Understanding Mass Incarceration

<p><strong>A brilliant overview of America's defining human rights crisis and a much-needed introduction to the racial political and economic dimensions of mass incarceration (Michelle Alexander)<br></strong></p>
<p><em>Understanding Mass Incarceration</em> offers the first comprehensive overview of the incarceration apparatus put in place by the world’s largest jailer: the United States.</p>
<p>Drawing on a growing body of academic and professional work <em>Understanding Mass Incarceration</em> describes in plain English the many competing theories of criminal justice-from rehabilitation to retribution from restorative justice to justice reinvestment. In a lively and accessible style author James Kilgore illuminates the difference between prisons and jails probation and parole laying out key concepts and policies such as the War on Drugs broken windows policing three-strikes sentencing the school-to-prison pipeline recidivism and prison privatization. Informed by the crucial lenses of race and gender he addresses issues typically omitted from the discussion: the rapidly increasing incarceration of women Latinos and transgender people; the growing imprisonment of immigrants; and the devastating impact of mass incarceration on communities.</p>
<p>Both field guide and primer <em>Understanding Mass Incarceration</em> is an essential resource for those engaged in criminal justice activism as well as those new to the subject.</p>