The Challenge of Mass Incarceration
in America
The United States penal population has grown every year for the past thirty-six
years. The rate of imprisonment in the United States is now four times its historic
average and seven times higher than in Western Europe. Even more striking than the
overall level of incarceration is the concentrated force of the penal system on
the most disadvantaged segments of the population. One-third of African American
male high-school dropouts under age 40 are currently behind bars. Among all African
American men born since the mid-1960s, more than 20 percent will go to prison, nearly
twice the number that will graduate college. This extraordinary pattern of penal
confinement has been called “mass incarceration,” a rate of incarceration so high
that it affects not only the individual offender, but also whole social groups.
Though largely invisible in public conversations about social inequality in America,
mass incarceration is a growing issue at the federal, state, and local levels and
threatens to undermine the most basic goals of the civil rights movement. This study
examined the scope of mass incarceration, its political and economic significance,
and its social impact, weighing the concerns about crime control, rehabilitation,
and more fundamental issues of social justice.
The Academy created this task force to develop increased understanding of this issue
and to promote public discussion. Members of the task force developed the Summer
2010 issue of Daedalus. The project also sponsored a series of roundtable
discussions, bringing together stakeholders who do not normally have an opportunity
to gather, including representatives of the criminal justice community, policy makers,
community activists, and practitioners working with formerly incarcerated individuals.
These meetings provided an opportunity for these groups to exchange ideas in a neutral
setting and to learn from one another’s experiences.
The leaders also worked with officials from the executive branch, state officials,
as well as Congress to provide objective information on this policy matter.
Committee Members
Sasha Abramsky, author and journalist
Lawrence D. Bobo, Harvard University
Harold Clarke, Massachusetts Department of Corrections
David Garland, New York University
Marie Gottschalk, University of Pennsylvania
Mark A.R. Kleinman, University of California, Los Angeles
Candace Kruttschnitt, University of Toronto
Nicola Lacey, London School of Economics
Glenn Loury, Brown University (co-chair)
Glenn Martin, Fortune Society
Zachary Norris, Ella Baker Center
Joan Petersilia, Stanford University
Diane Williams, Safer Foundation
Robert Sampson, Harvard University
Dora Schriro, New York City Department of Corrections
Jonathan Simon, University of California, Berkeley
William Stuntz, Harvard Law School
Mindy Tarlow, Center for Employment Opportunities
Loïc Wacquant, University of California, Berkeley; Centre de Sociologie Européenne,
Paris
Leonard Ward, New Jersey State Parole Board
Robert Weisberg, Stanford University
Bruce Western, Harvard University (co-chair)
Peter Young, Peter Young Housing, Industries and Treatment
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