Mass Incarceration and Decarceration

Course Description

Beginning in the 1970s, the United States embarked upon a course of policy choices that resulted in an historic and unprecedented expansion of formal social control - a phenomenon we collectively refer to as "mass incarceration." Growth in the numbers of people in prisons and under other forms of criminal justice supervision and control has effected numerous far-reaching structural and cultural changes in American society. These include changes in family structures, changes in the structure of social and economic inequality, and changes to social and governmental processes and institutions. Since the prison population peaked in 2009, the prison population has been falling slowly. However, several states have achieved double-digit reductions in prison populations in the same period - also through a series of policy choices. Just as mass incarceration effected fundamental changes in American society, so will the dismantling of the carceral state. This course examines the creation of and retreat from mass incarceration and the consequences for contemporary criminal justice practice.

Code

CJ 8248

Credits

3

Subject

CJ