Mass incarceration is now widely considered one of the biggest social and political crises of our age. Yet today, though the US is home to only about 5 percent of the world's population, we hold nearly one quarter of its prisoners. "In the 1970s, the United States had an incarceration rate comparable to those of other liberal democracies-and that rate had held steady for over 100 years. 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. 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. Pfaff argues that existing accounts of the causes of mass incarceration are fundamentally misguided. Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-295) and index. True causes of mass incarceration - and how to achieve real reform URL - (Additional Information at Google Books) Portion of title Locked in : the true causes of mass incarceration - and how to achieve real reform / John F. Request This Author Pfaff, John F., author.
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