OUR DATA

https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/NACJD/studies/38323/summary

LIST OF REFERENCES

Campbell, Michael C., et al. “HISTORICAL CONTINGENCIES AND THE EVOLVING IMPORTANCE OF RACE, VIOLENT CRIME, AND REGION IN EXPLAINING MASS INCARCERATION IN THE UNITED STATES.” Criminology, vol. 53, no. 2, May 2015, pp. 180–203. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12065.

This article looks at the history of American incarceration and how it relates to race, violent crime, and region when considering mass incarceration. Many policies as well as socioeconomic factors influenced incarceration trends in history, allowing us to understand modern criminal justice imbalances through a historical context lens. Overall, it highlights history’s lingering influence on incarceration patterns.

Chu, Doris C., et al. “Gender Equality and Female Incarceration: Evidence From Global and Regional Analyses.” Criminology & Criminal Justice, Jan. 2023, p. 174889582211511. https://doi.org/10.1177/17488958221151112. 

This study compares gender equality and female incarceration in a global sense. Using analysis of region and policies impacting women imprisonment, it provides a contextualization in understanding how gender dynamics can impact imprisonment rates by gender. Ultimately it was found that a wider gender gap in politics and economics correlated to a lower rate of female imprisonment.

Landgrave, Michelangelo, and Alex Nowrasteh. Illegal Immigrant Incarceration Rates, 2010–2018: Demographics and Policy Implications. Cato Institute, 2020. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep24844.

This report looks at the incarceration rates from illegal immigration in America during 2010 to 2018. It compares demographic factors, crime types, and policies. The study provides a different view of immigration and crime than the common narrative. Most of those incarcerated are legal American-born citizens, followed by illegal immigrants and then legal immigrants.

Nowrasteh, Alex. “New Research on Illegal Immigration and Crime.” CATO Institute, 13 Oct. 2020, https://www.cato.org/blog/new-research-illegal-immigration-crime-0.

This webpage mentions research on the relationship between illegal immigration and crime rates in America. It addresses misconceptions such as the belief that illegal immigrants are more prone to committing crimes by providing evidence that they are actually almost 2 times less likely than native-born Americans to do so. This source is important as it debunks a widespread belief and provides statistics for the opposing side. It does acknowledge that we may not be a hundred percent accurate of the total number of illegal immigrants that reside in the U.S.

Petlakh, Ksenia, and Jina Lee. Independent and Joint Effects of Race, Gender, and Age on Federal Sentencing Outcomes: Analysis of the 2018-2019 United States Federal Sentencing Data. Vol. 18 No. 1 (2023): ISSUE 1 JANUARY-JUNE 2023, International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences, 16 Aug. 2023.

This article compares the relationship between race, gender, and age with sentencing outcomes in the United States. Using data from 2018-2019, statistical analysis reveals trends in incarceration and certain demographic groups facing harsher sentencing, particularly young non-white men. This source displays the reality of the criminal justice system and pulls to light the institutional biases within the system. It provides key data and statistics to inequality in incarceration due to race, gender, and age. The article also acknowledges the need for more study on possible factors such as socioeconomic status.

Prison Policy Initiative. “California’s Incarceration Profile.” Prison Policy Initiative, n.d., https://www.prisonpolicy.org/profiles/CA.html.

This webpage displays an overview of incarceration statistics in California, the demographics, facility types, and crime categories, which are all important factors for our project. The data reveals California has very high incarceration rates, slightly behind the United States as a whole, and racial disparity in their prisons, suggesting that there may be inequalities in the justice system based on race. This source is especially useful for us considering we are contrasting California and Texas prisons in relation to varying factors. The source also provides us with more information that we did not use in our project, however, allowing us to understand the current state of incarceration. Additionally, looking at specific state’s trends, can show us trends that may occur nationwide.

Prison Policy Initiative. “Incarceration Rates in Texas.” Prison Policy Initiative, n.d., https://www.prisonpolicy.org/graphs/rates2021/TX_Rates_2021.html.

This webpage displays an overview of incarceration statistics in Texas, the demographics, facility types, and crime categories, which are all factors for our project. Similarly to the California statistics. This document also reveals the high incarceration rates, even higher than the United States as a whole, and racial disparities within Texas prisons. However, there are slight variations and differences that make this source important in the comparison between California and Texas prison systems. This overview and analysis is key for understanding policy differences between the two states and how this may relate to larger national problems.

“Racial Disparities and Incarceration in the United States.” The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, vol. 77, no. 3, 2018.

This article reveals the economic and social implications of racial disparities in the American criminal justice system. It analyzes systemic inequality in relation to incarceration rates, as well as the effects of socioeconomic status and policies/reforms. This source brings in more factors which contribute to the high incarceration rates of certain marginalized groups and contextualizes economic and social aspects of racial injustice within the American prison systems.

Wise, Alana. “Wrongful Convictions Disproportionately Affect Black Americans, Report Shows.” NPR, 27 Sept. 2022. NPR, https://www.npr.org/2022/09/27/1125442683/wrongful-convictions-disproportionately-affect-black-americans-report-shows.

This NPR article brings up a report stating that there is high racial disparity in wrongful convictions and Black Americans are disproportionately impacted by this. It provides evidence using interviews and studies regarding this topic. This source is relevant to fully understand the innate biases in the justice system and how this impacts minorities, but especially Black Americans when it comes to wrongful convictions.

AI Usage Transparency

Sections of our narrative were drafted with the assistance of ChatGPT. ChatGPT was additionally used to brainstorm ideas and provide alternative phrasing for narrative content.