Rise of Mass Incarceration

The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. Every day more than 2 million people are locked in prisons, jails, and immigrant detention centers. Another 7.2 million are on probation, parole, or under a deportation order. An estimated 65 million people have criminal records. Mass incarceration also impacts the way urban and suburban spaces have evolved, electoral maps are drawn, social movements are made and unmade, cultural norms and identities are forged and reinforced, and sexuality is profiled and policed. Policing, punishment, detention, and deportation also shape the U.S. economy and American democracy in fundamental ways. While mass policing and incarceration booms began in the 1970s, the origins of the modern carceral state are deeply rooted in American history.