In recent years, the number of adult Americans in jail or prison has grown at an unprecedented rate. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, America’s jails and prisons held approximately 578,800 people in 1980. By 1990, that number had grown to 1,148,702 inmates. In 1998, by mid-year, our prison and jail population had risen to over 1.8 million persons. These numbers delineate an increase in our use of incarceration that would have been hard for most observers to imagine twenty years ago.
This essay focuses on Race to Incarcerate, Marc Mauer’s recent contribution to the growing literature on America’s obsession with prison and punishment. Mauer is well known for his work with the Sentencing Project, an effort that has resulted in the publication of a number of influential studies that are particularly well known for calling attention to problems of racial disparity in the justice system. The Sentencing Project grew out of pilot projects organized by the National......
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Approximate Word Count: 1851
Approximate Pages: 8 (260 words per double-spaced page) |