Punishment and Inequality in America, Bruce Western, 2006, Russell Sage Foundation, hardback, 247 pages
In 1866 a Russian author wrote what is a difficult book to read, Crime and Punishment. The book had a complex plot and too many names for clear character recall. Punishment and Equality in America by Harvard sociologist, Bruce Western, is equally difficult to simply sit and read. But, the commentary on punishment in our ‘system’ of criminal justice is worth at least a glance. The focus is on the adult sentencing and reformatory or prison population. Mention of the juvenile justice system is limited, but complementary.
Western divides his book into two distinct parts. The first half is on the scope of incarceration. The second section examines the impact, mostly negative, of mass imprisonment. The inclusion of data, lots of data and analysis, pervades the text and makes it a challenge to read. In fact, it may be best for the reader to first read the ten page conclusion and to then look at the earlier segments. The thesis is that prisons effect far more than the inmates. Western makes the case that incarceration contributes to social stigma, unemployment and other social ills. Perhaps the incarceration does more harm than good. But, the book explains every claim and thoughtfully explains the historical change from a rehabilitation model to a confinement model between 1970 and the present.
According to the author, this book studies the “prison boom, but crime is not the main focus.” By 2000 the “U.S. incarceration rate was unparalleled in the economically developed democracies and unprecedented in U.S. history.” Minority over-representation, something our juvenile courts have had to address, is a major part of the increased incarceration. The book is worth a reading as we struggle with the question of just how we got to this point.
The book supports CSU and community intake diversion (about 19% average in Virginia’s CSU’s) and efforts to keep defendants out ot the system. Those defendants, or potential inmates, may be better served through employment, education or programs with or without adjudication. Unfortunately, the 1970’s showed a shift in the state legislatures that can be described by zero tolerance, just say no to drugs, and similar orientations. Legislators, i.e. politicians, got elected by promising to get tough on crime. The “war on drugs” included “sentencing commissions” and subsequent mandatory minimums. By the 1990’s over 20 states had sentencing guidelines. The presentence report or investigation and report became less important as the chart or grid of offense and prior record took precedence. Maine was the first or many states to abolish the parole board. Prisons started to fill up, so new prisons were built and more and more jobs for correctional officers helped the economy. The official “philosophy of rehabilitation
was replaced by a punitive approach” (page 58). And, as noted on page 60, much of the “power to incarcerate moved from judges to prosecutors. By choosing which charges to bring, prosecutors largely controlled a defendants chances of going to jail.” VJJA members who have been around a few years may remember when our learning centers were renamed (JCC), when code changes began to facilitate easier transfer to the adult system and when business cards with staff calling themselves probation counselors were discarded and new ones using the probation officer title were ordered.
Crime rates have gone down over the past decades. But, was this “less crime” phenomenon due to the bad guys being incapacitated or a result of deterrence? Or, was the safer community due to a healthy economy, less unemployment, and less or different drug use? To what extent, if any, did the high level of incarceration reduce crime? At this point the equations and data get to be a challenge. Did the 66% increase in state prison populations, from 725,000 to more than 1.2 million prisoners, cause the reduction of serious crime between 1993 and 2000? And, will society offer jobs to these inmates once they are released or will they be ripe to reoffend based on new stigma and little, if any, true rehabilitation? The book asks many good questions that must be taken seriously for anyone in corrections, learning centers, probation or similar roles, juvenile or adult. If nothing more, this short book may be a good catalyst for your thinking about just how you operate.
