Historian’s book traces rise of mass imprisonment

In the 1970s, politicians - and the public - interpreted the social movements, rising crime rates and economic downtown as proof that welfare programs didn't work and certain marginalized groups were unfit for full citizenship. These attitudes were codified in a public policy of 'getting tough' that echoes today in 'law and order' political rhetoric. In her new book, 'Getting Tough: Welfare and Imprisonment in 1970s America,' historian Julilly Kohler-Hausmann examines the political choices and discourse that have led to American mass incarceration and rising inequality. The war on drugs, mass incarceration and the erosion of the welfare state were intertwined phenomena, writes Kohler-Hausmann, assistant professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences. Tough strategies were seen as solutions to myriad problems of governance that arose from the economic dislocations and political upheaval of the era. 'In the '70s there was an ascendancy of the notion that crime and poverty are the result of deviant, maladjusted individuals or a cultural pathology,' says Kohler-Hausmann. 'Punishment and social subordination were the logical response given these assumptions.' To understand how political thought changed from an emphasis on rehabilitation to the embrace of punitiveness, Kohler-Hausmann looks at welfare, drug and criminal sentencing policy in the 1970s, including the debates that led to the repudiation of New York's drug treatment programs and the enactment of the Rockefeller Drug Laws.