Margaret Cahalan, Р Р†Р вЂљРЎС™Trends in Incarceration in the United States Since 1880: A Summary of Reported Rates and the Distribution of Offenses,Р Р†Р вЂљРЎСљ Crime & DelinquencyР вЂ™Р’В 25, no.

From 1850 to 1940, racial and ethnic minorities-including foreign-born and non-English speaking European immigrants- made up 40 to 50 percent of the prison population. The result has been the persistent and disproportionate impact of incarceration on these groups. From AmericaР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћs founding to the present, there are stories of crime waves or criminal behavior and then patterns of disproportionate imprisonment of those on the margins of society: black people, immigrants, Native Americans, refugees, and others with outsider status. It is a narrative that repeats itself throughout this countryР Р†Р вЂљРІвЂћСћs history. Certainly the number of people sent to prison was far greater during the era of mass incarceration than in any other time period, but the policies that fueled that growth stemmed from a familiar narrative: one involving public anxiety about both actual and alleged criminal behavior by racial and ethnic minorities and the use of state punishment to control them. Although the unprecedented increase in prison populations during this period may seem like an aberration, the ground was fertile for this growth long before 1970.

Principal definition us history