Most Americans Do Not Like Mass Incarceration: Public Preferences in an Era of Declining Punitiveness

• In Event: 50 Years of Mass Incarceration: Survey of Harm

Abstract

Based on a 2023 national-level YouGov survey of 1,000 respondents, this study explores the extent to which “mass incarceration” has limited support among the American public as the lynchpin of correctional policy. Public preferences are demonstrated through a series of questions assessing support or opposition to expanding prison populations. Emotions about incarcerating people also are explored. By including experiments, the study explores if providing information about levels of U.S. mass incarceration leads subjects to favor reducing the number of people now locked up. These findings align with related polls showing a long-term decline in public punitiveness in the United States. The results suggest as well that ideological space now exists for implementing effective policies and practices that lower prison populations without jeopardizing public safety.

Authors

• Francis T. Cullen, University of Cincinnati

• Cheryl Lero Jonson, Xavier University

• Alexander Burton, The University of Texas at Dallas

• Justin Pickett, SUNY Albany