Roundtable: Punishment in America--How Cruel and How Unusual?

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Session

Abstract

This roundtable will introduce several recently produced reports related to the exceptional harshness of American punishment. On the heels of the 2014 National Research Council report on the growth of incarceration in America, several organizations are currently examining aspects of American punishment with a view toward reducing incarcerated populations. The MacArthur Foundation funded the Interdisciplinary Roundtable on Punitiveness in America at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (JJC) in April 2015. The event, about which a report was written, included 35 national and international experts and centered on the discussion of six commissioned papers. The Vera Institute of Justice and JJC organized visits to German prisons with high-level state officials, including CT Governor Dannel Malloy. The trip was featured in several articles by the Marshall Project and in a segment on CBS’s “60 Minutes.” The Pew Charitable Trusts introduced a new metric for punitiveness, which takes both crime and punishment into account. It reveals new ways to understand the exceptional harshness of American punishment. This roundtable session will introduce these reports and provide the forum to discuss the roles and meanings of punishment in the America, and propose a research agenda aimed at reducing reliance on harsh punishment, especially incarceration.

Sub Unit

• Area XIII: Roundtable Sessions

Individual Presentations

• Punishment Rate Measures Prison Use Relative to Crime: Metric Offers New Perspective on State Incarceration Levels - Adam Gelb, Pew Charitable Trusts

• Why is America So Punitive? A Report on the Deliberations of The Interdisciplinary Roundtable on Punitiveness in America - Bettina Muenster, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Prison Without Punishment Germany Allows Inmates to Wear Their Own Clothes, Cook Their Own Meals, and Have Romantic Visits: Could that Work in the United States? - Maurice Chammah, The Marshall Project

Chair

• David Green, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Discussants

• Jeremy Travis, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

• Todd Clear, Rutgers University

• Shadd Maruna, Rutgers University

• Adam Gelb, Pew Charitable Trusts