Whatever is Next After the Prison-Building Boom will be Next in Texas

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Abstract
The mass media have made crime a virtual reality in our lives, affecting our perceptions of safety and thereby fueling dramatic increases in incarceration rates. However, the public safety returns for each incarceration dollar spent eventually become marginal because social and economic forces that affect crime limit the effectiveness of incarceration as a crime control strategy. At this point, we can expect support for financing further expansion of prison systems to dwindle. As information-age policies replace industrial-age policies in corrections, technology, such as geographic location systems, may be able to reduce the costs of incarceration. One consequence of this development may be isolationist policies that “zone” economically marginal criminal populations into particular areas.

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