Read a new report from the online Oxford Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. This report explores rates of incarceration as a measure of a nation’s punitiveness, policies and practices that produced mass incarceration in the U.S., decarceration case histories in other nations, as well as policies determining the “right” level of incarceration in a society.
Read ReportWith the rise of mass incarceration in the United States, a body of research has developed that is assessing the limited public safety benefits and collateral effects of these developments. These counterproductive effects include impacts on family formation and parenting in high-incarceration communities, rates of civic engagement, and the fraying of community bonds and informal social control.