Dismantling Mass Incarceration

June 15, 2024
A multifaceted look at the problem of crime, punishment, and injustice. Many of the contributors to this assemblage by law school professors Dharia, Forman, and Hawilo note that the U.S. is a carceral state. Owing to the Nixon-era war on crime, the country "began to expand the criminal system in a way that was so wide-ranging it enveloped whole communities...[and] punished an ever-increasing number of behaviors for ever-longer periods of time." One result is that communities of color are vastly overrepresented in the carceral system, with Black males imprisoned at five times the rate of whites. This is both deliberate and in some respects an unintended consequence: The criminal system, write the editors, "isn't a system at all" but instead "a series of largely disconnected actors, structures, and bureaucracies, each following their own incentives and logics." In this system, blame is easy to assign; prosecutors blame judges for harsh sentences, judges blame prosecutors for funneling so many cases to the bench and legislatures for imposing minimum sentencing requirements, and so forth. The numbers the contributors adduce are staggering: More Americans work in the criminal justice system than in the auto-manufacturing sector, and nearly a tenth of the nation's population has been arrested or jailed. While it is true that, as crime reporter Jill Leovy notes, "victims get no press coverage," much of the criminal justice system works in the shadows, with many criminals whisked away in plea bargains that may net them worse punishment than if they had gone to trial. While some of the contributors support abolition or defunding of police forces, others take a far more conservative position. All agree, however, that the present system is both flawed and fundamentally unjust. Other contributors include Angela Y. Davis, Clint Smith, and Emily Bazelon. A provocative addition to the literature calling for criminal justice reform.

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June 1, 2024

Edited by scholars, activists, and former public defenders, this rich collection of reprinted articles, chapters, essays, and court decisions explores mass incarceration in the United States and ways to intervene in, reform, and disrupt the system. Two million people are behind bars in the United States, which accounts for 20 percent of prisoners worldwide. Editors Dharia (director, Inst. To End Mass Incarceration, Harvard Law Sch.), Pulitzer Prize winner James Forman Jr. (faculty director, Yale Law and Racial Justice Ctr.; Locking Up Our Own), and Maria Hawilo (mass incarceration, Loyola Univ. Law Sch.) examine ways to dismantle this carceral state. The book's six sections each start with an essay introducing nine to 12 short readings on key aspects of U.S. mass-incarceration, including prisons, prosecutors, public defenders, judges, juries, and police. Activists, academics, lawyers, and reporters share unflinchingly personal stories, analyze data, and articulate strategies. Visions for change range from advocating for restorative justice and prison abolition to restoring civil rights to formerly incarcerated people, banning cash bail, using cameras, not police officers, to enforce traffic laws, and obligating prosecutors to justify spending public money to prosecute minor offenses. VERDICT Required reading for activists, legal professionals, and public officials. It's sure to be assigned in seminars and college classrooms for years to come.--Michael Rodriguez

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