Is mass incarceration a myth?

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Left-leaning think tanks never tire of talking about mass incarceration in the United States. It’s particularly bad in states like Texas, Florida and New York, for example – or so we’re told.

But, as a brand new paper clearly demonstrates, the mass incarceration narrative is based more on myth than actual facts.

As the paper, authored by two University of Pennsylvania law professors, notes, the prevailing belief is that the significant rise in America’s prison population since the 1960s can be attributed almost entirely to excessive and unjust punishment. However, as they show, this explanation fails to consider the various factors unrelated to sentencing that have contributed to the increase in incarceration. 

The debate over incarceration practices requires nuance, the paper’s authors suggest. (iStock)

These factors include a nearly doubled U.S. population, higher crime rates, improved effectiveness of the justice system, the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, the introduction of new and stricter criminal laws, worsening criminal histories of offenders, and more.

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In short, it is evident that these non-sentencing factors can account for a majority of America’s heightened incarceration rates compared to the 1960s, contradicting the mass incarceration narrative pushed by left-leaning researchers and commentators. 

Furthermore, according to the professors, while certain punishments have indeed become more severe since the 1960s, most of these changes are likely viewed as aligning sentences more closely with what the community and many advocates for incarceration reform consider appropriate and just. This is particularly true in

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