Mass Incarceration and Criminal Justice Policy

Flashcards covering key terms, concepts, and theories related to the causes and characteristics of mass incarceration in the United States, based on lecture notes from various scholars like Pratt, Garland, Clegg, Lurigio, Campbell, Newburn, Jones, and Tonry.

Mass Incarceration

The major increase in the number of people in prison in the United States that began in the mid-1970s.

Addicted to Incarceration (Pratt)

A concept describing the political reliance on the use and expansion of incarceration, which resembles the habits of chronic substance abusers due to exaggerated benefits, denial of harm, and rationalizations.

Misinformation (Pratt)

Identified by Pratt as a main cause of mass incarceration, spreading falsehoods about the crime problem, public opinion, prisons, and crime control.

Problem Ownership (Pratt)

The dynamic where policy stakeholders control how the crime problem is defined, allowing them to market their preferred solutions.

Get-Tough Criminal Justice Policies

A set of harsh policies (e.g., three-strikes laws, mandatory minimums, War on Drugs, aggressive prosecution) implemented from the 1970s onward that significantly contributed to mass incarceration.

America's Peculiar Political Economy (Garland)

A form of capitalism and democratic governance in the US forged on slavery and racial segregation, that became increasingly insecure and exclusionary after deindustrialization, contributing to mass incarceration.

Racism (Garland's view)

Historical factors like slavery, segregation, discrimination, exclusion, and violence that have aggravated mass incarceration in the US.

Weak Welfare Institutions (USA, Garland)

The US's insufficient government intervention in social services, leading to high rates of child poverty, working poverty, mental illness, and drug addiction, distinguishing it from other affluent nations.

Incarceration Rate (Clegg's view)

A metric that, by itself, does not tell the whole story about a country's penal system, as it needs to be understood in the context of crime rates, punishment intensity, and penal balance.

VOI/TIS (Violent Offender Incarceration and Truth in Sentencing)

Federal policies, part of the 1994 crime bill, that provided incentives for states to lock up more violent offenders and ensure they served a high percentage of their sentences.

War on Drugs

A policy initiative started by President Nixon in 1971 that significantly contributed to the early rise of mass incarceration by increasing drug-related arrests and convictions, often with racial disparities in sentencing.

Prison-Industrial-Political Complex

A term describing the interconnected system of private companies and politicians that benefit financially and politically from the expansion of private prisons and the increasing inmate population in the United States.

Ruiz v. Estelle (1980)

A landmark federal court case that found the Texas prison system to be unconstitutional due to overcrowding, brutality, insufficient healthcare, and racial discrimination, mandating widespread reforms.

Racial Undertones (Crime Politics)

The use of coded language by politicians (e.g., 'states' rights,' 'crime') to appeal to racist sentiments, particularly after the Civil War and Civil Rights movement, to preserve existing power systems.

Politicization of Crime (Newburn and Jones)

The process where high-profile, anecdotal crimes are used in political campaigns to create symbolic messages of 'toughness' on crime and influence public opinion, often at the expense of nuanced policy discussions.

Symbolic Politics (Edelman)

A form of political communication centered on symbols, influencing public perceptions, fears, and beliefs, often favoring immediate, expressive gratifications over complex, long-term policy solutions.

Paranoid Style of American Politics (Hofstadter/Tonry)

A political tendency to view deeply disapproved elements as immoral or evil, perceiving hostile actions and conspiracies as directed against the nation or a way of life, intensifying political righteousness and moral indignation.

Religious Fundamentalism and Moralism (Tonry)

A binary, good-vs-evil worldview with certainty and unambiguous boundaries, which supported the development of severe crime policies in the US.

Obsolescence of American Constitution (Tonry)

Tonry's argument that US constitutional arrangements, particularly the political selection of judges and prosecutors, allowed for the significant politicization of criminal justice policy.

History of Race Relations (Tonry)

A unique factor in the US where 'law and order' politics served as a backlash to the Civil Rights movement, using coded racial language and diminishing concern for human rights within the criminal justice system.

Coded Language (Crime Politics)

Phrases like 'states' rights,' 'crime,' 'welfare,' and 'affirmative action' used to appeal to racial anxieties and prejudices without making explicit racist statements.

Flow and Stock (Prison Population)

Refers to people entering and leaving prison (flow) and the total number of people currently in prison (stock), where too many entering and not enough leaving causes the stock to increase.

Penal Balance (Clegg)

The extent to which prison is used as a form of punishment compared to other alternatives like probation or fines.

Front-door and Back-door Policies

Policies that affect who enters prison (front-door) and who leaves prison (back-door), impacting the overall prison population.