The rich get richer and the poor get prison : thinking critically about class and criminal justice
Jeffrey H. Reiman (Author), Paul Leighton (Author)
Examines the criminal justice system and explains how it is designed to use its weapons against the poor while ignoring or treating gently the rich who prey upon the public. Reiman and Leighton invite readers to look at the American criminal justice system as if it were aimed, not at protecting us against crime, but at keeping before our eyes--in our courts, prisons, news, screens, and criminology books--a large criminal population consisting primarily of poor people. The authors contend that this serves the interests of the rich and powerful by broadcasting the message that the real danger to most American comes from people below them on the economic ladder rather than above. Looking at the system from this perspective, they argue, makes more sense of the criminal justice policy than accepting the idea that the system is really aimed at protecting our lives, limbs, and possessions. Reiman and Leighton present extensive evidence from mainstream data and develop a theoretical perspective from which readers might understand these failures and evaluate them morally. --Adapted from preface and publisher description
Print Book, English, 2020
Twelfth edition
Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, New York, NY, 2020