The collapse of American criminal justice / William J. Stuntz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stuntz, William J.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Crime prevention--United States.

Crime prevention.

United States.

Criminal justice, Administration of--United States.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

United States--Race relations.

Race relations.

Physical Description:

viii, 413 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, [2011]

Summary:

This historical analysis of the American criminal justice system explores the ways in which trends toward centralization and legislative solutions have degraded the historical equity of the judicial system and led directly to a situation in which primarily minority defendants are railroaded through a system of bureaucratic punishment without the traditional benefits of locally responsible prosecutions and fair jury trials. The volume examines the history of criminal prosecutions and the combination of the drive towards judicial efficiency and a right-wing proclivity for punishment in the development of the current, untenable system. Stuntz is a professor of law at Harvard University. Belknap is the premier imprint of Harvard University Press. Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Contents:

Introduction: the rule of too much law

Crime and punishment

Two migrations

"The wolf by the ear"

The past

Ideals and institutions

The Fourteenth Amendment's failed promise

Criminal justice in the gilded age

A culture war and its aftermath

Constitutional law's rise, three roads not taken

Earl Warren's errors

The rise and fall of crime, the fall and rise of criminal punishment

The future

Fixing a broken system

Epilogue: taming the wolf

Note on sources and citation form.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674051751

0674051750

OCLC:

703623706