Crime and Punishment in America

There are five times as many Americans behind bars today as in 1970. The national incarceration rate in 1997 was twice that in 1985. California's prison system is the third largest in the world. Yet despite some limited recent declines in crime rates, the U.S. remains by far the most violent industrial society on earth.

Elliot Currie dissects the myths that are used to perpetuate a prison boom sets out the case for changing the terms of the debate on crime and punishment in America.