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September 20, 2006
Conference: NY: Punishment: The U.S. Record Nov. 30 & Dec. 1, 2006
SOCIAL RESEARCH CONFERENCE AT THE NEW SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH
PUNISHMENT: THE U.S. RECORD
NOVEMBER 30 and DECEMBER 1, 2006
A conference on who, what, why and how we punish.
Our nation's prison population has soared by more than 600% since the 1970s, despite a drop in crime rates. As of 2005, over two million people were imprisoned in this country: almost one in every 136 U.S. residents. Black men, who make up 6% of the U.S. population, comprise over 40% of our prison population. A black male born today has a 32% chance of spending time in prison. Eleven states do not allow formerly incarcerated people to vote. Nearly 2,800,000 American children have at least one parent in prison or jail.
What does this mean for our democracy? Where do our concepts of punishment come from? What is the effect on our families, communities and the economy of our staggeringly high incarceration rate?
Join us as we examine the foundations of our ideas of punishment, explore the social effects of current practices and search for viable alternatives to our carceral state.
For more information and to register, please visit www.socres.org/punishment
This conference is supported by The Open Society Institute's U.S. Justice Fund, Russell Sage Foundation, the Ford Foundation and The J.M. Kaplan Fund and is also Cosponsored by the ACLU.
Posted by lois at September 20, 2006 04:48 PM