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Economic Issues In Crime Policy: Dissertation Summary, Anne Morrison Piehl

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From 1980 to 1993, the number of inmates in state and federal prisons rose 200%. Throughout this expansion, the poorly-educated continued to be overrepresented among the nation's prisoners. At the same time, public concern about crime has also increased. Perhaps because immigrants share many demographic characteristics with criminals, public concern about immigration is often coupled with concern about crime. This dissertation empirically examines these issues central to sensible policy debate.