The Impact of Incarceration on Crime: Two National Experts Weigh In

April 2008

Features Dr. Alfred Blumstein and Dr. James Q. Wilson, two of the nation’s most respected experts on incarceration and crime.

Professors Blumstein and Wilson spoke recently with the Public Safety Performance Project, an initiative of the Pew Center on the States (PCS), about the degree to which increased incarceration deserves credit for the drop in crime across the nation, the likely outcomes of continued prison expansion, and some policies and programs that offer better public safety results for taxpayer dollars.

This brief is the latest in a series of policy briefs on key topics in sentencing and corrections intended to provide non-partisan, data-driven, evidence-based information that will help state policy makers advance policies and programs that improve public safety, hold offenders accountable and control corrections spending. ..Report.. by Dr. Alfred Blumstein and Dr. James Q. Wilson