Exam 18: Incarceration Trends

As a direct consequence of higher incarceration rates, courts have cited states for maintaining overcrowded prisons that violate an incarcerated person's Amendment right prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment.

Those convicted of offenses serve the longest sentences.

Supporters of incarceration believe that current policies have in lowering the crime rate.

If you were an elected official, what action(s) would you advocate to ensure that incarceration was cost-effective? Explain your answer.

In addition to optimizing the cost-benefit differential in incarceration, certain issues would need to be addressed if a more rational incarceration policy is to be designed.

Studies have indicated that increasing the proportion of people sent to prison produces diminishing returns in crime reduction, which means that .

Researchers recognize that the size of the prison population is not driven by the amount of crime, but by .

Overcrowded prisons may violate the .

Define and discuss the "war on drugs." How has the war on drugs affected U.S. prison populations?

For most of the 20th century, the numbers of incarcerated people in the United States .

New mandatory sentencing laws greatly limit the discretion of with regard to the length of sentences for certain offenses.

The states with highest incarceration rates tend to be in the Northeast region of the country.

To begin the "war on drugs," Congress in 1987 imposed stiff sentences for federal drug violations, laws that many states copied.

Intermediate sanctions include which of the following?

The shift to sentences, truth-in-sentencing laws, and a drop in release rates have contributed to the higher prison population.

Prison crowding directly affects the ability of correctional staff to do their work because it decreases the proportion of individuals in programs, increases the potential for violence, and strains morale.

Crowded prisons may violate standards.

a. Relieving overcrowding by building more prisons b. Strains staff morale c. Cheaper than prison d. Doing nothing about prison overcrowding e. Incarceration rate above historical norms f. African Americans/Hispanics g. Higher prison populations as a whole h. Average U.S. incarceration rate from 2000 to 2007 i. One of the causes of the current high incarceration rates -490 per 100,000

Which of the following is NOT one of the four primary strategies for dealing with overcrowded prisons?

To "do something" about crime, government leaders have enacted .