Elizabeth Hinton sheds light on the fact that all crime statistics used in the debate over mass incarceration are provided by the US Federal Bureau of intelligence. Despite this, Hinton also claims these incarceration rate statistics are often distorted or wrong all together “because of their [law enforcement’s] own vested interests (Hinton 6). But what are the FBI and law enforcement’s “vested interests.” What do they have to gain by changing crime data? Are they overestimating or underestimating the issue of mass incarceration in America? Along with Elizabeth Hinton, Jeremy Travis, Bruce Western, and Steve Redburn have also written about mass incarceration, touching on how the FBI tends to alter crime stats in America. Angela Davis and Daniel Bell have also covered FBI crime statistics and the inner workings of how the FBI collects crime data and represents it to the public. By the end of my research, I hope to create a paper which helps the reader understands how the FBI relates to the issues of mass incarceration, and potential answers as to why their crime data can appear to be scewed.
PLEDGE: Robby Votta
Bibliography
Hinton, Elizabeth. “Introduction: Origins of Mass Incarceration” From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime, Edited by the Harvard University Press, 2016, pages 1-28
Western, Travis and Redburn. “Chapter 5: The Crime Prevention Effects of Incarceration” Growth of Incarceration in the United States, Edited by Committee on Law and Justice on the National Research council, National Academies Press, 2014 pages 130-156
Davis, Angela “Are prisons Obsolete?” Edited by New York press, 2003
Bell, Daniel. “Bridging Gaps in Police Crime Data,” Bureau of Justice Statistics, September 1999, https://bjs.ojp.gov/
Robby,
I am also looking at crime statistics, so I’m definitely interested in your topic too. To narrow your focus, I think you could restrict your view to a certain time period, whether that is a decade or even a few years. That way, you can have a more manageable amount of crime data to work with, and will have another keyword for your research. I also think it would be interesting to narrow in to only one of the questions you mentioned in your proposal from this list: “But what are the FBI and law enforcement’s “vested interests.” What do they have to gain by changing crime data? Are they overestimating or underestimating the issue of mass incarceration in America?” I’m interested to read about what you find!
Best,
Jack
I admire the way this topic proposal starts with a point of difficulty, digging into a claim made by Hinton and asking excellent, pointed questions about it. This focused inquiry gives this investigation a powerful starting point. Jack suggests you narrow it further and he may be right, but I think looking specifically at FBI crime statistics will help. I was excited to see Angela Davis appear in your list of scholars, because I admire her research. I’ve read “Are Prisons Obsolete,” though I don’t recall her talking bout how the FBI collects crime statistics. If you can help readers understand “how the FBI relates to the issues of mass incarceration, and potential answers as to why their crime data can appear to be s[k]ewed,” your essay will make a valuable contribution to the debate. Just remember to proofread your posts — it makes a difference!
This is a really interesting topic proposal, and I can’t wait to see what the results are! I think you have narrowed it down quite well, and maybe just focus on the FBI statistics, because you will have to research a lot more if you add law enforcement’s statistics to that. I think you can also get quite some information about the FBI crime rates from Hinton’s footnotes and you could even narrow your topic down more (like time frame, type of crime, etc.) to what you find in those footnotes. It could help create a basis for your essay, without having to do a lot of research on your own! I wonder what you mean with vested interests, maybe you could be more specific on what it means (like maintaining funding or political reasons?).