Mass incarceration is called many things, including mass imprisonment, the carceral state, the penal state, and hyper-incarceration. All these terms refer to essentially the same concept. The Institute for the End of Mass Incarceration defines it as the “network of policing, prosecution, incarceration, surveillance, debt, and social control that is rooted in, builds upon, and reproduces economic and racial inequality and oppression” (“What is Mass Incarceration?” Institute to End Mass Incarceration, 2023). Mass incarceration is a distinctly American phenomenon, which is defined by “historically extreme rates of imprisonment and by the concentration of imprisonment of young, African American men” coming largely from areas of poverty, disenfranchisement, and other disadvantages (“Mass Incarceration.” Oxford Bibliographies, 2018). Bryan Stevenson calls it the fourth institution of American history that has “shaped our approach to race and justice” (245).

The terms “capital punishment” and “death penalty” are often used interchangeably. Both terms refer to a sentence applied in a court of law upon conviction of certain crimes, which imposes a punishment of death by the state. A sentence of capital punishment does not, however, always lead to death/execution, as some sentences are reduced, commuted, or overturned. Prisoners awaiting execution are imprisoned in what is generally referred to as “death row.