Prisoners of politics : breaking the cycle of mass incarceration / Rachel Elise Barkow.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barkow, Rachel Elise, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Criminal justice, Administration of--United States.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

Criminal justice, Administration of--Planning--United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (305 pages)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

"The United States has the world’s highest rate of incarceration, a form of punishment that ruins lives and makes a return to prison more likely. As awful as that truth is for individuals and their families, its social consequences—recycling offenders through an overwhelmed criminal justice system, ever-mounting costs, unequal treatment before the law, and a growing class of permanently criminalized citizens—are even more devastating. With the authority of a prominent legal scholar and the practical insights gained through on-the-ground work on criminal justice reform, Rachel Barkow explains how dangerous it is to base criminal justice policy on the whims of the electorate, which puts judges, sheriffs, and politicians in office. Instead, she argues for an institutional shift toward data and expertise, following the model used to set food and workplace safety rules.Barkow’s prescriptions are rooted in a thorough and refreshingly ideology-free cost–benefit analysis of how to cut mass incarceration while maintaining public safety. She points to specific policies that are deeply problematic on moral grounds and have failed to end the cycle of recidivism. Her concrete proposals draw on the best empirical information available to prevent crime and improve the reentry of former prisoners into society.Prisoners of Politics aims to free criminal justice policy from the political arena, where it has repeatedly fallen prey to irrational fears and personal interest, and demonstrates that a few simple changes could make us all safer." -- Publisher's description.

Contents:

art one. Misleading monikers ; Sense sentencing ; Counterproductive confinement ; Obsolete outcomes ; Collateral calamities – Part two. Populist politics ; Institutional intransigence – Part three. Policing prosecutors ; Engaging experts ; Catalyzing courts.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Apr 2019)

ISBN:

9780674239012

0674239016

9780674238992

0674238990

OCLC:

1083120666