Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People's Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time

Description

We all know that orange is the new black and mass incarceration is the new Jim Crow, but how much do we actually know about the structure, goals and impact of our criminal justice system? Understanding Mass Incarceration offers the first comprehensive overview of the incarceration apparatus put in place by the world's largest jailer: the USA. Drawing on a growing body of academic and professional work, Understanding Mass Incarceration describes in plain English the many competing theories of criminal justice.

James Kilgore is an activist, researcher, and writer based in Urbana, Illinois, where he has lived since paroling from prison in 2009. He is the director of the Challenging E-Carceration project at MediaJustice and the co-director of FirstFollowers Reentry Program in Champaign, Illinois. He is the author of five books, including Understanding E-Carceration and the award-winning Understanding Mass Incarceration (both from The New Press).

Praise for Understanding Mass Incarceration: "This important polemic from Kilgore presents a grim picture of the U.S. criminal justice system With stunning statistics and heartbreaking stories, the book reveals how the system prevents individuals and their families from moving beyond incarceration." Publishers Weekly "[A] graphically pleasing, very readable, emotionally and intellectually engaging work. It is concise, fairly complete, and quite convincing in its presentation of the facts surround the inhumane and socially destructive policy of mass incarceration." Counterpunch "James Kilgore is one of my favorite commentators regarding the phenomenon of mass incarceration and the necessity of pursuing truly transformative change. Understanding Mass Incarceration provides an excellent, much-needed introduction to the racial, political, and economic dimensions of mass incarceration, as well as a brilliant overview of the competing schools of thought regarding what must be done to end it." Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow "Useful for anyone with a horse in the race regarding law enforcement in other words, most American citizens." Kirkus Reviews