States with large African-American populations are more likely to have harsher incarceration practices, worse conditions of confinement and tougher policies toward juveniles compared with other states, according to a study led by Katharine Neill, the Alfred C. Glassell III Postdoctoral Fellow in Drug Policy. These findings provide some support for long-standing arguments among sociology and criminal justice experts that the criminal justice system is used as a mechanism for controlling members of the population who are perceived as threats because of race, Neill says.
Click here to read "Explaining Dimensions of State-level Punitiveness in the United States: The Roles of Social, Economic and Cultural Factors," published online before print on Aug. 13, 2014, by the Criminal Justice Policy Review. Subscription required.
