NCJ Number
214798
Journal
Criminology & Public Policy Volume: 5 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2006 Pages: 213-244
Date Published
May 2006
Length
31 pages
Annotation
Utilizing data from more than 50 Florida counties, this study reexamined the link between prison population growth and the crime rate for the years 1980 to 2000.
Abstract
No support was found for the “more prisoners, less crime” thesis. Findings indicate that Florida counties relying most heavily on the crime-control strategy, enlarging prison populations to reduce crime, have not enjoyed any benefits. However, what was supported was that any deterrent or incapacitation effects, however large or small, did not co-vary with county-level prison population growth to any substantial degree. The results preclude drawing any definitive conclusions as to why county-level prison population growth does not seem to be associated with lower crime rates. Overall, the Florida counties that relied most heavily on imprisonment as a tool to control crime did not as a result experience greater reductions in crime. This study revisits the relationship between prison populations and crime using regression procedures similar to those used in prior studies, but with data aggregated to a more local level, the county level. Counties exhibit greater cross-temporal variability in both incarceration rates and crime rates. A county-level panel-data analysis was conducted using annual crime and prison population data from 58 of Florida’s 67 counties from 1980 to 2000. Tables, references