The Place of Punishment

Abstract

The continued use of prisons and jails at historically high levels in rural and suburban areas is sustaining mass incarceration. Although urban counties have far higher crime rates, criminal legal authorities in suburban and rural counties send a much greater share of the people who are arrested on felony charges to prison. Counties with higher levels of social disadvantage, more conservative electorates, and larger Black populations have higher prison admission rates after controlling for crime-related problems. Even after taking all of these factors into account, however, rural and suburban counties have comparatively high prison admission rates. If rural and suburban counties matched urban counties in terms of their use of prison, prison admissions would be reduced by roughly one-third. While geographic variation in the propensity to punish increasingly falls along urban/nonurban lines, it is made possible by the existence of tough sentencing laws that enable zealous prosecutors and judges to impose severe penalties.