key mechanisms to effect on human capital, define them

Selection (people in prison differ from others), transformation (prison harms skills, health, and behavior), and stigma (a record blocks opportunities).

What are ways to test the mechanisms in this regard?

Researchers use surveys, administrative data, experiments/audits, natural experiments, and qualitative studies to identify causal effects and mechanisms.

Outcomes of Analysis of survey & administrative data, pros/cons These data show incarceration lowers employment and earnings.

Pros: large samples and detail; cons: selection bias and limited causal certainty.

Outcomes of experimental/audit studies? What statistics are associated?

Audit studies (e.g., Pager) show large discrimination, with callback rates much lower for applicants with records, especially Black men, demonstrating strong stigma effects.

Outcomes of qualitative research? Mechanisms?

Qualitative studies show how incarceration disrupts identity, networks, mental health, and job search processes, revealing the real

How may incarceration negatively affect human capital?

It lowers job skills, earnings, education, and health while creating stigma and legal barriers that limit future opportunities.

What are the statistics associated with race and pateral education?

About 1 in 4 Black children, and 1 in 2 Black children with low

Is maternal or paternal incarceration more detrimental to a child's well

being? Why?

What are the outcomes of paternal incarceration?

It increases child behavior problems, mental health issues, homelessness risk, and educational challenges, worsening long

According to the box and whisker plot in this lecture, who seems to contribute the most to incarceration within a family?

Fathers contribute the most to family incarceration exposure due to their much higher incarceration rates.

How much percent of income is spent on incarcerated families?

Poor families often spend around 30% of their annual income on court fees, visits, calls, and supporting incarcerated relatives.

How do people in different weaith brackets compare in terms of how much they spend on incarcerated family members?

Lower income families spend the largest share of income on incarceration related costs, while wealthier families spend more money but a very small share of income.

Define sticky stigma

Sticky stigma means the stigma of incarceration “sticks” to family members affecting partners and children socially, economically, and emotionally.

Mate mortality & morbidity: what are the trends we know about mortality in relation to incarceration?

E.g. leading causes of death from 2001

What interwal after release do most former inmates die? & most die of what? How does their education seem to tie into this?

Death risk peaks in the first two weeks post

What is the mortality rate affected by in prison?

3 things It is shaped by safety, healthcare access, and lack of drug exposure in prison.

What is the mortality rate affecied by post

prison?

What are broader health effects after being in prison?

Incarceration leads to higher rates of chronic illness, mental health issues, infectious disease, disability, and early mortality.

Who is Ms. A? Why is she important?

Ms. A is a pregnant incarcerated woman used as a case study showing both improved medical stability relative to street drug use and severe mistreatment like shackling and surveillance during childbirth.

How does familial incarceration affect health?

It increases stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic health problems among partners and children.

How does familial incarceration affect women's health (study)

Women with incarcerated partners experience higher rates of depression, hypertension, and stress related illnesses.

How does incarceration affect community health?

High incarceration communities show elevated HIV rates, higher stress, weaker healthcare access, and worse overall population health.

Describe the black white differential in overall AlDs rates for men

Black men experience much higher AIDS rates than white men, partly due to incarceration disrupting healthcare access and partner networks.

Describe effects on infant mortally in relation to incarceration

Paternal incarceration increases the risk of infant mortality, especially among Black families, worsening racial health inequalities from birth.