Analyzing Changing Tends in Incarceration by Race and Offense

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

As the political environment shaping mass incarceration continues to evolve, it is increasingly important to assess the policies and practices that contributed to America’s overreliance on prisons and jails. This session will explore changes in sentencing policy and lengths of incarceration in recent decades for several categories of race, gender, and offense characteristics, and assess the implications for ongoing considerations of prison populations.

Sub Unit

• Area IV. Criminal Justice Policy and Practice / 40. Prosecution, Courts and Sentencing

Individual Presentations

• Trends in Sentence Length and Time Served: A Case Study of Pennsylvania from the mid-1980s to the Present - Daniel Nagin, Carnegie Mellon University; Lindsay Bostwick, Carnegie Mellon University

• Examining Life Sentences in America - Ashley Nellis, The Sentencing Project

• The Changing Racial Dynamics of Women's Incarceration - Marc Mauer, The Sentencing Project

Chair

• Marc Mauer, The Sentencing Project