The Punishment Imperative: The Rise and Failure of Mass Incarceration in America

Abstract

THE PUNISHMENT IMPERATIVE: THE RISE AND FAILURE OF MASS INCARCERATION IN AMERICA Todd R. Clear and Natasha A. Frost (2014). New York: New York University Press. pp 258 (hdbk) 19.99 [pounds sterling]. ISBN 978-0-8147-1719-6 Clear and Frost introduce their book by defining what the 'Punishment Imperative' (PI) is, and how the 'grand social experiment' of mass incarceration has shaped the course of the American criminal justice system over the past several decades: '[T]he Punishment Imperative began with the co-alignment of an array of forces that came together to make the explosive growth in the penal system a social and political possibility.' The authors argue that rising crime rates, media attention to victimization, high political priority, an emerging, large pool of unemployed young black men that came to symbolize an urban 'enemy' in which to wage 'wars' against, and a political economy that emphasized get-tough politics propelled the prison population and extended the reach of the correctional system starting in the 1970s. The book's timeliness allows the analysis of this storyline to be advanced by proposing that 2009 marked a shift in the mass incarceration trajectory, as prison numbers began to meaningfully drop for the first time in years, which, they contend, signifies the fall of the Punishment Imperative. (12) The authors support this (somewhat tentative) claim by arguing that the dominant driver for the reduction of dependence and overuse of prisons is the present economic crisis, though it is more complex than simple austerity: 'So while the current fiscal crisis is a motivating factor for the downsizing of the correctional system, it is not by itself the cause. The de-escalation of punishment is possible mainly because the sentiment of punitiveness has undergone an important shift (11).' This book, then, is about the rise, failure, and fall of the Punishment Imperative. Because of that, it is an interesting read for established academics, practitioners, and students alike. The first several chapters present a thorough and well-researched navigation through the development and growth of the Punishment Imperative. To begin, the historical context which laid the groundwork for the turn in public and political punitiveness in the 1970s is outlined. This introduction leads to a sophisticated examination of the PI as a 'grand social experiment', in which the authors argue that the PI as a social and political experiment is particularly insidious because 'the goal was never articulated, the full array of consequences was never considered, and the momentum built even as the forces driving the policy shifts diminished' (57). This is a persuasive section, specifically because it addresses broader moral concerns about the impact of such wide-reaching, yet often racially targeted, state-sanctioned controls on community and social justice: 'concern about crime became shorthand for a broader concern about what many perceived as the general breakdown of order' (60), in which race became a foundation for punishment (62). Chapter four provides a comprehensive and engaging analysis of the policies that preceded the Punishment Imperative (namely the 1967 Crime Commission report), those that contributed to the amplification and potency of the PI, and the apparent sea change in rhetoric and reform that is now taking place. …