Rich Get Richer And The Poor Get Prison The Subscription

For nearly 40 years, this classic text has taken the issue of economic inequality seriously and asked: Why are our prisons filled with the poor? Why aren’t the tools of the criminal justice system being used to protect Americans from predatory business practices and to punish well-off people who cause widespread harm? The Rich Get Richer shows readers that much that goes on in the criminal justice system violates citizens’ sense of basic fairness. It presents extensive evidence from mainstream data that the criminal justice system does not function in the way it says it does nor in the way that readers believe it should. The authors develop a theoretical perspective from which readers might understand these failures and evaluate them morally—and they to do it in a short and relatively inexpensive text written in plain language. New to this edition: Presents recent data comparing the harms due to criminal activity with the harms of dangerous—but not criminal—corporate actions Presents new data on recent crime rate declines, which are paired with data on how public safety is not prioritized by the U.S. government Updates statistics on crime, victimization, wealth and discrimination, plus coverage of the increasing role of criminal justice fines and fees in generating revenue for government Updates on the costs to society of white-collar crime Updates and deepened analysis of why fundamental reforms are not undertaken Streamlined and condensed prose for greater clarity

Illustrates the issue of economic inequality within the American justice system. The best-selling text, The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison contends that the criminal justice system is biased against the poor from start to finish. The authors argue that even before the process of arrest, trial, and sentencing, the system is biased against the poor in what it chooses to treat as crime. The authors show that numerous acts of the well-off--such as their refusal to make workplaces safe, refusal to curtail deadly pollution, promotion of unnecessary surgery, and prescriptions for unnecessary drugs--cause as much harm as the acts of the poor that are treated as crimes. However, the dangerous acts of the well-off are almost never treated as crimes, and when they are, they are almost never treated as severely as the crimes of the poor. Not only does the criminal justice system fail to protect against the harmful acts of well-off people, it also fails to remedy the causes of crime, such as poverty. This results in a large population of poor criminals in our prisons and in our media. The authors contend that the idea of crime as a work of the poor serves the interests of the rich and powerful while conveying a misleading notion that the real threat to Americans comes from the bottom of society rather than the top. Learning Goals Upon completing this book, readers will be able to: Examine the criminal justice system through the lens of the poor. Understand that much of what goes on in the criminal justice system violates one’s own sense of fairness. Morally evaluate the criminal justice system’s failures. Identify the type of legislature that is biased against the poor.

This best-selling text examines the premise that the criminal justice system is biased against the poor from start to finish, from the definition of what constitutes a crime through the process of arrest, trial, and sentencing. Also, this text discusses how this bias is accompanied with a general refusal to remedy the causes of crime—poverty, lack of education, and discrimination. The author argues that actions of well-off people, such as their refusal to make workplaces safe, refusal to curtail deadly pollution, promotion of unnecessary surgery, and prescriptions for unnecessary drugs, cause occupational and environmental hazards to innocent members of the public and produce just as much death, destruction, and financial loss as so-called crimes of the poor. However, these acts of the well-off are rarely treated as crimes, and when they are, they are never treated as severely as crimes of the poor. NEW:This text now has a companion 25 article reader:The Rich get Richer and the Poor get Prison: A Reader(ISBN: 0-205-68842-X). Visit this book's website for a full table of contents.

**** Cited in BCL3. On the causes, moral implications, and mechanisms of the American criminal justice system's failure. New statistics are presented in this third edition. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

For 40 years, this classic text has taken the issue of economic inequality seriously and asked: Why are our prisons filled with the poor? Why aren’t the tools of the criminal justice system being used to protect Americans from predatory business practices and to punish well-off people who cause widespread harm? This new edition continues to engage readers in important exercises of critical thinking: Why has the U.S. relied so heavily on tough crime policies despite evidence of their limited effectiveness, and how much of the decline in crime rates can be attributed to them? Why does the U.S. have such a high crime rate compared to other developed nations, and what could we do about it? Are the morally blameworthy harms of the rich and poor equally translated into criminal laws that protect the public from harms on the streets and harms from the suites? How much class bias is present in the criminal justice system – both when the rich and poor engage in the same act, and when the rich use their leadership of corporations to perpetrate mass victimization? The Rich Get Richer shows readers that much of what goes on in the criminal justice system violates citizens’ sense of basic fairness. It presents extensive evidence from mainstream data that the criminal justice system does not function in the way it says it does nor in the way that readers believe it should. The authors develop a theoretical perspective from which readers might understand these failures and evaluate them morally—and they to do it in a short text written in plain language. Readers who are not convinced about the larger theoretical perspective will still have engaged in extensive critical thinking to identify their own taken-for-granted assumptions about crime and criminal justice, as well as uncover the effects of power on social practices. This engagement helps readers develop their own worldview. New to this edition: Presents recent data comparing the harms due to criminal activity with the harms of dangerous—but not criminal—corporate actions Updates statistics on crime, victimization, incarceration, wealth, and discrimination Increased material for thinking critically about criminal justice and criminology Increased discussion of the criminality of middle- and upper-class youth Increased coverage of role of criminal justice fines and fees in generating revenue for government, and how algorithms reproduce class bias while seeming objective Streamlined and condensed prose for greater clarity

The Rich get Richer and the Poor get Prison: A Reader is a selection of 25 articles ranging from newspaper stories that highlight issues to articles in professional journals. Articles cover the following topics: Crime Control in America A Crime by Any other Name...and the Poor get Prison To the Vanquished belong the Spoils Criminal Justice or Criminal Justice Professors who use the best-selling book written by Reiman and Leighton, The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison , now in a ninth edition, have frequently asked for a reader. Where appropriate, articles have been edited to highlight the parts most relevant for the thesis of The Rich Get Richer. This book of readings can be used stand-alone, or as an accompaniment to the main text.

What if our criminal justice system is biased against the poor from start to finish - from the definition of what constitutes a crime through the process of arrest, trial, and sentencing? In this best-selling text, the author argues that actions of well-off people, such as the refusal to make workplaces safe, refusal to curtail deadly pollution, promotion of unnecessary surgery, and prescriptions for unnecessary drugs, cause occupational and environmental hazards to innocent members of the public and produce as much death, destruction, and financial loss as so-called crimes of the poor. However, these crimes of the well-off are rarely treated as severely as those of the poor. Reiman documents the extent of anti-poor bias in arrest, conviction, and sentencing practices and shows that the bias is conjoined with a general refusal to remedy the causes of crime-poverty, lack of education, and discrimination. As a result, the criminal justice system fails to reduce crime. The author uses numerous studies and examples to illustrate his points, and difficult concepts are explained in a non-technical manner. The book provokes thought and discussion, even among people who disagree with its content. One reviewer describes the text as "one of the most outstanding critiques of the criminal justice process...a book that needed to be written and needs to be published again and again... a text as relevant today as when first published in 1979."

This book proposes that the criminal justice system is biased against the poor in its very definitions of what counts as crime, and it argues that many acts not treated as serious crimes pose at least as great a danger to the public as acts that are so treated. The Rich get Richer and the Poor get Prison is documented extensively and written in a language that's free of jargon. It is an ideal supplement for courses in criminology, social problems, sociology of crime and deviance, or sociology of law.