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Why Incarceration Matters

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The United States incarcerates more people than any country in the world, largely due to the war on drugs. Approximately 2.2 million Americans are incarcerated, which is more than any industrialized country in the world. The article “Why Incarceration Matters: Rethinking Crisis, Decline, and Transformation in Postwar” focuses on the criminalization of “urban space” and the imposed measures of lengthy prison terms for minor petty crimes. The author Thompson discusses the origins of the urban crisis beginning with the inception of Lyndon’s Law Enforcement Administration Act of 1964, which also influenced the mass incarceration policies during Reagan’s Presidency. The article continues to elaborate on the decline of the labor movement and how

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