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- Title
Are Racial and Educational Inequities in Mass Incarceration Perceived to be a Social Problem? Results from an Experiment.
- Authors
Creighton, Mathew J; Wozniak, Kevin H
- Abstract
The disproportionate incarceration of certain groups, racial minorities, and the less educated constitutes a social problem from the perspective of both policy makers and researchers. One aspect that is poorly understood is whether the public is similarly concerned about inequities in mass incarceration. Using a list experiment embedded in a framing experiment, we test for differences in attitudes towards mass incarceration by exploring three frames: race, education, and the United States in global context. We test whether social desirability bias causes people to over-state their concern about mass incarceration when directly queried. We find that mass incarceration is seen as a problem in the United States, whether the issue is framed by race, education, or as a global outlier. The list experiment reveals that public concern about mass incarceration is not quite as great as overtly-expressed opinion would suggest, and the framing experiment indicates that race-neutral frames evoke greater concern about mass incarceration than an emphasis on racial disparities.
- Subjects
UNITED States; MASS incarceration; MINORITY prisoners; EQUALITY; RACISM; UNITED States education system; SOCIAL problems
- Publication
Social Problems, 2019, Vol 66, Issue 4, p485
- ISSN
0037-7791
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/socpro/spy017