Epperson, who has done extensive research on behavioral health disparities in the criminal justice system, is one of the nation’s most prominent scholars on reducing the number of people behind bars. He directs the Smart Decarceration Initiative, which aims to reduce incarceration rates in ways that are effective, sustainable, and socially just. Epperson and other leaders of the decarceration movement hope to cut the prison and jail population by one million people, about half of the incarcerated population.
“It could take 10 years to do that in a sustainable way,” Epperson says. “We’re going to have to develop evidence-based policies and practices as we are decarcerating to find what works, what to do more of, what do less of.”
Decarceration is a response to failed “tough on crime” policies, particularly the war on drugs begun during the 1980s, which led to an increase of people incarcerated in jail or prison from 100 per 100,000 in 1975 to 700 per 100,000 of the nation’s population in 2000. Incarceration disproportionately affects poor people and African Americans, which is directly related to our country’s legacy of systemic racism, Epperson says. African Americans, who make up 13 percent of the nation’s population, comprise 40 percent of the prison population, and research has shown that this is largely due to unequal treatment in the criminal justice system.