Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T19:05:18.581Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Legislating More Punishment and Less Rehabilitation

from Part II - The Building Blocks of Mass Incarceration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2022

Jeffrey Bellin
Jeffrey Bellin
Affiliation:
William and Mary Law School, Virginia
Get access

Summary

The previous chapter discussed the wave of political energy introduced into American politics by a desire to fight crime. The message resonated beyond the “street crimes” Senator Kennedy singled out in 1975, like rape and murder. Politicians also turned to the criminal justice architecture to solve society’s most vexing problems, like drug addiction, gun violence, child pornography, drunk driving, and intrafamily abuse. This approach required two components: new laws and increased enforcement. Legislators changed the laws, and they funded a hiring spree of police officers to catch people who broke those laws, prosecutors and judges to put them in jail, and correctional officers to keep them there.

Keywords

1994 Crime BillTruth in Sentencingindeterminate and determinate sentencingparoleMartinsonDWI
Type
Chapter
Information
Mass Incarceration Nation
How the United States Became Addicted to Prisons and Jails and How It Can Recover
 , pp. 48 - 66
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×