Beginning in the 1970s, the United States began an experiment in mass imprisonment.
Supporters argued that harsh punishments such as imprisonment reduce crime by deterring …

Imprisonment is the most severe punishment in democratic societies except for capital
punishment, which is used only in the United States. Crime prevention is its primary …

This article examines the effects of custodial versus non-custodial sentences on recidivism.
An eight-year follow-up study was conducted to track and compare rates of recidivism …

One of the major justifications for the rise of mass incarceration in the United States is that
placing offenders behind bars reduces recidivism by teaching them that “crime does not …

The US prison population stands at 1.43 million persons, with an additional 740,000
persons in local jails. Nearly all will eventually return to society. This review examines the …

The use of prisons to control crime has increased in frequency in the last decade. Most
recently, mandatory minimum sentencing policies have gained widespread popularity …

Mass incarceration has led to increased interest in understanding the effects of
imprisonment. Reviews of criminological theory and research report mixed evidence that …

Research Summary: The heavy reliance on the use of incarceration in an attempt to address
the crime problem has resulted in a dramatic growth in the number of state prisoners over …

Objectives There is debate about the extent to which imprisonment deters reoffending.
Further, while there is a large literature on the effects of imprisonment, methodologically …

In the early 1970s, state and federal prison populations were under 200,000, with
incarceration rates having remained relatively stable for a half century. For a variety of …