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ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF MASS INCARCERATION ON INFORMAL SOCIAL CONTROL IN COMMUNITIES
Author(s) -
LYNCH JAMES P.,
SABOL WILLIAM J.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
criminology and public policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.6
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1745-9133
pISSN - 1538-6473
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-9133.2004.tb00042.x
Subject(s) - imprisonment , social control , mass incarceration , control (management) , demographic economics , stigma (botany) , criminology , sociology , prison , psychology , economics , social science , management , psychiatry
Research Summary: This paper reviews and evaluates the existing (and limited) evidence that increases in incarceration have affected the ability of residential neighborhoods to perform their traditional social control functions. It suggests that, although comparatively weak, the evidence points to the increases in the level and clustering in social and geographic space of incarceration as contributing to changes in the social organization of affected communities by weakening family formation, labor force attachments, and patterns of social interaction among residents. At the same time, however, the paper does find support for the contention that incarceration leads to reductions in crime in affected communities. Policy Implications: To the extent that mass incarceration disrupts patterns of social interaction, weakens community social organization, and decreases the stigma of imprisonment, its longer‐run effects may be to reduce its effectiveness.