Rose, Dina R., and Todd R. Clear: Coerced Mobility Theory

Kristin Swartz

Responding to rising violent crime rates during the 1980s, criminal justice policies transferred to a “get tough” approach characterized by harsh sentencing guidelines that imprisoned individuals at a much higher rate and for longer sentences. This shift has resulted in a rapid growth of the incarcerated population, influencing minorities and the poor disproportionately. Throughout their lifetime, black men are seven times more likely to experience incarceration than their white counterparts, and black women are eight times more likely to experience incarceration than white women (Bonzcar & Beck, 1997). These “get tough” policies have resulted in large proportions of residents from select impoverished neighborhoods being removed from their neighborhoods due to incarceration. Although, it may seem commonsensical that incarcerating offenders increases public safety—thus improving the quality of life for the other residents—Dina R. Rose and Todd R. Clear propose that this strong reliance on incarceration presents negative unintended consequences for the ...

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