Evaluating Incarceration and Deterrence
This assignment provides students with an opportunity to evaluate the role of incarceration as a crime dete rrent and apply course materials to generate a proposal for improving its deterrent effect. From 1970 through the early 2000s the United States adopted a tough-on-crime approach that led to "mass incarceration" — an era during which the nation incarcerated its population at a higher rate than any other nation in the world. This increase reflected changes in the criminal justice system that included incarceration being applied to a wider range of crimes, the application of longer prison sentences for any given crime, a reduction in the mechanisms that inmates could pursue for early release, and re-incarcerating a high rate of released inmates for new crimes or parole violations.
On its face one might assume that this tough-on-crime approach would lead to dramatic reductions in crime. In reality, crime rates fluctuated widely during this era, experiencing steep peaks in the mid-1980s and early 1990s and a relative decline since that time. For this assignment, first, apply concepts from this week's readings to explain why one might expect incarceration to reduce crime. How do rational choice theory and deterrence theory support the use of incarceration? Second, describe the insights that rational choice and deterrence theory can provide in understanding why incarceration is not always effective at reducing crime. Finally, based on your analysis and concepts from your course readings, generate a proposal for how the criminal justice system might improve the effectiveness of incarceration at reducing crime. What criminal justice reforms would you recommend based on what you have learned this week?