IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v5y2016i4p66-d81297.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The New Eugenics: Black Hyper-Incarceration and Human Abatement

Author

Listed:
  • James C. Oleson

    (Department of Sociology, The University of Auckland, Level 9, HSB Building, 10 Symonds Street, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand)

Abstract

In the early twentieth century, the eugenics movement exercised considerable influence over domestic US public policy. Positive eugenics encouraged the reproduction of “fit” human specimens while negative eugenics attempted to reduce the reproduction of “unfit” specimens like the “feebleminded” and the criminal. Although eugenics became a taboo concept after World War II, it did not disappear. It was merely repackaged. Incarceration is no longer related to stated eugenic goals, yet incapacitation in prisons still exerts a prophylactic effect on human reproduction. Because minorities are incarcerated in disproportionately high numbers, the prophylactic effect of incarceration affects them most dramatically. In fact, for black males, the effect of hyper-incarceration might be so great as to depress overall reproduction rates. This article identifies some of the legal and extralegal variables that would be relevant for such an analysis and calls for such an investigation.

Suggested Citation

  • James C. Oleson, 2016. "The New Eugenics: Black Hyper-Incarceration and Human Abatement," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-20, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:5:y:2016:i:4:p:66-:d:81297
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/4/66/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/5/4/66/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Patterson, E.J., 2013. "The dose-response of time served in prison on mortality: New York State, 1989-2003," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(3), pages 523-528.
    2. Rosen, D.L. & Schoenbach, V.J. & Wohl, D.A., 2008. "All-cause and cause-specific mortality among men released from state prison, 1980-2005," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(12), pages 2278-2284.
    3. Evelyn Patterson, 2010. "Incarcerating death: Mortality in U.S. state correctional facilities, 1985–1998," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(3), pages 587-607, August.
    4. Pernick, M.S., 2002. "Taking better baby contests seriously," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 92(5), pages 707-708.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sebastian Daza & Alberto Palloni & Jerrett Jones, 2020. "The Consequences of Incarceration for Mortality in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(2), pages 577-598, April.
    2. Christopher Wildeman & Margaret E. Noonan & Daniela Golinelli & E. Ann Carson & Natalia Emanuel, 2016. "State-level variation in the imprisonment-mortality relationship, 2001−2010," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 34(12), pages 359-372.
    3. Semenza, Daniel C. & Testa, Alexander M. & Jackson, Dylan B. & Vaughn, Michael G., 2021. "Incarceration and cardiovascular health: Multiple mechanisms within an intersectional framework," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    4. Brian Sykes & Amanda Geller, 2017. "Mass Incarceration and the Underground Economy in America," Working Papers wp17-03-ff, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    5. Becky Pettit & Carmen Gutierrez, 2018. "Mass Incarceration and Racial Inequality," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 77(3-4), pages 1153-1182, May.
    6. Houle, Brian, 2011. "Obesity disparities among disadvantaged men: National adult male inmate prevalence pooled with non-incarcerated estimates, United States, 2002-2004," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(10), pages 1667-1673, May.
    7. Randi Hjalmarsson & Matthew J. Lindquist, 2022. "The Health Effects of Prison," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 234-270, October.
    8. Stuart A Kinner & Simon J Forsyth, 2016. "Development and Validation of a National System for Routine Monitoring of Mortality in People Recently Released from Prison," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(6), pages 1-11, June.
    9. Evelyn J. Patterson, 2017. "The Strategies, Complexities, and Realities of Zero Prison Population Growth," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-13, June.
    10. Gunter, Tracy D. & Chibnall, John T. & Antoniak, Sandra K. & Philibert, Robert A. & Hollenbeck, Nancy, 2011. "Predictors of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and self-harm without lethal intent in a community corrections sample," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 238-245, May.
    11. Connor M. Sheehan, 2019. "Education and Health Conditions Among the Currently Incarcerated and the Non-incarcerated Populations," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 38(1), pages 73-93, February.
    12. Asad, Asad L. & Clair, Matthew, 2018. "Racialized legal status as a social determinant of health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 199(C), pages 19-28.
    13. repec:pri:crcwel:wp12-06-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Hall, Taylor & Chassler, Deborah & Blom, Björn & Grahn, Robert & Blom-Nilsson, Marcus & Sullivan, Lisa & Lundgren, Lena, 2015. "Mortality among a national population sentenced to compulsory care for substance use disorders in Sweden: Descriptive study," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 153-162.
    15. Semenza, Daniel C. & Link, Nathan W., 2019. "How does reentry get under the skin? Cumulative reintegration barriers and health in a sample of recently incarcerated men," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    16. Florence Huber & Alice Merceron & Yoann Madec & Gueda Gadio & Vincent About & Agathe Pastre & Isabelle Coupez & Antoine Adenis & Leila Adriouch & Mathieu Nacher, 2017. "High mortality among male HIV-infected patients after prison release: ART is not enough after incarceration with HIV," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(4), pages 1-15, April.
    17. Porter, Lauren C. & Kozlowski-Serra, Meghan & Lee, Hedwig, 2021. "Proliferation or adaptation? Differences across race and sex in the relationship between time served in prison and mental health symptoms," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    18. Clark, Kirsty A. & White Hughto, Jaclyn M. & Pachankis, John E., 2017. "“What's the right thing to do?” Correctional healthcare providers' knowledge, attitudes and experiences caring for transgender inmates," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 80-89.
    19. Kristin Turney & Christopher Wildeman, 2012. "Countervailing Consequences of Paternal Incarceration for Parenting Quality," Working Papers 1377, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    20. Yujin Kim, 2015. "The Effect of Incarceration on Midlife Health: A Life-Course Approach," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 34(6), pages 827-849, December.
    21. Sarah Larney & Lucy Burns, 2011. "Evaluating Health Outcomes of Criminal Justice Populations Using Record Linkage: The Importance of Aliases," Evaluation Review, , vol. 35(2), pages 118-128, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:5:y:2016:i:4:p:66-:d:81297. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.