Full Description
The United States imprisons a higher proportion of its population than any other nation. Mass Incarceration Nation offers a novel, in-the-trenches perspective to explain the factors - historical, political, and institutional - that led to the current system of mass imprisonment. The book examines the causes and impacts of mass incarceration on both the political and criminal justice systems. With accessible language and straightforward statistical analysis, former prosecutor turned law professor Jeffrey Bellin provides a formula for reform to return to the low incarceration rates that characterized the United States prior to the 1970s.
Contents
Introduction; Part I. What is Mass Incarceration?: 1. Definition; 2. The deprivation of incarceration; 3. Where is mass incarceration?; 4. Distinguishing the criminal justice and criminal legal systems; Part II. The Building Blocks of Mass Incarceration: 5. A crime surge; 6. Repeating patterns: crime, outrage, and harsher laws; 7. Legislating more punishment and less rehabilitation; 8. The futility of fighting crime with criminal law; 9. The role of race; Part III. The Mechanics of Mass Incarceration: 10. More police, different arrests; 11. Prosecutors turning arrests into convictions; 12. Judges turning convictions into incarceration; 13. Judicial interpretation; 14. Punishing repeat offenses; 15. The parole and probation to prison pipeline; 16. Disappearing pardons; 17. The mindlessness of jail; Part IV. The Road to Recovery: 18. What success looks like; 19. (Mostly) abolish the feds; 20. Less crime part 1: changing the rules; 21. Less crime part 2: decreased offending; 22. Reducing admissions and shortening stays; Conclusion; Index.
