“WE DON’T have a sentencing problem; we have a crime problem”, Jeff Sessions told sheriffs in Oklahoma in a recent speech. Arguing that jail sentence times and prison populations had been declining while there had been a “national surge in violent crime” the attorney-general concluded: “If we want to bring down our prison population then we should bring down crime.” His statements are hard to reconcile with the academic literature on the effects of incarceration.
David Roodman, an economist working for the Open Philanthropy Project, has recently carried out an exhaustive review, replication and analysis of papers and articles on the impact of locking people up in America. The five word summary of his work might be: America has a sentencing problem.
It is unarguable that prison populations and crime rates have moved in opposite directions over the past two decades. The...Continue reading
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