Peculiar Institution? The Legacy of Slavery and Prison Expansion in the United States, 1970–2015.

Despite a long line of scholarship on race and social control, evidence that incarceration can be connected to slavery is difficult to provide. This study evaluates whether slavery had long-term effects on growth in state incarceration rates by focusing on two key theoretical indicators: the size of the enslaved population prior to the Civil War and demographic changes during the Great Migration. Results reveal that states that historically had larger enslaved populations and those that acted as destinations for southern migrants experienced increased growth in incarceration between 1970 and 2015. Mediation analyses show that both variables have indirect effects on change in incarceration rates through contemporary demographic composition and public opinion. These findings lend support to theoretical claims that link slavery to mass incarceration and shed light on the mechanisms that enable racial histories to map onto current criminal punishments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]