Racial Stigma, Mass Incarceration and American Values Glenn C. Loury Merton P. Stoltz Professor Brown University February 2007.

Racial Stigma, Mass Incarceration and American

Values

Glenn C. Loury

Merton P. Stoltz Professor

Brown University

February 2007

State Prisons Grow Faster than Higher Ed

According to a 2002 report of the Justice Policy Institute (Washington, DC):

• “During the 1980s and 1990s, state spending on corrections grew at 6 times the rate of state spending on higher education, and by the close of the 1990’s, there were nearly a third more African American men in prison and jail than in universities or colleges.”

Yet Crime Fell Sharply in 90’s

Crime/Prison Trends since 1970

Imprisonment in the United States, 1925-2004

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

1,600,00019

25

1929

1933

1937

1941

1945

1949

1953

1957

1961

1965

1969

1973

1977

1981

1985

1989

1993

1997

2001

Pri

so

n P

op

ula

tio

n

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

Inc

arc

era

ted

pe

r 1

00

,00

0

Total prison population Incarceration Rate

There is A Large and Growing Racial Disparity in Imprisonment

Proportion Ever in Prisonby Age, Race and Birth Cohort

White Men Black Men

0

5

10

15

20

25

Born 1945-1949 Born 1965-1969 Born 1945-1949 Born 1965-1969

15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34

Least Educated Are Hardest Hit

Race Difference in Drug Use

Race Difference in Drug Arrests

Winning the War? Drug Prices, Emergency Treatment and Incarceration Rates: 1980-2000

New AIDS Cases (Males 1982-2001)

What if no racial disparity in incarceration? (Men)

Two Paths to Civic Incorporation

Europe (Welfare State Remedies for Social Marginality)• Unemployment/welfare are seen as problems of “social exclusion”• Social-democratic activism incorporate marginal into “mainstream”

versus

United States (A Quasi-Paternalism Governs the Poor)• Social dysfunction, behavioral pathology, and personal

disorganization as the sources of marginality

• “Telling the Poor What to Do” (Help and Hassle) – Directive, supervisory, and punitive policies– Supports to enable preferred behavior (faith-based)

-.5

0.5

Pol

icy

Pop

ulat

ion

Rel

ativ

e to

199

0

1990 1995 2000y ear

Receiv ing Cash Assistance Incarcerated

The American Path Chosen: Change in Numbers Incarcerated and Receiving Cash Aid:1990-2000

Mid-1960s: welfare policy becomes “raced” in media coverage and the American public mind

Correlation: r = .03 (1950-65) r = .68 (1966-96)