Are We Still Cheap on Crime? Austerity, Punitivism, and Common Sense in Trumpistan

Hastings Journal of Crime and Punishment, Forthcoming

UC Hastings Research Paper No. 360

22 Pages Posted: 16 Aug 2019 Last revised: 23 Oct 2019

Date Written: August 14, 2019

Abstract

Literature on “late mass incarceration” observed a contraction of the carceral state, with varying opinions as to its causes and various degrees of optimism about its potential. But even optimistic commentators were taken aback by the Trump-Sessions Administration’s criminal justice rhetoric. This paper maps out the extent to which federal, state and local actions in the age of Trump have reversed the promising trends to shrink the criminal justice apparatus, focusing on federal legislation, continued state and local reform, and the role of criminal justice in 2020 presidential campaigns. The paper concludes that the overall salutary trends from 2008 onward have slowed down in some respects, but continued on in others, and that advocacy concerns should focus on particular areas of the criminal justice apparatus.

Keywords: Trump, recession, cheap on crime, war on drugs, prosecution, criminal justice reform, crimmigration

JEL Classification: K

Suggested Citation

Aviram, Hadar, Are We Still Cheap on Crime? Austerity, Punitivism, and Common Sense in Trumpistan (August 14, 2019). Hastings Journal of Crime and Punishment, Forthcoming , UC Hastings Research Paper No. 360, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3437111 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3437111

Hadar Aviram (Contact Author)

UC Law, San Francisco ( email )

200 McAllister Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
United States

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