Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T13:07:16.666Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Throwing Away the Key: The Unintended Consequences of “Tough-on-Crime” Laws

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2021

Frank R. Baumgartner Open the ORCID record for Frank R. Baumgartner [Opens in a new window] ,
Tamira Daniely ,
Kalley Huang ,
Sydney Johnson ,
Alexander Love ,
Lyle May ,
Patrice Mcgloin ,
Allison Swagert ,
Niharika Vattikonda  and
Kamryn Washington
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

During the 1980s and 1990s, U.S. policymakers adopted draconian criminal justice polices including widespread use of extremely long sentences, including life without parole. The country is now coming to face the consequences of these policies: a new class of geriatric prisoners posing little threat to public safety as they age into their seventies and beyond. Using a perspective drawn from bounded rationality, framing, and agenda-setting, we recount how policymakers adopted these policies, with key blind spots relating to obvious consequences of these harsh laws. We show how political leaders can over-respond to a perceived public policy crisis, particularly when powerful frames of race, fear, and dehumanization come to dominate the public discourse. We show how these trends are radically changing the demographics and needs of prison populations through a chronological review, mathematical simulation of the prison population, review of statistics about prison population, and personal stories illustrating these themes drawn from inside prison.

Type
Reflection
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 19 , Issue 4: Special Issue: Race and Politics in America , December 2021 , pp. 1233 - 1246
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

A list of permanent links to Supplemental Materials provided by the authors precedes the References section.

Data replication sets are available in Harvard Dataverse at: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/0UHBUM

References

Aday, Ronald H., 1994. “Golden Years behind Bars: Special Programs and Facilities for Elderly Inmates.” Federal Probation 58(2): 47–54.Google Scholar
Alexander, Michelle. 2010. The New Jim Crow. New York: New Press.Google Scholar
Aspinwall, Cary, Blakinger, Keri, and Neff, Joseph. 2020. “What Women Dying in Prison from COVID-19 Tells Us about Female Incarceration.” The Marshall Project, May 14. (https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/05/14/what-women-dying-in-prison-from-covid-19-tell-us-about-female-incarceration).Google Scholar
Baumgartner, Frank R., and Jones, Bryan D.. 1993. Agendas and Instability in American Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Baumgartner, Frank R., and Johnson, Sydney. 2020. “Aging in Place in the Big House.” October 11. Available at: http://fbaum.unc.edu/papers/Baumgartner-Johnson-AgingInPrison-2020.pdf.Google Scholar
Beale, Sara Sun. 2006. “The News Media’s Influence on Criminal Justice policy: How Market-Driven News Promotes Punitiveness.” William and Mary Law Review 48(2): 397–482.Google Scholar
Becker, Elizabeth. 2001. “As Ex-Theorist on Young ‘Superpredators,’ Bush Aide Has Regrets.” New York Times, February 9.Google Scholar
Bogert, Carroll, and Hancock, Lynnell. 2020. “Superpredator: The Media Myth that Demonized a Generation of Black Youth.” The Marshall Project, November 20 (https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/11/20/superpredator-the-media-myth-that-demonized-a-generation-of-black-youth).Google Scholar
Britto, Ssarah, and Noga-Styron, Krystal E.. 2014. “Media Consumption and Support for Capital Punishment.” Criminal Justice Review 39(1): 81–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Capital Times. 1994. “‘3 Strikes’ Bill in Assembly’s Court.” Capital Times (Madison, WI), March 24.Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2020. “Data table for Figure 3. Number of deaths and age-specific death rates for ages 15 years and over: United States, 2017 and 2018.” (https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db355_tables-508.pdf#page=3).Google Scholar
Clear, Todd R., and Frost, Natasha A.. 2014. The Punishment Imperative. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Dagan, David, and Teles, Steven M.. 2016. Prison Break: Why Conservatives Turned Against Mass Incarceration. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
DiIulio, John J. Jr. 1995. “The Coming of the Super-Predator.” The Weekly Standard, November 27.Google Scholar
Enns, Peter K. 2014. The Public’s Increasing Punitiveness and Its Influence on Mass Incarceration in the United States. American Journal of Political Science 58(4): 857–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enns, Peter K.. 2016. Incarceration Nation. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Fazel, S., Hope, T., O’Donnell, I., Piper, M. and Jacoby, R., 2001. “Health of elderly male prisoners: worse than the general population, worse than younger prisoners.” Age and Ageing 30(5): 403–07.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, Morton. 1995. “Three-Strikes-and-You’re-Out: Pragmatic, Political, or Pacification.” University of Dayton Law Review 20(2): 727–29.Google Scholar
Gewerth, K.E. 1988. “Elderly Offenders: A Review of Previous Research.” In Older Offenders: Perspectives in Criminology and Criminal Justice, ed. McCarthy, B. and Langworthy, R., 14–34. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Gilliam, Franklin D., Iyengar, Shanto, Simon, Adam, and Wright, Oliver. 1996. “Crime in Black and White: The Violent, Scary World of Local News.” Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 1(3): 6–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodman, Philip, Page, Joshua, and Phelps, Michelle. 2017. Breaking the Pendulum: The Long Struggle over Criminal Justice. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottschalk, Marie. 2015. Caught. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter, John Patrick. 1994. “Clinton Sadly Spouts ‘3-Strikes’ Rhetoric.” Capital Times (Madison, WI), January 27.Google Scholar
Jones, Bryan D., Thomas, Herschel F. III, and Wolfe, Michelle. 2014. “Policy Bubbles.” Policy Studies Journal 42(1): 146–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kane, Dan, and Alexander, Ames. 2020. “NC Women’s Prison in Raleigh Has Its First Coronavirus-Related Death.” Raleigh News and Observer, May 6. (https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article242554206.html).Google Scholar
Kingdon, John W. 1984. Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policies. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
LaMere, S., Smyer, T., and Gragert, M.. 1996. “The Aging Inmate.” Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services 34(4): 25–29.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lipton, Douglas S., Martinson, Robert, and Wilks, Judith. 1975. The Effectiveness of Correctional Treatment. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Marquart, J.W., Merianos, D.E., and Doucet, G.. 2000. “The Health-Related Concerns of Older Prisoners: Implications for Policy. Aging and Society 20(1): 79–96 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinson, Robert. 1974. “What Works? Questions and Answers about Prison Reform.” Public Interest 35:22–54.Google Scholar
Martinson, Robert. 1979. “New Findings, New Views: A Note of Caution Regarding Sentencing Reform.” Hofstra Law Review 7(2): 243–58.Google Scholar
Mauer, Marc, and Nellis, Ashley. 2018. The Meaning of Life. New York: New Press.Google Scholar
McCarthy, M. 1983. “The Health Status of Elderly Inmates.” Corrections Today 45(1): 64–74.Google Scholar
Mistretta v. United States. 1989. 488 US 361.Google Scholar
Morris, Norval, and Rothman, David J., eds. 1995. The Oxford History of the Prison. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nellis, Ashley, and King, Ryan S.. 2009. No Exit: The Expanding Use of Life Sentences in America. Wahington, DC: The Sentencing Project.Google Scholar
Ogletree, Charles J. Jr., and Sarat, Austin. 2012. Life without Parole: America’s New Death Penalty? New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Page, Joshua. 2013. The Toughest Beat. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Program Evaluation Division. 2018. “Improvements to Inmate Healthcare Reimbursement and Internal Processes Could Save $5.6 Million Annually.” Report to the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee. Raleigh, NC: General Assembly.Google Scholar
Prost, Stephanie Grace, Novisky, Meghan A, Rorvig, Leah, Zaller, Nick, and Williams, Brie. 2020. “Prisons and COVID-19: A Desperate Call for Gerontological Expertise in Correctional Health Care.” Gerontologist, Jul 24. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnaa088.Google Scholar
Sarre, Rick. 2001. “Beyond ‘What Works?’” “A 25 Year Jubilee Retrospective of Robert Martinson’s Famous Article.” Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology 34(1): 38–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seeds, Christopher. 2018. “Disaggregating LWOP: Life without Parole, Capital Punishment, and Mass Incarceration in Florida, 1972–1995.” Law and Society Review 52(1): 172–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taifa, Nkechi. 1995. “Three-Strikes-and-You’re-Out-Mandatory Life Imprisonment for Third Time Felons.” University of Dayton Law Review 20(2): 717–26.Google Scholar
United States Department of Justice. 2018. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics. “National Corrections Reporting Program, 1991-2016: Selected Variables (ICPSR 37012).” Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research 2018-08-30. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37021.v1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United States Senate, Committee on the Judiciary. 1983. Report on S. 1762, Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1983. Senate Report No 98–225. Washington DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Vega, M., and Silverman, M., 1988. “Stress and the Elderly Convict.” International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 32(2): 153-62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, Jack L. Jr. 1977. “Setting the Agenda in the U.S. Senate: A Theory of Problem Selection”. British Journal of Political Science 7(4): 423–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, Julian H. Jr, 1990. “Life-without-Parole: An Alternative to Death or Not Much of a Life at All.” Vanderbilt Law Review 43(2): 529–68.Google Scholar
Zimring, Franklin. E., and Hawkins, Gordon. 1995. Incapacitation. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Zimring, Franklin. E., Hawkins, Gordon, and Kamin, Sam. 2001. Punishment and Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: Link

Baumgartner et al. Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/0UHBUM
Link
Supplementary material: File

Baumgartner et al. supplementary material

Baumgartner et al. supplementary material

Download Baumgartner et al. supplementary material(File)
File 160.7 KB