American furies : crime, punishment, and vengeance in the age of mass imprisonment / Sasha Abramsky.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Abramsky, Sasha.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Criminal justice, Administration of--United States.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

United States.

Punishment--United States.

Punishment.

Imprisonment--United States.

Imprisonment.

Sentences (Criminal procedure)--United States.

Sentences (Criminal procedure).

Physical Description:

xxv, 213 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston : Beacon Press, [2007]

Summary:

How vengeance has replaced rehabilitation in our prisons--and its terrible costs.

In this dramatic expose of U.S. penitentiaries and the communities around them, Sasha Abramsky finds that prisons have dumped their age-old goal of rehabilitation, often for political reasons. The new "ideal," unknown to most Americans, is a punitive mandate marked by a drive toward vengeance.

Surveying this state of affairs -- life sentences for nonviolent crimes, appalling conditions, the growth of private prisons, the treatment of juveniles--Abramsky asks: Does the vengeful impulse ennoble our culture or demean it? California's Three Strikes law typifies the politics that exploit the grief of victims' families and our fears of violent crime. Brilliantly researched and compellingly told, AMERICAN FURIES shows that the ehtos of "lock 'em up and throw away the key" has enormous social costs.

Contents:

Introduction: From out of Tartarus

The holy experiment

A rising tide of violence

Using a sledgehammer to kill a gnat

Victims, fundamentalists, and rant radio hacks

Reducto ad absurdum

Open for business

Till the end of time

Storehouses of the living dead

Adult time

Conclusion: Leviathan calling.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 199-206) and index.

ISBN:

9780807042229

0807042226

OCLC:

71507740

Online:

Publisher description