Racial Stigma, Mass Incarceration and American

Values

Glenn C. Loury

Merton P. Stoltz Professor

Brown University

February 2007

State Prisons Grow Faster than Higher Ed

According to a 2002 report of the Justice Policy Institute (Washington, DC):

• “During the 1980s and 1990s, state spending on corrections grew at 6 times the rate of state spending on higher education, and by the close of the 1990’s, there were nearly a third more African American men in prison and jail than in universities or colleges.”

Yet Crime Fell Sharply in 90’s

Crime/Prison Trends since 1970

Imprisonment in the United States, 1925-2004

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

1,600,00019

25

1929

1933

1937

1941

1945

1949

1953

1957

1961

1965

1969

1973

1977

1981

1985

1989

1993

1997

2001

Pri

so

n P

op

ula

tio

n

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

Inc

arc

era

ted

pe

r 1

00

,00

0

Total prison population Incarceration Rate

There is A Large and Growing Racial Disparity in Imprisonment

Proportion Ever in Prisonby Age, Race and Birth Cohort

White Men Black Men

0

5

10

15

20

25

Born 1945-1949 Born 1965-1969 Born 1945-1949 Born 1965-1969

15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34

Least Educated Are Hardest Hit

Race Difference in Drug Use

Race Difference in Drug Arrests

Winning the War? Drug Prices, Emergency Treatment and Incarceration Rates: 1980-2000

New AIDS Cases (Males 1982-2001)

What if no racial disparity in incarceration? (Men)

Two Paths to Civic Incorporation

Europe (Welfare State Remedies for Social Marginality)• Unemployment/welfare are seen as problems of “social exclusion”• Social-democratic activism incorporate marginal into “mainstream”

versus

United States (A Quasi-Paternalism Governs the Poor)• Social dysfunction, behavioral pathology, and personal

disorganization as the sources of marginality

• “Telling the Poor What to Do” (Help and Hassle) – Directive, supervisory, and punitive policies– Supports to enable preferred behavior (faith-based)

-.5

0.5

Pol

icy

Pop

ulat

ion

Rel

ativ

e to

199

0

1990 1995 2000y ear

Receiv ing Cash Assistance Incarcerated

The American Path Chosen: Change in Numbers Incarcerated and Receiving Cash Aid:1990-2000

Mid-1960s: welfare policy becomes “raced” in media coverage and the American public mind

Correlation: r = .03 (1950-65) r = .68 (1966-96)