Did Mass Incarceration Leave Americans Feeling Less Afraid? A Multilevel Analysis of Cumulative Imprisonment and Individual Perceptions of Fear. (2nd December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Corradi, Andrea; Baumer, Eric P.
• Is Part Of: Justice quarterly. Volume 39:Number 7(2022)
• Page Start: 1378
• Page End: 1399
• Publication Date: 2022-12-02
• Subjects: Mass incarceration -- fear -- criminal justice policy -- GSS; Criminal justice, Administration of -- Periodicals; Criminal justice, Administration of -- United States -- Periodicals; 340.11405
• DOI: 10.1080/07418825.2022.2060284
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0741-8825

Abstract

Abstract: Much of the political rhetoric that facilitated mass incarceration was predicated on the promise of reducing fear among the public. Yet, it remains unclear whether the large increases in imprisonment experienced in many areas made residents feel less afraid. We examine this issue by integrating geographic data on imprisonment with individual-level data on fear from the General Social Survey (GSS). We find that people from states and counties with greater "cumulative imprisonment" rates were no less afraid than their counterparts from areas that imprisoned many fewer people. These findings hold for the public overall and for non-Latino whites and members of the working and middle classes, who frequently were target audiences for political rhetoric linking mass incarceration era policies to fear reduction. Our study supports growing calls to decouple crime and criminal justice policy from politics and electoral cycles, and to develop evidence-based punishment approaches organized around transparent normative principles.