Mass Incarceration and Crime Policy Review

Flashcards covering the historical development, racial disparities, and theoretical perspectives of mass incarceration as discussed in the lecture notes.

LBJ’s War on Crime

An initiative that initially emphasized addressing the root causes of crime—like poverty and inequality—while expanding the federal role and infrastructure of criminal justice.

Southern Strategy

A political approach used to gain support from white voters by using racially coded appeals about crime, welfare, and social disorder, such as the phrase "law and order."

Population disparity

A measure of who is in prison compared to their share of the general population, showing overrepresentation of certain groups.

Offending disparity

Differences in incarceration rates based on actual crime or arrest rates.

Sentencing disparity

Differences in how people are treated by the criminal justice system, including who receives prison time and the length of the sentences.

Absolute disparity

The actual raw numerical difference in incarceration rates between two groups.

Relative disparity

The ratio comparing incarceration rates between groups, such as one group being $5 imes$ more likely to be imprisoned than another.

Convict leasing

A system used as a replacement for slavery where prisoners, mostly Black men, were leased to private companies for forced labor under brutal conditions.

Debt peonage

A system where men were arrested for minor or false charges and forced into labor to pay off fines or debts they could not afford.

The New Jim Crow

A term used by Michelle Alexander to describe mass incarceration as a racial caste system that limits rights based on criminal records.

13th Amendment Loophole

The provision that abolished slavery EXCEPT as punishment for a crime, which allowed the continuation of forced labor through the prison system.

Color-blind racism

Policies that do not explicitly mention race but disproportionately harm certain racial groups by focusing on "criminals."

Pyrrhic Defeat Theory

Jeffrey Reiman's theory that the criminal justice system's failure to reduce crime is a "win" for the powerful because it blames the poor and protects the status quo.

Functionalism (Consensus Theory)

The theory that laws reflect shared values and that punishment is necessary to keep society stable.

Group Conflict Theory

The idea that society consists of groups competing for power and resources, and that law is a tool used by powerful groups to control others.

Racial Threat Theory

The concept that larger minority populations lead to a higher perceived threat to the majority, resulting in increased policing and punishment.

Class Conflict (Marxist Theory)

The theory that laws protect capitalism and the wealthy, while the system focuses on punishing the crimes of the poor.

Length of Stay (LOS)

The duration an individual is incarcerated; reducing this is a primary strategy identified by Clear and Frost to decrease the prison population.

Justice Reinvestment

A policy strategy to shift money away from prison budgets and into community resources like jobs, education, and housing.

Birth of a Nation

An early film that portrayed Black men as dangerous and glorified the Ku Klux Klan, helping justify racial violence and harsh punishment.