Cheap on Punishment: Examining the Impact of Prison Population Racial Demographics on State-Level Corrections Spending

Abstract

Research has explored the effects of various state-level characteristics, such as racial composition and economic conditions, on correctional budgetary decisions. However, researchers have yet to consider how the racial makeup of state prison populations themselves may impact subsequent corrections spending decisions. Drawing on work suggesting that people of color are simultaneously over-punished and neglected by criminal justice systems, and utilizing a time-series cross-section analysis of 50 states from 1979 through 2017, we explore differences in state budgetary allocations for correctional expenditures based on the racial demographics of prison populations. We find that the relationship between the Black-to-White incarceration ratio and spending on corrections is curvilinear: once a tipping point of Black-to-White incarceration is reached, spending on corrections decreases. This finding is especially pronounced in Southern and Midwestern states. Overall, our results provide a strong starting point for understanding the ways in which Black Americans are neglected in the incarceration setting.