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Formal Outline：

Include a thesis statement about mass incarceration.

State the main idea of each paragraph as a declarative sentence.

Indicate supporting details/arguments/sources for each paragraph.

Now that you have become well informed about the characteristics and causes of mass incarceration, your final assignment is to write an outline in which you use sources (described below) to support your own judgment about some aspect of mass incarceration and criminal justice reform. Because your job in this essay is to persuade a reader to agree with your point of view, it’s up to you to decide what argument you want to make.  I have identified several topics, with suggested readings, below – but you may choose a slightly different topic if you talk it over with me first.

Sources, Documentation and MLA Format

·  You should use at least two new sources (i.e. sources you have not used in previous assignments).

·  Avoid excessive quotation (no more than about 20% of your essay’s words).

·  Document sources using MLA style – both in-text citation and a Works Cited list.

·  Using a source’s words without enclosing them in quotation marks is plagiarism. Using or quoting from sources that you do not cite in the text and Works Cited list is plagiarism.

·  All drafts should be formatted double-spaced, in 12-point type. Include a word count on the last page.

Your Audience

Assume that your reader may know a little about the topic (for instance, you could assume they know the information contained in the James Cullen article “The History of Mass Incarceration” or have seen the film 13th). But do not assume that your reader is especially knowledgeable or has read the other sources you have read. That means that some of your essay will have to be an explanation, summarizing facts about the topic.

Sources and Topics:

Remedies for Mass Incarceration: what are the best ideas, what has been tried, and how is it working?

·  You will find many articles on proposed solutions at the web sites of several organizations you’ve encountered already in our readings: the Vera Institute for Justice,  The Marshall Project, The Sentencing Project, and the Brennan Center for Justice (ending mass incarceration is just one of the issues they work on). Especially, see:

o  “Decarceration Strategies: How 5 States Achieved Substantial Prison Population Reductions”

·  James Forman Jr. and Sarah Lustbader , “Every D.A. in America Should Open a Sentence Review Unit,” The New York Times 1 Aug. 2019.

·  Here are two stories of specific decarceration efforts, from PBS Frontline: “In Latest Reform, Kentucky Softens Approach to Juvenile Offenders”; “For Some Felons, a Better Chance to Break the Re-entry Cycle”

The human costs and consequences of incarceration

·  Bruce Western, “The Rehabilitation Paradox” The New Yorker, 9 May 2016: “If we’re really going to reduce our prison populations, we will have to acknowledge that human frailty under conditions of poverty puts people at risk of becoming, simultaneously, the perpetrators and victims of violence.”

·  Lorna Collier, “Incarceration nation: The United States leads the world in incarceration. A new report explores why — and offers recommendations for fixing the system” American Psychological Association October 2014. Highlights the mental-health consequences of incarceration and how incarceration may increase crime.

·  Sarah Childress, “Todd Clear: Why America’s Mass Incarceration Experiment Failed” PBS Frontline 29 April 2014. Argues that incarceration hollows out communities and “how prison makes crime worse.”

·  Two documentaries from the PBS series Frontline, Prison State (2014) and Life on Parole (2017), tell individual stories that illustrate the impact on individuals caught up in the criminal justice system.

The role of black citizens’ and politicians’ attitudes toward law enforcement and incarceration:

·  James Forman, jr. “Introduction” from Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America (2017): the last 1/3 of this excerpt outlines the role of black citizens and politicians in majority-black Washington, D.C., building on Fortner’s account of New York in the 1970s.

·  Michael Fortner, “The Clintons Aren’t the Only Ones to Blame for the Crime Bill: Black leaders also embraced it” The Marshall Project 10 July 2015. Expanding on what you learned in Jason L. Riley’s review of Fortner’s book Black Silent Majority.

·  Nazgol Ghandnoosh, “Executive Summary” from Race and Punishment: Racial Perceptions of Crime and Support for Punitive Policies The Sentencing Project, 3 Sept. 2014.

·  John Gramlich, “From police to parole, black and white Americans differ widely in their views of criminal justice system” Pew Research Center, 21 May 2019.

·  John Gramlich, “5 facts about crime in the U.S.” Pew Research Center, 17 Oct. 2019.

Crime as a source of the prison boom and racial disparities, and arguments against decarceration:

·  Barry Latzer, “An Incarceration Nation?” Law & Liberty,  2 March 2020. This article develops, with more evidence, the argument in the Latzer article you’ve read previously.

·  Heather Mac Donald,  “Is Mass Incarceration Destroying American Communities?” National Review Online June 21, 2016.

·  Heather Mac Donald,  “High Incarceration Rate Of Blacks Is Function Of Crime, Not Racism” Investor’s Business Daily 28 April 2008.

·  Rafael A. Mangual  “Mass Decarceration Will Increase Violent Crime”   Manhattan Institute 18 Sept 2019.

·  Rafael A. Mangual, “Mass Decarceration is Not the Answer,” Newsweek July 29, 2020

·  Rafael A. Mangual, “Everything You Don’t Know About Mass Incarceration: Contrary to the popular narrative, most American prisoners belong behind bars” City Journal Summer 2019