Event Host: Criminal Justice Research Center
"Moving Past the Standard Story: Rethinking the Causes of Mass Incarceration"
Reducing America's exceptional reliance on incarceration is one of the few issues of genuine bipartisan cooperation these days. Yet despite years of work, change has been slow and halting. One critical reason is that the story we tell about what has driven prison growth often emphasizes causes that matter less at the expense of those that matter more. We talk about the impact of long sentences--which certainly matter--but end up overlooking the even more important role of prosecutorial charging behavior in the process. We emphasize the need to stop sending people to prison for drugs, but as a result fail to talk about changing how we punish those convicted of violence--even though only 15% of the prison population is serving time for drugs, compared to over 50% for violence.
John Pfaff is a Professor of Law at Fordham University where he teaches criminal law, sentencing law, and law and economics. He has a J.D. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago. Professor Pfaff's research focuses primarily on empirical matters related to criminal justice, especially criminal sentencing. A large focus of his research has been trying to understand the causes of the unprecedented 40 year boom in US incarceration rates.
Doors open at 3:30 pm with cocktail hour, lecture begins at 4:00 pm with a reception to follow.
Parking is available at the Gateway Garage, 75 E. 11th Avenue.
For more information, visit the Criminal Justice Research Center's website.
