Natasha Frost
Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Northwestern University
Key Findings
- Challenges in correctional research include: the role of race and inequality in correctional policies; constraints politics may have on corrections; and the limits of Americentric tendencies may place on correctional research.
- Understanding mass incarceration’s “ripple effects throughout the justice system” is an area in which research is sorely lacking.
- For the first time in more than three decades, prison populations have begun to decline, largely due to cuts in state budgets that directly impact correctional budgets.
Description
In the article, “New Directions in Correctional Research,” Frost reviews key findings of previous research on the subjects of mass incarceration, community corrections, institutional corrections, and prisoner reentry, in order to offer directions for future research in these areas. Frost examines changing prison populations and facilities, incarceration alternatives including probation, fines, electronic monitoring and community service and their effects on advancing justice while reducing crime. Frost concludes by encouraging correctional scholars to further examine the racial implications of the U.S. penal system, continue to recognize the influence of politics and political interests on corrections and consider correctional policies and practices in countries other than the U.S.