The Making of Mass Incarceration in America with Elizabeth Hinton
St. Paul, MN 55102
In 2021 the United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world and it disproportionately targets African Americans and Native Americans.
Contemporary discourse lays the responsibility for our rate of incarceration in Ronald Reagan’s War on Crime, but the roots go back to Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, which empowered the federal government to militarize local police forces and incentivized social services alliances with police, courts, and prisons.
By the 1980s, Republicans and Democrats alike had turned to crime control and imprisonment as the cures for poverty and inequality.
How did the “land of the free” become the home of the world’s largest prison system?
Elizabeth Hinton is an associate professor of history and African American studies at Yale University and a law professor at Yale School of Law.
See the full History Forum lecture series.
Please note: This program is also offered at 10 a.m.
Masks and social distancing will be required in the auditorium during the program.
This program is made possible by the Charles A. Lindbergh Fund.
2022-03-26 14:00:00 2022-03-26 14:00:00 America/Chicago The Making of Mass Incarceration in America with Elizabeth Hinton Minnesota History Center