Tuesday Policy Forum | UMD Professors James Lynch and Peter Reuter Discuss the Affects of Incarceration on the Nation’s Drug Problem | April 30 12:15 PM in 1203 Van Munching

How the US became the world's leading jailer, the consequent collateral damage and what incarceration has done for the nation's drug problem

Forty years ago the United States had the same per capita imprisonment rate as many other Western countries. Now it has a rate that is five to ten times that of Western European nations. What led to this increase? What are the consequences of the massive incarceration rates for the prisoners, families and communities from which they come and to which they return? Drugs are very much involved in this mass incarceration, both because 500,000 individuals are incarcerated for drug offenses and even more prisoners are frequent users of expensive drugs like cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. How has the incarceration affected America's drug problem?

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
James Lynch is Chair of the University of Maryland Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. From 2010 to 2012 he served as Director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics in the Department of Justice.

Peter Reuter is a professor both in the School of Public Policy and the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. His research has focused particularly on drug markets and efforts to suppress them.


The School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park, provides graduate and post-graduate studies in a comprehensive range of domestic and international policy areas. Situated near the nation's capital, the school affords access for students and faculty to the broad spectrum of governmental and nongovernmental agencies that formulate and implement policies affecting the economy, the environment, welfare, children and families, and international relations.