Free Thoughts, Ep. 186: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration (with John Pfaff)
Channel: Libertarianism.org
Date: 2017-05-12

John Pfaff joins us this week to talk about the United States’s unusually high rate of incarceration. How many Americans are in prison or in jail? What did they do to get there?

If we have roughly the same crime rate as we did in 1970, but have five times as many people in prison as we did then, what are those extra people in prison for?

Show Notes and Further Reading

Pfaff’s book is Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration—and How to Achieve Real Reform (2017).
https://www.amazon.com/Locked-Causes-Incarceration-Achieve-Reform/dp/0465096913

Other books mentioned in this episode:

Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America (2015) by Jill Leovy
https://www.amazon.com/Ghettoside-True-Story-Murder-America/dp/0385529996

Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America (2017) by James Forman, Jr.
https://www.amazon.com/Locking-Up-Our-Own-Punishment/dp/0374189978

Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court (2010) by Amy Bach
https://www.amazon.com/Ordinary-Injustice-America-Holds-Court/dp/0805092277

Listeners may also be interested in our Free Thoughts podcast episode with Bernard Kerik, “From Jailer to Jailed: Bernard Kerik’s Story.”
https://www.libertarianism.org/media/excursions/jailer-jailed-bernard-keriks-story

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