Prison expansion correlates with falling crime, exposing profit and racism as drivers

Evidence

The notion of a prison industrial complex insists on understandings of the punishment process that take into account economic and political structures and ideologies, rather than focusing myopically on individual criminal conduct and efforts to “curb crime.” The fact, for example, that many corporations with global markets now rely on prisons as an important source of profit helps us to understand the rapidity with which prisons began to proliferate precisely at a time when official studies indicated that the crime rate was falling. The notion of a prison industrial complex also insists that the racialization of prison populations—and this is not only true of the United States, but of Europe, South America, and Australia as well—is not an incidental feature. — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 227

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow on racialized mass incarceration across democracies. — connects to: Prison growth began when crime rates were already falling — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 34; California prison expansion responded to surpluses of capital, land, labor, and state capacity — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 25; Racism and profit, not crime, drive prison expansion (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Racism and profit, not crime, drive prison expansion #corroborates (0.90)
• Prisons proliferated while crime rates were falling due to corporate profit #corroborates (0.90)
• Corporate profit motives entrench a prison system that would otherwise be obsolete. #corroborates (0.85) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 235
• Mass incarceration did not lower crime but bred more prisons #corroborates (0.80)
• Prison expansion undermines democracy and normalizes incarceration for people of color #expands (0.50) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 274
• Imprisonment converts bodies of color into profit sources that drain public welfare funding #expands (0.50) — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 234