ABSTRACT
This chapter examines postwar trends in criminal justice, educational, and welfare institutions and the ways in which these trends were related to crime rates. It considers general relationships between these three institutions and crime and the timing of changes in each institution. The chapter also examines how differing experiences of African Americans and whites might help people better understand the underlying dynamics. Criminal justice institutions were substantially bolstered. In the middle postwar years, criminal justice spending emphasized the police. Welfare and educational institutions expanded most rapidly during the middle postwar years and grew more slowly in the later postwar years. The increasing emphasis on back-end strategies during the late postwar period has had an especially grave effect on African Americans. Finally, compared to whites, African Americans have been disproportionately likely to receive public welfare throughout the postwar period.
