The National Research Council on The Growth of Incarceration in the United States

The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences | The National Academies Press.

The National Research Council offers a thought-provoking account of why the rate of imprisonment in the US has quadrupled in the past decade and is disproportionately poor, young, minority, addicted, mentally ill, and badly educated.

The report makes the case that incarceration is now hurting our society rather than helping it, and recommends changes in policy as a result.

No doubt this the conclusions and recommendations will be vigorously debated. They should: it is time for a serious discussion about incarceration in this country that will result in our re-thinking the nature and purpose of our correctional institutions.

The book is available for a free download (or in paperback for $67.46) at the National Academies Press site.

Author: David Wolf

An adviser to corporations and organizations on strategy, communications, and public affairs, David Wolf has been working and living in Beijing since 1995, and now divides his time between China and California. He also serves as a policy and industry analyst focused on innovative and creative industries, a futurist, and an amateur historian. View all posts by David Wolf