Title: Locked in : the true causes of mass incarceration--and how to achieve real reform /
Authors: Pfaff, John F.
Year: 2017
Subjects: Imprisonment United States; Criminal justice, Administration of United States; Corrections United States.; Corrections; Criminal justice, Administration of; Imprisonment; HISTORY / United States / 20th Century.; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy.; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Criminology.; United States
Abstract: "Pfaff argues that existing accounts of the causes of mass incarceration are fundamentally misguided. The most widely accepted explanations--the failed War on Drugs, draconian sentencing laws, an increasing reliance on private prisons--actually tell us much less than we like to think. Instead, Pfaff urges us to look at other factors, including a major shift in prosecutor behavior that occurred in the mid-1990s, when prosecutors began bringing felony charges against arrestees about twice as often as they had before"--Amazon.com.
Contents: Introduction: American exceptionalism -- The standard story: The war on drugs. A brief history of time (served). Private prisons, public spending. Costs of the standard story -- A new narrative: The man behind the curtain. The broken politics of punishment. The third rail : violent offenses. Quo Vadis? -- Conclusion.