Cumulative Impact: Why Imprisonment Rises Even When Crime Falls
Punishment in American society is distinct for at least two reasons. First is the incredibly high rate of imprisonment, and second is the striking racial disparity therein. Why, exactly, has the incarceration rate increased for so long, particularly during the ‘Great Crime Decline’ of the last twenty years? And how might we explain growing racial disparity during most of this period? To answer these questions Dr. King makes use several datasets, with particular attention given to the analysis of all felony cases sentenced in Minnesota since 1981. The results suggest that violent crime is the key, but it matters in a way not typically conceptualized by scholars of crime and punishment.
