What data did you collect?
Christian Dippel and Michael Poyker’s article, “Do Private Prisons Affect Criminal Sentencing,” provides valuable information regarding the role that private prisons play in sentence lengths, concluding that doubling private prisons’ capacities increases sentencing lengths by twenty-three days. Dippel and Poyker identify two driving mechanisms that account for the sentencing length effect: the “‘judicial capture’” and “‘fiscal constraints’” mechanisms (Dippel and Poyker 3). The former mechanism suggests that the “campaign contributions” and “revolving door promises” that accompany the private prison industry directly impact judges’ sentencing decisions (Dippel and Poyker 3). The impact is particularly relevant among judges who achieve judicial appointment through judicial elections. Furthermore, Dippel and Poyker assert that there is evidence that judges consider the fiscal elements of private prisons when determining sentences. Private prisons lower the marginal (not average) cost of incarceration for states, and this fact in turn influences the assignment of longer sentences from judges (Dippel and Poyker 3 and 27). While Dippel and Poyker’s findings will add interesting points of data to my podcast, the most important information that Dippel and Poyker’s article offered to my project was exposing me to a wealth of helpful sources that I can now use.
What is your initial impression of the data?
I found Dippel and Poyker’s findings fascinating, and many elements of their work were particularly surprising. Dippel and Poyker contend that state legislators are not the driving forces that influence sentencing, but instead that sentencing effects come first and foremost from the “judicial process” (Dippel and Poyker 27). Furthermore, Dippel and Poyker find that private prisons do not directly impact one’s chances of facing imprisonment. Before reading Dippel and Poyker’s article, I expected legislative policies to guide judicial behavior, and thus sentencing effects.
How have the data you have collected this week changed/progressed your thinking about your research project?
Dippel and Poyker’s article provided me with clarification on the judicial process and sentencing procedures.
What challenges did you encounter while collecting the data?
I found great difficulty in interpreting some of the tables in Dippel and Poyker’s article. Thankfully, the authors explained the tables relatively clearly.
What are your next steps?
I would like to begin to look at neoliberalism more closely, and to analyze the elements of neoliberalism present in the information I have gathered from my research thus far.
2-3 annotations
Dippel, Christian and Michael Poyker. “Do Private Prisons Affect Criminal Sentencing?” University of California, Los Angeles and Columbia University. March 24, 2019. https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/faculty_pages/christian.dippel/privateprisons_sentencing.pdf.
Hartney, Christopher and Caroline Glesmann. “Prison Bed Profiteers: How Corporations are Reshaping Criminal Justice.” The US. National Council on Crime & Delinquency. May 2012. https://www.nccdglobal.org/sites/default/files/publication_pdf/prison-bed-profiteers.pdf.
Mattera, Phillip, Mafruza Khan, Greg LeRoy, and Kate Davis. Jail Breaks: Economic Development Subsidies Given to Private Prisons. Washington, DC: Good Jobs First, 2001.
Petrella, Christopher and Josh Begley. “The Color of Corporate Corrections: The Overrepresentation of People of Color in the For-Profit Corrections Industry.” Radical Criminology 2 (March 2013): 139–148. http://www.journal.radicalcriminology.org/index.php/rc/article/view/27/64#sdfootnote1sym.
Lopez Comments:
Good work Anrarelis. I agree. The Dippel and Poyker piece will serve you will. Maybe also check out their references and see if there are other pieces that will complement your work.