Dissertation
Justice Reinvestment and Mass Incarceration: a Multi-State Evaluation of Policy Reform on Prison Populations
Washington State University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000005230
Abstract
Justice reinvestment has often been hailed as a solution to mass incarceration in the United States for nearly 20 years. It suggests that inefficiencies in the criminal justice system can be eliminated to reinvest money in high-incarceration communities to reduce the correlates of crime. During the last two decades the federal government has promoted the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI), a technical assistance program to help states implement reinvestment programs. However, much of the literature does not substantially detail what kinds of reforms have been passed in these programs. Additionally, these programs have been touted in technical reports as having been successful, yet little evidence has been reported in peer reviewed formats. Further, substantial doubt has been cast on the methodologies of some reports that claim justice reinvestment is successful at reducing prison populations. This study seeks to answer two questions: do the JRI states have differing legislative focuses; and has reinvestment legislation produced significant changes in criminal justice populations within individual states? One state from each U.S. Census region were selected based on their year of Justice Reinvestment Initiative program implementation and completeness of the range of monthly data (Jan 2004 to Dec 2020). Results of thematic analyses indicate that great variation exists in the 35 legislative bills that implemented justice reinvestment principles between the four states. Furthermore, no state legally earmarked reinvestment funds for the original purpose of justice reinvestment, community development. Quantitative analyses using Multiple Event Time Series Regression design indicate that after controlling for external strain variables and economic events, justice reinvestment implementations have varying degrees of success in achieving reductions in prison populations. The regression results also indicate that economic strain events (such as the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic) and variables (such as poverty, inflation, and unemployment) significantly predict future prison populations.
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Details
- Title
- Justice Reinvestment and Mass Incarceration
- Creators
- Chrsitopher W. Dollar
- Contributors
- Amelie Pedneault (Advisor)Dale Willits (Committee Member)Mary Stohr (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Criminal Justice and Criminology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 246
- Identifiers
- 99901019836201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation