Policy Trends, Reforms, and Strategies in Reducing Incarceration: The Role of States and Communities

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

This panel presents four different perspectives on reducing incarceration. The first three papers analyze different legislative/policy changes and their effects—-or potential effects—-on state-level incarceration in the United States. The limitations of current efforts by some states to reduce prison population growth are addressed, and suggestions of potential lessons for future reforms are also offered. The fourth paper offers an international perspective on this issue, addressing similar concerns in an Australian context. Ultimately the research questions explored in this panel are relevant for considering trends in penal reform, and whether any movement away from mass incarceration is likely (or possible) in the future.

Sub Unit

• Area VII: Criminal Justice Policy and Practice / 43: Lawmaking and Legal Change

Individual Presentations

• Policy Incrementalism and Penal Reform: States and the Reduction of Mass Incarceration - Tiffany Bergin, Kent State University; Susanne Karstedt, Griffith University

• Trends in Sentencing and Corrections: A State Legislative Round-up - Rebecca Silber, Vera Institute of Justice

• Using a Zero Base Strategy to Model Reduction in Incarceration at the State Level - Todd Clear, Rutgers University; James Austin, JFA Institute

• The Rise and Rise of Incarceration of First Nations Peoples in Australia: Identifying the Causes, Reducing the Problem - Susan Dennison, Griffith University; Krystal Lockwood, Griffith University; Todd Clear, Rutgers University

Chair

• Tiffany Bergin, Kent State University