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Purpose - The purpose of this study is to assess how incarcerations persist across the world. The focus is on 163 countries for the period 2010 to 2015. Design/methodology/approach - The empirical evidence is based on Generalised Method of Moments. In order to increase room for policy implications, the dataset is decomposed into sub-samples based on income levels, religious domination, openness to the sea, regional proximity and legal origins. Findings - The following main findings are established. Incarcerations are more persistent in low income, Christian-protestant and Latin American countries while comparative evidence is not feasible on the basis of landlockedness and legal origins owing to unfavorable postestimation diagnostic tests. Justifications for the comparative advantages and relevance of findings to theory-building in public economics are discussed. Practical implications - First, income levels matter in the persistence of incarcerations because low income nations vis-à-vis their high income counterparts, have less financial resources with which to prevent and deal with events like terrorism, political instability and violence that lead to incarcerations. Second, the intuition for religious domination builds on the fact that liberal societies can be more associated with incarcerations compared to conservative societies. The main theoretical contribution of this study to the literature is that we have built on empirical validity to provide theoretical justification as to why categorizing countries on the basis of selected fundamental characteristics determine cross-country variations in incarcerations. Such evidence is important for theory-building in public economics. Originality/value- It is important for policy makers to understand the persistence of incarcerations across nations because resources could be allocated to regions and countries, contingent on the relative importance of future incarceration tendencies.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and disproportionately imprisons minorities, particularly African-Americans. Research shows that incarceration has many impacts on the individuals and families affected. One important question is whether high rates of incarceration silence the voices of minority communities by discouraging voting, affecting the structure of the political system. We use county-level data from 2010-2018 to study the impact of incarceration on the voter turnout rate in the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections. We find that incarceration has an insignificant effect on voter turnout after controlling for other demographic variables. However, the impacts of incarceration may operate through other channels, impacting demographic characteristics such as income and education. Thus, further research is needed to determine the effects of mass incarceration on voter engagement.

After forty years of skyrocketing incarceration rates, there are signs that a new "decarceration era" may be dawning; the prison population has leveled off and even slightly declined. Yet, while each branch of government has taken steps to reduce the prison population, the preceding decades of mass incarceration have empowered interest groups that contributed to the expansion of the prison industry and are now invested in its continued growth. These groups, which include public correctional officers and private prison management, resist decarceration-era policies, and they remain a substantial obstacle to reform. This Article scrutinizes the incentives of these industry stakeholders in the new decarceration era. Drawing on interviews with a wide range of industry actors, it develops a "taxonomy of resistance" to identify how and why these actors resist reform efforts and uncovers understudied parallels between private and public prison stakeholders. This fine-grained analysis grounds the Article's recommendations for changes to compensation and assessment structures to better align industry incentives with decarceration-era goals. Ultimately, the future of the decarceration era is precarious but not doomed. The detailed incentives unearthed by this study demonstrate the significant hurdles facing emerging decarceration policies and the urgent challenge of accounting for, overcoming, and co-opting entrenched prison industry stakeholders.

The United States currently incarcerates a higher share of its population than any other country in the world. We calculate that a reduction in incarceration rates just to the level we had in 1993 (which was already high by historical standards) would lower correctional expenditures by $16.9 billion per year, with the large majority of these savings accruing to financially squeezed state and local governments. As a group, state governments could save $7.6 billion, while local governments could save $7.2 billion. These cost savings could be realized through a reduction by one-half in the incarceration rate of exclusively non-violent offenders, who now make up over 60 percent of the prison and jail population. A review of the extensive research on incarceration and crime suggests that these savings could be achieved without any appreciable deterioration in public safety.

After legislatures criminalized a major portion of juvenile delinquency in the 1980s and 1990s, large numbers of incarcerated youth began serving their sentences in adult correctional facilities. To understand the ramifications of this practice, prior research studies compared the correctional experiences of youth in juvenile and adult facilities. Yet this research often minimized the pains of imprisonment for youth in juvenile facilities, based on the contrast to adult facilities and the toxic conditions of confinement within them. In this Article, we contribute to this literature by analyzing data from interviews with 188 young men incarcerated in juvenile and adult facilities across two states. Surprisingly, our results show that although inmates in adult facilities give higher ratings of services and social climates than youth in juvenile facilities (including criminal activity and victimization), they fare much worse on other measures of social and psychological well-being. Importantly, the inmates in adult facilities report substantially and significantly greater rates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and symptoms of mental illness, and are much more likely to be afraid for their safety, compared to those in juvenile facilities. Based on these results, we argue that incarceration should be used only as a last resort for juveniles, regardless of institutional auspice, but that when it is deemed necessary, juvenile correctional facilities represent the lesser of two evils.

Several new studies suggest that social and spatial incarceration of young males has become part of the developmental ecology of adolescence in the nation's poorest neighborhoods. This concentration began in the 1970s, and has grown steadily through the last quarter century.The story of young men such as Cesar in Random Family illustrates the pervasive effects of both direct and vicarious prison experiences for young men and women in poor neighborhoods. Studies of street life such as Random Family, Code of the Streets, and American Project show how these experiences are now internalized in the social and psychological fabric of neighborhood life, a constant reality in the background of childhood socialization, and an everyday contingency for young men as they navigate the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Some studies show that within neighborhoods, incarceration leads to more incarceration over time in a spiraling dynamic. Other recent studies show that the risks of going to jail or prison grow over time for persons living in poor neighborhoods, contributing to the accumulation of social and economic adversity for people living in these areas, and depreciating the overall well being of the neighborhood itself.

This paper draws on literary scholar Susan Ryan&rsquo ; s work to show how Americans worked out national as well as racial identities through benevolent activity, including forms of reformative incarceration. Reformers operated as true citizens by sustaining themselves and providing for others. Recipients, on the other hand, functioned as people in need. Ryan argues that benevolent activists ascribed need to entire groups of people. As a result, &ldquo ; the categories of blackness, Indianness, and Irishness&hellip ; came to signify need itself.&rdquo ; Elite Americans thereby &ldquo ; raced&rdquo ; need, assigning essential difference to populations they sought to relieve. Ryan&rsquo ; s work on racialized need can help us understand the connections between Christianity, race, and mass incarceration. I explore how one nineteenth-century military prison&mdash ; and the disciplinary institutions later modeled on it&mdash ; was created in direct response to presumed (and raced) need among Native Americans. I also consider how Christian reformers obscured and concealed the racialized nature of this institution&mdash ; and how, in that avoidance, they came to sanctify mass incarceration for racial minorities. Finally, I look at two incarcerated Native artists&rsquo ; drawings to show how people caught up in racialized renderings of their need have something else to say about who they are and what prison is.

Due to the criminalization of marginalized people, many markers of social disadvantage are overrepresented among prisoners. With an aging population, end of life in prison thus becomes a social justice issue that nurses must contend with, engaging with the dual suffering of dying and of incarceration. However, prison palliative care is constrained by the punitive mandate of the institution and has been critiqued for normalizing death behind bars and appealing to discourses of individual redemption. This paper argues that prison palliative has much to learn from harm reduction. Critical reflections from harm reduction scholars and practitioners hold important insights for prison palliative care: decoupled from its historical efforts to reshape the social terrain inhabited by people who use drugs, harm reduction can become institutionalized and depoliticized. Efforts to address the harms of substandard palliative care must therefore be interwoven with the necessarily political work of addressing the injustice of incarceration.

The peculiar harshness of modern American justice has led to a vigorous scholarly debate about the roots of mass incarceration and its divergence from humanitarian sentencing norms prevalent in other Western democracies. Even though the United States reached virtually world-record imprisonment levels between 1983 and 2010, the Supreme Court never found a prison term to be "cruel and unusual punishment" under the Eighth Amendment. By countenancing extreme punishments with no equivalent elsewhere in the West, such as life sentences for petty recidivists, the Justices' reasoning came to exemplify the exceptional nature of American justice. Many scholars concluded that punitiveness had become its defining norm. Yet a quiet revolution in Eighth Amendment jurisprudence, a wave of reforms, and other social developments suggest that American penal philosophy may be inching toward norms—dignity, proportionality, legitimacy, and rehabilitation—that have checked draconian prison terms in Europe, Canada, and beyond. In 2010, the Supreme Court began limiting the scope of life imprisonment without parole for juveniles in a series of landmark Eighth Amendment cases. Partly drawing upon the principles in these decisions, twenty-two states have abolished life without parole categorically for juveniles, providing them more protections than under the Eighth Amendment. The narrow focus on the differences between juveniles and adults in the aftermath of these reforms obscured American law's increasing recognition of humanitarian norms that are hardly age-dependent—and strikingly similar to those in other Western democracies. Historiography sheds light on why the academy has largely overlooked this relative paradigm shift. As America faced mass incarceration of an extraordinary magnitude, research in recent decades has focused on divergence, not convergence. This Article advances a comparative theory of punishment to analyze these developments. In the United States and throughout the West, approaches toward punishment are impermanent ...

In 2014 the cultural agency of the United Nations issued a dismal assessment of education in Africa. The report noted that while, globally, a quarter of a billion children are failing to learn basic reading and math skills, resulting in an education crisis that costs governments $129 billion per year, the situation in Africa could only be described as catastrophic. Education on this continent had failed so miserably in its mission that 'four in 10 African children "cannot read a sentence"' (cited in Daily Nation 2014: 1). This equates to 40% of children, compared to 25% in other poor countries. The report attributed this situation to the fact that 'fewer than three-quarters of existing primary school teachers were trained to national standards, while 120 million primary age1 This paper was prepared as an invited keynote presentation in the Language Panel at the 10th Annual Conference on Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, 20-22 September, 2016. I thank Zehlia Babaci-Wilhite, Herman Batibo, Hatem A. Bazian, Langa Khumalo, Patricia Kwok, and David Kyeu, for comments. I am grateful to Jarvis Givens, Jessie Kabwila, Monica Kahumburu, William Kamkwamba, Pascal Kishindo, Wokomaatani Malunga, Francis Moto, Thoko Mtchona, Al Mtenje, John Mugane, Deo Ngonyani, and Matthews Sapemba Tisatayane, for discussions. Thanks to Judith Khaya and Renée Khaya for comments on education in Malawi. All views expressed are my own. In American Canyon, California, Flora Suya provided emotional support; Collin Domingo, José Flores, Savannah Garcia, Carole Lonzanida, Nicolas Rapacon, Scott Turnnidge, Teri Urrutia, and Vilma Wakin have always offered cheer when I needed friends.children across the world had little or no experience of school.' It concluded that the African education system does not equip the children with the desired literacy and math skills or scientific knowledge. However, it is silent on the role that language might play in attaining these goals and a well-rounded ...

2016 will mark 25 years since the final Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) report was tabled. In the RCIADIC report, the disproportionately high levels of aboriginal deaths in custody were attributed to the significant over-representation of indigenous people in custody (Hammond et al. 1991, Nat Reports Vol 1, Ch. 1, 1.3). In the intervening years, despite significant government resources being allocated to the problem, the indigenous incarceration rate has continued to rise, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) people '15 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-indigenous Australians' (AHRC 2014, p100). The effects of the high level of indigenous incarceration are numerous, including but not limited to health impacts (PHAA 2010, p3), intergenerational impacts (Weatherburn 2014, p 8), a higher risk of recidivism ((Weatherburn 2014, p 8) and other socio economic impacts (Weatherburn 2014, p 8). The logical response to the continuing high rates of indigenous incarceration is to seek further information and perhaps alternative insights into why the problem continues to get worse. This research project seeks to add to the body of knowledge about the problem of indigenous incarceration through harnessing the opinions and expertise of those at the coal face, with a particular focus on state and Federal public policy options. The professionals that work in or in relation to the criminal justice system were identified as having significant 'coal face' expertise and insights regarding indigenous incarceration issues. Whilst it appears that this group has some opportunities to provide their expert opinions regarding public policy approaches to indigenous incarceration to government such as via Parliamentary enquiries or similar, the consultation process appears to be fairly ad-hoc, focusing on a specific issue rather than a broader public policy approach. The research design adopted was semi-structured interviews with the participants, coupled with secondary research via sources such as academic literature and government reports. Seven professionals from or working in relation to the criminal justice field were interviewed, with a focus on public policy responses. Their insights were collated into key findings (see Chapter 3) and analysed to produce a number recommendations for consideration (noting the small sample size significantly reduced the ability to make definitive conclusions). The resulting recommendations were: 1. A national forum be established to garner the opinions and expertise of those working within or in relation to the criminal justice system to inform state, territory and Federal government on a regular rather than ad-hoc basis and covering a broad public policy approach, rather than only looking at specific issues at any one time . 2. Indigenous people be supported (including appropriate training and resourcing) to participate more in attempts to address indigenous incarcerations . 3. Federal government adopts a leadership role regarding public policy approaches to indigenous incarceration. 4. 'Justice targets' be added to the existing 'Closing the Gap' Framework. 5. A Royal Commission or similar broad ranging investigation of indigenous incarceration issues be considered to investigate what the issues are, what the impediments are to addressing the issues, and provide recommendations for future action. 6. Long term funding (not linked to election cycles) be provided to agencies to provide certainty and allow the agencies to develop and evaluate strategies that work over time. 7. Consideration be given to establishing a statutory authority to oversee the funding and implementation of policies seeking to address key indigenous issues. 8. Alternatives to 'standard' criminal justice responses be provided (and resourced), allowing greater options for courts, the defendants and others affected to find alternative and more appropriate solutions.

The Long Afterlife of Nikkei Wartime Incarceration reexamines the history of imprisonment of U.S. and Canadian citizens of Japanese descent during World War II. Karen M. Inouye explores how historical events can linger in individual and collective memory and then crystallize in powerful moments of political engagement.

The Long Afterlife of Nikkei Wartime Incarceration reexamines the history of imprisonment of U.S. and Canadian citizens of Japanese descent during World War II. Karen M. Inouye explores how historical events can linger in individual and collective memory and then crystallize in powerful moments of political engagement.

The United States imprisons more of its people than any nation on Earth, and by a considerable margin. Criminals attract little empathy and have no political capital. Consequently, it is not surprising that, over the past forty years, there have been no concerted or unified efforts to stem the rapid increase in incarceration levels in the United States. Nevertheless, there has recently been a growing realization that even the world's biggest economy cannot readily sustain the $80 billion annual cost of imprisoning more than two million of its citizens. No principled, wide-ranging solution has yet been advanced, however. To resolve the crisis, this Article proposes a major revolution to the prison sector that would see technology, for the first time, pervasively incorporated into the punishment of criminals and result in the closure of nearly all prisons in the United States. The alternative to prison that we propose involves the fusion of three technological systems. First, offenders would be required to wear electronic ankle bracelets that monitor their location and ensure they do not move outside of the geographical areas to which they would be confined. Second, prisoners would be compelled to wear sensors so that unlawful or suspicious activity could be monitored remotely by computers. Third, conducted energy devices would be used remotely to immobilize prisoners who attempt to escape their areas of confinement or commit other crimes. The integrated systems described in this Article could lead to the closure of more than 95% of prisons in the United States. We demonstrate that the technological and surveillance devices can achieve all of the appropriate objectives of imprisonment, including the imposition of proportionate punishment and community protection. In our proposal, only offenders who have committed capital offenses or equivalent crimes, or who attempt to escape from technological custody, would remain in conventional brick-and-mortar prisons. As a result, our proposal would convert prisons from a ...

Similar to experiences of Indigenous peoples globally, Māori in the nation-state known as New Zealand (NZ) have been subjected to mass incarceration by the colonial state. Places of detention are dangerous environments for the spread of COVID-19. We are deeply concerned about the potential for disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on Māori and other Indigenous peoples within these environments as many have health conditions and/or multiple comorbidities compounding the risks of severe illness and death from COVID-19. We call for the NZ government to honour te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations and uphold Indigenous rights contained within the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other international rights instruments. A whole-of-government commitment to an equitable public health approach is required to: 1) rapidly reduce the numbers of Māori in sites of detention; 2) implement effective, timely, evidenced informed measures to reduce the risk of COVID-19, in line with World Health Organization recommendations; 3) prevent the torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of detained Māori during COVID-19; and, 4) eliminate double-celling. Although focused on NZ, the themes we highlight are likely of relevance for Indigenous peoples across the globe in our collective resistance to the COVID-19 pandemic.