Crime, Punishment, and Prisons in America

The United States officially incarcerates more persons than any other nation on earth. Incarceration cost U.S. taxpayers more than $80 billion in 2016. Some states such as New York in the East and Washington in the West spend between $50,000 and $60,000 a year for each prisoner. What does that cost buy? What purposes does imprisonment serve or should it serve? Who should be imprisoned? For what? Why? Who should operate prisons in the United States–government or for-profit corporations? Join us for this FRANK Talk to explore issues of mass incarceration in America.

Dr. Thomas J. Davis teaches U.S. constitutional and legal history at ASU and has taught as a visiting professor of law at the ASU College of Law. As an historian and lawyer, in addition to constitutional matters, he focuses on civil rights, particularly on issues of race, identity and law, employment, and property law. Davis received his Ph.D. in U.S. history from Columbia University and his JD cum laude from the University at Buffalo Law School. He is the author most recently of History of African Americans: Exploring Diverse Roots (Santa Barbara CA, 2016).