In 1992, Barr authored a report,
The Case for More Incarceration,
[44] which argued for an increase in the
United States incarceration rate, the creation of a national program to construct more prisons, and the abolition of parole release.
[4] Barr argued that incarceration reduced crime, pointing to crime and incarceration rates in 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1990. A 1999 criminology study criticized Barr's analysis, saying "so complex an issue as the relationship between crime and punishment cannot be addressed through so simplistic an analysis as a negative correlation between the two very aggregated time series of crime rates and incarceration rates."