Management of State Corrections Policies: Consequences of Getting Tough on Crime

For 25 years the United States has engaged in a social war on crime that is characterized by "get-tough" policies including "three strikes" laws, mandatory sentencing, the reinstatement of the death penalty, and harsh community-based sanctions. By 1996 the rate of incarceration had climbed to 519 per 100,000 persons, a rate five times that of any other industrialized country (Cullen et al., 1996). If the get-tough mantra heard from current political candidates is any indication, these punitive criminal justice policies are likely to continue.