In Addicted to Incarceration, author Travis Pratt uses an evidence-based approach as he explores the consequences of what he terms America's "addiction to incarceration," highlighting the scope of the problem, the nature of the political discussions surrounding criminal justice policy in general and corrections policy in particular, and the social cost of incarceration.
Pratt demonstrates that the United States' addiction to incarceration has been fueled by American citizens' opinions about crime and punishment, the effectiveness of incarceration as a means of social control, and perhaps, most importantly, by policies legitimized by faulty information (for example, that fear of crime is objectively linked to victimization, that petty offenders mature into violent predators, and that persistent offending can be accurately predicted over the life course).
Analyzing crime policies as they relate to the crime rates and U.S. society's ability to both lower the crime rate and address the role of incarceration in preventing future crime, the book shows students how effective our rush to incarcerate has been in the last decade.