Why have prison populations exploded? Yeah, we bet you have an opinion on this. But we’ve got someone on the show with the math: Fordham law prof and empiricist extraordinaire John Pfaff. Everything you think you know about our staggering levels of imprisonment are probably wrong. Also, we offer to set up the Supreme Court audio live stream. Also we report on one listener’s Oral Argument power rankings.

This show’s links:


John Pfaff’s faculty profile and writing
Blakely v. Washington and United States v. Booker
United States v. Vernier, increasing a sentence for credit card fraud from up to 51 months to 210 months based on a conclusion that fraud was accompanied by a murder
John Pfaff, The Continued Vitality of Structured Sentencing Following Blakely: The Effectiveness of Voluntary Guidelines
Leon Neyfakh, Why Are So Many Americans in Prison? (interviewing John for Slate) (and here is the tweet from the Texas District and County Attorneys Association saying John’s theory is idiotic)
John Pfaff, The Micro and Macro Causes of Prison Growth
Joe Palazzolo, U.S. Prisons Grapple with Aging Populations
Bureau of Justice Statistics, Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities
David Ball, Why State Prisons?
John Pfaff, The War on Drugs and Prison Growth: Limited Importance, Limited Legislative Options
Special Guest: John Pfaff.