Ending Overcriminalization And Mass Incarceration

Personalism points to reforming criminal justice from the person up by changing criminal law and enlisting civil society institutions.

Ending Mass Incarceration explores why mass incarceration is a failed public safety strategy and what should be done to bring about truly transformative change. Although policymakers on both the left and right now recognize mass incarceration as a problem rather than a solution, and many states have taken steps to reduce prison populations, the criminal legal response to crime is harsher than ever. This book identifies three key dynamics that are bolstering mass incarceration. It also identifies three broad changes that would limit the power and reach of the criminal legal system while also ad.

We all know that orange is the new black and mass incarceration is the new Jim Crow, but how much do we actually know about the structure, goals, and impact of our criminal justice system? Understanding Mass Incarceration offers the first comprehensive overview of the incarceration apparatus put in place by the world’s largest jailer: the United States. Drawing on a growing body of academic and professional work, Understanding Mass Incarceration describes in plain English the many competing theories of criminal justice—from rehabilitation to retribution, from restorative justice to justice reinvestment. In a lively and accessible style, author James Kilgore illuminates the difference between prisons and jails, probation and parole, laying out key concepts and policies such as the War on Drugs, broken windows policing, three-strikes sentencing, the school-to-prison pipeline, recidivism, and prison privatization. Informed by the crucial lenses of race and gender, he addresses issues typically omitted from the discussion: the rapidly increasing incarceration of women, Latinos, and transgender people; the growing imprisonment of immigrants; and the devastating impact of mass incarceration on communities. Both field guide and primer, Understanding Mass Incarceration will be an essential resource for those engaged in criminal justice activism as well as those new to the subject.

Justice Restored is an expose, history lesson, and powerful call-to-action not only to reduce the number of people in prison, but to fix the underlying causes that stack a deeply corrupt criminal justice system against the very citizens it's meant to protect. Each of the book's ten chapters lays out one aspect of the system

A revelatory account of the misdemeanor machine that unjustly brands millions of Americans as criminals. Punishment Without Crime offers an urgent new interpretation of inequality and injustice in America by examining the paradigmatic American offense: the lowly misdemeanor. Based on extensive original research, legal scholar Alexandra Natapoff reveals the inner workings of a massive petty offense system that produces over 13 million cases each year. People arrested for minor crimes are swept through courts where defendants often lack lawyers, judges process cases in mere minutes, and nearly everyone pleads guilty. This misdemeanor machine starts punishing people long before they are convicted; it punishes the innocent; and it punishes conduct that never should have been a crime. As a result, vast numbers of Americans -- most of them poor and people of color -- are stigmatized as criminals, impoverished through fines and fees, and stripped of drivers' licenses, jobs, and housing. For too long, misdemeanors have been ignored. But they are crucial to understanding our punitive criminal system and our widening economic and racial divides. A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2018

In this book, we use the classical liberal lens to ask Americans on the political right to seriously reckon with America’s deep racial pain—much of which arises from violations of rights that conservatives say they deeply value, such as property rights, freedom of contract, and the protection of the rule of law. We ask those on the left to take a hard look at the failed paternalism, and in some cases, thoroughgoing racism of past progressive policy. All Americans are asked to apply their concern for individual rights and constitutional order fairly to our historical record. What readers will find are deep injustices against black Americans. But they will also find black entrepreneurs overcoming amazing obstacles and a black community that has created flourishing institutions and culture. Exhausted by extremism on both left and right, a majority of Americans—black and white—love this country and want to do right by all of its citizens. In Black Liberation Through the Marketplace, readers will come away with a better understanding of black history and creative ideas for how to make this nation truly one with liberty and justice for all.

Philosophers, legal scholars, criminologists, psychiatrists, and psychologists have long asked important questions about punishment: What is its purpose? What theories help us better understand its nature? Is punishment just? Are there effective alternatives to punishment? How can empirical data from the sciences help us better understand punishment? What are the relationships between punishment and our biology, psychology, and social environment? How is punishment understood and administered differently in different societies? The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy and Science of Punishment is the first major reference work to address these and other important questions in detail, offering 31 chapters from an international and interdisciplinary team of experts in a single, comprehensive volume. It covers the major theoretical approaches to punishment and its alternatives; emerging research from biology, psychology, and social neuroscience; and important special issues like the side-effects of punishment and solitary confinement, racism and stigmatization, the risk and protective factors for antisocial behavior, and victims' rights and needs. The Handbook is conveniently organized into four sections: I. Theories of Punishment and Contemporary Perspectives II. Philosophical Perspectives on Punishment III. Sciences, Prevention, and Punishment IV. Alternatives to Current Punishment Practices A volume introduction and a comprehensive index help make The Routledge Handbook of the Philosophy and Science of Punishment essential reading for upper-undergraduate and postgraduate students in disciplines such as philosophy, law, criminology, psychology, and forensic psychiatry, and highly relevant to a variety of other disciplines such as political and social sciences, behavioral and neurosciences, and global ethics. It is also an ideal resource for anyone interested in current theories, research, and programs dealing with the problem of punishment.

Critical Race Theory in the Academy explores the deep implications of race and its effects on the expanse of the American social fabric and its fragile democratic process. This volume contributes to a more effective, powerful, and insightful theorization of racism across the social spectrum while furthering the movement for greater equity in higher education and beyond. The audience for this book is broad and should be of great interest and value to all Americans who fight against racism which is focused on the destruction of Black people and other people of color. Ideally, educators, scholars, and practitioners will be compelled to engage the ideas within this volume to break down the color line and challenge the problematic master narrative in education and other aspects of society. Critical Race Theory in the Academy offers current applications, debates, theories, strategies, and evolutions about critical race theory (CRT), with particular attention to CRT’s intersections with the field of higher education and beyond. As a part of the CRT corpus, this volume details some of the most relevant and current topics deployed in varied disciplines of the academy, confronting the complex interplay of race, racism, education, and social justice in the twenty-first century. Specifically, the authors explore topics from health disparities, politics, religion, literature, music, social work, psychology, sports, distance learning, media bias, affirmative action, to education policies, practices and scholarship. The chapters in this volume should help navigate the tensions in the academy and beyond to work toward alleviating institutionalized racism. Praise for Critical Race Theory in the Academy: "The field of Critical Race Theory is enriched by this important collection of new and original scholarship. Vernon Farmer has brought together a dynamic and eclectic mix of radical voices, from multiple disciplinary backgrounds, including both established and early career scholars. The result is a volume that constantly challenges and surprises the reader." David Gillborn Professor of Critical Race Studies University of Birmingham UK Founding Editor of Race Ethnicity & Education "Critical Race Theory in the Academy has excavated the terrain of critical race theory to unearth multiple perspectives that are central to defining the fundamental contours of the field. Each essay enhances the ways in which we read and understand the complexity of critical race theory. It will be an invaluable resource for building a critical academy." Aileen Moreton-Robinson Queens and University of Technology, Australia Author of The White Possessive: Property, Power and Indigenous Sovereignty "Vernon Lee Farmer has done it again and for the final time. He has pulled together a star-studded cast of academics of color to address an essential concern of the academy. Throughout his career, Farmer has demonstrated the uncanny ability to identify matters that require attention, and attacked them with vigor. In doing so, he provided us with high impact resources that are beneficial to the professional trajectory of scholars of color. This book is no different, and we all should race to the bookstore to add this instant classic to our personal library." Jerlando F. L. Jackson Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education University of Wisconsin-Madison Former Editor, ASHE Reader Series on Higher Education "Critical Race Theory in the Academy adds substantially to our understanding of the roles that race, racism, and social justice play as we tackle the myriad problems of pre-K through higher education. For those interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the issues in higher education -- from curriculum to the lack of diversity in the professoriate -- this work provides helpful insights that can enrich conversations and problem-solving across sectors of society." Freeman A. Hrabowski, III President University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland