7/28/2019 Pettit Chap1 http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/pettit-chap1 1/19 Invisible Men I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. —Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952) On January 20, 2009, 1.8 million people of all races, colors, and creeds stood on the mall in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama, America’s first African American president. Journalists hailed the his- toric moment, and commentators from across the political spectrum ques- tioned whether Obama’s presidency marked the beginning of a postracial America. At the same time that the crowds in Washington watched Obama take the oath to uphold the Constitution, 2.3 million Americans sat invisible in America’s prisons and jails, nearly half of them black. Te American prison system is both historically and comparatively unique. Te United States now incarcerates a higher fraction of its population than at any other time in recorded history, and the United States leads the world in the percentage of its population held behind bars. Over one in one hundred American adults is living in a federal, state, or local prison or jail (Pew Re- search Center on the States 2008). If we include individuals on parole or probation, the numbers are even more startling. Nearly 5 million men and women are on probation, on parole, or under some form of community su- pervision. As a consequence, one in thirty-one American adults, or over 3 percent of the U.S. adult population, is under some form of correctional su- pervision (Glaze and Bonczar 2008). Te Bureau of Justice Statistics esti- mates that if contemporary imprisonment rates continue, one out of every three black men will serve time in a federal or state prison (Bonczar 2003). Chapter 1
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Invisible Men
I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.
—Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)
On January 20, 2009, 1.8 million people of all races, colors, and creeds stood
on the mall in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the inauguration of Barack
Obama, America’s first African American president. Journalists hailed the his-toric moment, and commentators from across the political spectrum ques-
tioned whether Obama’s presidency marked the beginning of a postracial
America. At the same time that the crowds in Washington watched Obama
take the oath to uphold the Constitution, 2.3 million Americans sat invisible
in America’s prisons and jails, nearly half of them black.
Te American prison system is both historically and comparatively unique.
Te United States now incarcerates a higher fraction of its population than at
any other time in recorded history, and the United States leads the world inthe percentage of its population held behind bars. Over one in one hundred
American adults is living in a federal, state, or local prison or jail (Pew Re-
search Center on the States 2008). If we include individuals on parole or
probation, the numbers are even more startling. Nearly 5 million men and
women are on probation, on parole, or under some form of community su-
pervision. As a consequence, one in thirty-one American adults, or over 3
percent of the U.S. adult population, is under some form of correctional su-
pervision (Glaze and Bonczar 2008). Te Bureau of Justice Statistics esti-mates that if contemporary imprisonment rates continue, one out of every
three black men will serve time in a federal or state prison (Bonczar 2003).
Chapter 1
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Criinas are under the near-constant gaze of the edia. Gruesoe criesead oca teeision newscasts. Crie stories ake newspaper headines eery day. Seera arge etropoitan-area newspapers deote whoe sections of oth-
erwise dwinding daiy papers to crie reporting. Jonathan Sion (2007) haspersuasiey argued that since the decaration of war on crie in the 1960s,
Aericans hae becoe increasingy fascinated with crie and criinaity.Unabated press coerage of crie fues fears of ictiization and ispercep-tions about trends in crie. As a resut, Aericans hae woefuy inaccurateperceptions of their own risk of ictiization and continue to beiee thatcrie is on the upswing despite decades of decines in ioent crie rates.
Just as criinas are under the gaze of the edia and the pubic, indiid-
uas inoed in the correctiona syste are cosey superised by correctionaauthorities. Soe inates face constant onitoring through ideo and otherfors of sureiance in state-of-the-art superax prisons (Rhodes 2004).Een inates in iniu security faciities are continuay superised, re-peatedy counted, and their oeents carefuy docuented. Paroees andprobationers are aso routiney tracked through either eectronic sureiancetechniques or reguary schedued eetings with paroe and probation officers.
Te intensie press coerage of Aerica’s criinas and the extensie
superision of inates by correctiona authorities beie the inisibiity of in-ates, paroees, probationers, and others inoed in the criina justice sys-te to the outside word. Inates are a socia group isoated sociay, physi-cay, and statisticay fro uch of the rest of society. Te ast ajority of our nation’s inates coe fro ery few jurisdictions, and the faciities inwhich they are housed are een fewer in nuber (Heyer and Wagner 2004).Een our nationa data systes, as we as the socia facts they produce, arestructured around a noratie kind of econoic, poitica, and doestic ife
that coony eudes those under the superision of the criina justicesyste.
Inates and forer inates are ess ikey than otherwise siiary disad-antaged en to hod down steady egitiate jobs, to participate in ciic ife,and to ie in setted househods. Een their institutionaization inoes a segent of the state cut off fro the usua ethods of socia accounting. Wecategoricay excude inates and forer inates fro the socia sureys rou-tiney used to gauge the condition of the U.S. popuation, and we syste-
aticay undercount the in the U.S. Census and socia sureys.more than one hundred years ago, Éie Durkhei (1895/1982, 54) coined
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INvISIBlE mEN 3
the ter “socia fact” to describe phenoena that both characterize and ex-
pain features of society: socia facts are “the beiefs, tendencies and practices
of the group taken coectiey.” In his own research, Durkhei coony
reied on statistics such as rates of births, arriages, or suicides to isoate andexaine socia facts.
Tis book docuents how our coectie bindness hinders the estabish-
ent of socia facts, conceas inequaity, and underines the foundation of
socia science research, incuding that used in the design and eauation of
socia poicy. Te decades-ong expansion of the criina justice syste has
ed to the acute and rapid disappearance of young, ow-ski African Aerican
en fro portraits of the Aerican econoic, poitica, and socia condi-
tion. Whie the expansion of the criina justice syste reinforces race andcass inequaities in the United States, the fu ipact of the criina justice
syste on Aerican inequaity is obscured by the continued use of data co-
ection strategies and estiation ethods that predate prison expansion.
BecoMIng InvIsIBle
As Raph Eison so poignanty coneyed in his andark book Invisible Man
(1952), African Aericans were sociay inisibe in pre–cii rights Aerica.
Racia discriination, segregation, and excusion contributed to a syste of institutions, aws, and custos that aintained racia inequaity and was pre-
ised on the subjugation and inisibiity of African Aericans (see, for ex-
ape, Aexander 2010, 20–35). Te cii rights era offered African Aeri-
cans the proise of being accepted as isibe citizens in Aerican society. Te
Cii Rights Act (1964) and the voting Rights Act (1965) signaed a new era
of greater protections for the rights of African Aericans and other groups,
particuary in reation to education, epoyent, and oting.
Te proise of the cii rights era has been undercut by a new for of inisibiity anufactured by ass incarceration and the prison-industria
copex. Yet the inisibiity of arge segents of the Aerican popuation
and the inequaity it conceas is not a natura or ineitabe product of prison
growth. In this book, I trace Aerica’s deographic charter to the constitu-
tiona andate to conduct the decennia Census. I expore how the shifting
deands of poicyakers and researchers hae ed to increasing reiance on
data coected fro sureys of indiiduas iing in househods. I aso docu-
ent the ipact of ass incarceration on the representatieness of indiidu-as iing in househods. Incarceration is concentrated aong the ost disad-
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4 INvISIBlE mEN
antaged segents of the Aerican popuation, and as a consequence those
sae indiiduas and socia groups are inisibe in any accounts of the U.S.
popuation.
Chapter 2 begins by obsering that since the founding of the United Statesthe federa goernent has coected inforation eery ten years in the de-
cennia Census that docuents the size and distribution of the popuation for
the purposes of poitica apportionent. Te U.S. Census Bureau and other
federa data-coecting agencies hae not aways done a good job of coecting
data on the fu range of Aerican experiences. Prior to eancipation, the
nuber of saes iing in househods was recorded on Census fors, yet no
other inforation about the was coected, and they counted as ony three-
fifths of a person for the purposes of poitica apportionent. Te repea of saery and the estabishent of equa representation guaranteed by the Tir-
teenth and Fourteenth Aendents signaed the end of the “three-fifths
coproise.” Sti, throughout uch of the twentieth century African Aer-
icans were under-enuerated in U.S. popuation counts. Hispanics, Natie
Aericans, and ebers of other inority groups hae aso been significanty
under-enuerated at different points in Aerican history (Anderson and
Fienberg 1999; Snipp 1989, 2003).
Athough there is eidence that the Census has iproed its enuerationof backs, Hispanics, and other inority groups, other ethods of deo-
graphic and socia data coection coony used by the federa goernent
are now increasingy probeatic. Historica expansions of “grants-in-aid,”
ost notaby inked to the New Dea in the 1930s and the Great Society pro-
gras of the 1960s, accopanied an increased reiance by federa, state, and
oca goernents on data about the condition of the popua tion. Grants-in-
aid coony redistribute federa reenue to state and oca goernents.
Te aount of oney aocated to oca jurisdictions is often deterined by foruas that incude inforation about popuation size and characteristics
proided by the Census and other federa data coection efforts. Since the
1930s, uch of that data has been proided by sureys that are priariy re-
stricted to peope iing in househods, such as the Current Popuation Surey
(CPS).
When the Current Popuation Surey was initiated in 1939 as the Sa pe
Surey of Unepoyent (Anderson 1988), incarceration rates were ow and
the excusion of inates fro socia sureys had reatiey itte consequence forthe construction of socia statistics. Nationa sureys proiferated in the 1960s
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INvISIBlE mEN 5
and 1970s aong with the expansion o progras that epoyed grants-in-aid.
Sureys initiated in the 1960s and 1970s adopted the sae househod-based
saping echanis epoyed by the Current Popuation Surey, which cat-
egoricay excudes the institutionaized and systeaticay undersapes theitinerant and hoeess. o be sure, een at idcentury iiting saping to
indiiduas iing in househods excuded soe subgroups o the popuation.
Troughout ost o the twentieth century and especiay in the 1960s and
1970s, the argest group excuded was actie-duty iitary.
Oer the past thirty-fe years, as the pena popuation has increased, sur-
eys hae not adapted their saping raes to incude the growing nuber
o incarcerated Aericans or itinerant orer inates. oday the size o the
prison popuation ar exceeds the size o Aerica’s actie-duty iitary. Teactie-duty iitary popuation consists o approxiatey 1.4 iion en
and woen who, in ery broad ters, are generay representatie o the
Aerican popuation (Goernent Accountabiity Office 2005; Kane 2005).
Te tota inate popuation now tops 2.3 iion, and incarceration is so
disproportionatey concentrated aong ow-ski back en that it has be-
coe a routine ie eent or this deographic group (Pettit and Western
2004). As a consequence, pena syste growth distorts accounts o the U.S.
popuation deried ro sureys that draw their sapes ro peope iing in househods. Yet researchers, poicyakers, and the pubic rarey consider
the ipications o our coectie reiance on increasingy biased sapes o
the U.S. resident popuation generated by sape sureys o peope iing in
househods.
Chapter 3 engages with the idea that the pubic, poicyakers, and re-
searchers hae not ignored inates entirey. We are a cuture ascinated by
criinaity, and newspapers and broadcast edia are rie with iages o
crie and deiance. Once peope are ocked up in prisons or jais, how eer,they get ess attention in the edia unti they are reeased, paroed, or ur-
oughed. Whie there is itte edia coerage o orer inates who reinte-
grate into ainstrea society ater incarceration, repeat offenders are co-
ony eatured in edia accounts and poitica capaigns. Proinent
poicyakers—both Deocrat and Repubican—hae ade their careers
out o being “tough on crie.” And athough Repubicans cai uch o the
credit—or are targets o bae—or “tough on crie” egisation, Deocrats
hae aso been actie proponents o the war on crie and the resuting penaexpansion.
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At the sae tie that the edia has prougated iages o criinaity
and ictiization, schoars hae been sow to produce basic descriptie work
docuenting the scope o criina justice expansion and the deographic
contours o ass incarceration. We know, or exape, that the prison and jai popuation has grown draaticay oer the past thirty-fe years. But we
know ess about the distribution o incarceration across socia and deo-
graphic groups. For exape, how has the coposition o inates changed
oer tie? How do incarceration rates ary oer tie and in reation to gen-
der, race, age, and indicators o socia cass ike epoyent and education?
How any peope hae eer spent tie in a correctiona aciity or soe
other or o correctiona superision? How any peope know, ie with, or
are reated to soeone who has been inoed in the criina justice syste,and how is that experience distributed across the popuation?
Instead, schoary attention has ocused on cacuating the behaiora i-
pications o criina justice contact. Adinistratie, surey, and experien-
ta data hae a been epoyed in an effort to estiate the outcoes o cri-
ina justice contact and incarceration in the conteporary United States. For
exape, nuerous studies hae exained how criina justice contact and
incarceration affect epoyent and wage outcoes (Western 2002, 2006;
Pager 2003, 2007; Ape and Sweeten 2010; lyons and Pettit 2011). Otherstudies hae inestigated how the experience o incarceration affects oting
and ciic engageent (Uggen and manza 2002; manza and Uggen 2006;
Burch 2010). And finay, a growing body o schoarship inestigates how
criina justice contact influences aiy ie, heath, and counity engage-
ent (see, or exape, Cear 2007; Foster and Hagan 2007; Geer, Garfinke,
and Western 2011; Geer et a., orthcoing; massogia 2008; Widean
2009).
Unortunatey, adinistratie and surey data are oten narrow in scope,and the sae data sets that ai to incude current inates in their sapes
coony ai to coect data on prior criina justice contact ro the peo-
pe they do interiew. True experients in the fied are rare, and a easure o
uncertainty couds een the ost rigorous studies. It is extraordinariy
difficut, in a statistica sense, to identiy the effects o incarceration on a
range o ie outcoes precisey because criina justice contact and incar-
ceration are disproportionatey concentrated aong certain subgroups o the
Aerican popuation. Research cannot easiy sort out deographic ro car-cera effects. As a consequence, the findings o causay oriented research are
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INvISIBlE mEN 7
continuay debated, and fundaenta questions about the effects of in-
carceration reain unresoed. meanwhie, basic descriptions of the growth
and distribution of criina justice contact hae receied scant attention.
Tis book is designed to address soe of the shortcoings of preious work through attention to the consequences for accounts of racia inequa ity
in Aerica of excuding inates and forer inates fro conentiona data
sources. Athough the expicit goa of ost censuses is to proide accurate
popuation counts and the stated ai of ost sape sureys is to be repre-
sentatie of a arger popuation, the rapid and draatic growth in the U.S.
criina justice syste has eft key hoes in accounts of the econoic we-
being, poitica engageent, and heath status of the Aerican popuation.
Te excusion of the institutionaized fro househod-based sureys renderscurrent inates ute in stateents of the Aerican popuation’s condition,
and extreey high rates of residentia instabiity and hoeessness contrib-
ute to the inisibiity of forer inates in officia accounts of the popuation
and its characteristics deried fro the Census and househod-based socia
sureys.
In Chapter 4, I iustrate how the excusion of inates fro sape sureys
profoundy influences the easureent of racia inequaity in educa tiona
attainent, epoyent, and aerage wages. For exape, there are significantdiscrepancies in estiates of the high schoo dropout rate between different
data sources (see, for exape, Heckan and laFontaine 2010; Warren and
Hapern-manners 2009). Data fro the Current Popuation Surey, eant
to be representatie of the U.S. popuation, paces the high schoo dropout
rate of young en at 13 to 16 percent and shows eidence of decines in the
back-white gap in high schoo copetion oer the past few decades. Yet
arge urban schoo districts that are disproportionatey back routiney report
that 50 percent or ore of their students drop out. Athough soe discrepancy in easures fro different data sources is to
be expected because of the different ais of the sureys, the excusion of in-
ates fro the Current Popuation Surey, as Chapter 4 iustrates, contrib-
utes to a systeatic bias in estiates of high schoo dropout rates. Inates
hae extreey high dropout rates. Incuding inates in estiates suggests a
nationwide high schoo dropout rate aong young back en ore than 40
percent higher than conentiona estiates using the CPS woud suggest, and
no iproeent in the back-white gap in high schoo graduation rates sincethe eary 1990s. Chapter 4 aso reeas that siiar bias affects conentiona
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estiates o epoyent and wages. In 2008 neary one in fie young back
en did not finish high schoo, back ae dropouts were ore ikey to be
in prison or jai than to be epoyed, and reatie wages aong young back
en had seen itte iproeent oer the preious twenty years.In Chapter 5, I exaine how decades o criina justice expansion concea
racia inequaity in oting. One o the ost studied phenoena o conte-
porary Aerican poitics is the aous decine in oter turnout through the
ate 1990s. Te decine in oter turnout was hed to be particuary acute