Offers the first comprehensive exploration of the structure and reach of the incarceration apparatus of the world's largest jailer: the United States. --Provided by publisher.

In Mr. Smith Goes to Prison, he traces the cracks in America's prison walls, exposing the shortcomings of a racially based cycle of poverty and crime. Smith blends a wry sense of humor with academic training, political acumen, and insights from his year on the inside. He offers practical solutions to jailbreak the nation from the financially crushing grip of its own prisons and to jump-start the rehabilitation of the millions living behind bars.

At the age of nine, Issac J. Bailey saw his hero, his eldest brother, taken away in handcuffs, not to return from prison for thirty-two years. Bailey tells the story of their relationship and of his experience living in a family suffering from guilt and shame. Drawing on sociological research as well as his expertise as a journalist, he seeks to answer the crucial question of why Moochie and many other young black men--including half of the ten boys...

"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...

"A stirring defense of our law enforcement agencies-police, border control, the military, the Department of Justice, and more-and an analysis of what happens in situations when they are not present. Kelly's debut will touch on his own experience as a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve and the legacy of law enforcement in his family as the son of NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. He'll look at the indispensability of all law enforcement,...

"An examination of how over the past eighty years the legal system has increasingly confused quantity with quality and might with legitimacy. As the law bloats into chaos, it staggers only by excusing itself from the very commands it insists that we obey, leaving Americans victim to arbitrary, unconstitutional power. By examining the system as a whole, Gibney shows that the tragedies often portrays as isolated mistakes or the work of a few bad actors--police...

"A journey for justice turned into a love story when Maya Moore, one of the WNBA's brightest stars, married the man she helped free from prison, Jonathan Irons. Jonathan was only sixteen when he was arrested for a crime he did not commit. Maya Moore's family met Jonathan through a prison ministry program in 1999 and over time developed a close bond with him. Maya met Jonathan in 2007, shortly before her freshman year at the University of Connecticut,...

How do wrongful convictions happen, and what are the consequences for the lucky few who are acquitted, years after they are proven innocent? Fourteen exonerated inmates narrate their stories, while another exoneree's case is explored. They detail every aspect of the experience of wrongful conviction, as well as the remarkable depths of endurance sustained by each exoneree who never lost hope.

In his impassioned-yet-measured book, Rafael A. Mangual offers an incisive critique of America's increasingly radical criminal justice reform movement, and makes a convincing case against the pursuit of "justice" through mass-decarceration and depolicing. After a summer of violent protests in 2020--sparked by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks--a dangerously false narrative gained mainstream acceptance: Criminal justice...

"For twenty-five years, John E. Douglas worked for the FBI, where he headed the elite Investigative Support Unit. The real-life model for FBI Agent Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs, he's had a brilliant and terrifying career, getting inside the minds of notorious murderers and serial killers including Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and David Berkowitz (Son of Sam). Written with long-time collaborator Mark Olshaker, Law & Disorder is Douglas'...