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Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse (Studies in Crime and Public Policy)
by: Todd R. Clear

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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 307.3360973
EAN: 9780195305791
ISBN: 0195305795
Label: Oxford University Press, USA
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 280
Publication Date: July 30, 2007
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Sales Rank: 116983
Studio: Oxford University Press, USA

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At no time in history, and certainly in no other democratic society, have prisons been filled so quickly and to such capacity than in the United States. And nowhere has this growth been more concentrated than in the disadvantaged--and primarily minority--neighborhoods of America's largest urban cities. In the most impoverished places, as much as 20% of the adult men are locked up on any given day, and there is hardly a family without a father, son, brother, or uncle who has not been behind bars.
While the effects of going to and returning home from prison are well-documented, little attention has been paid to the impact of removal on neighborhoods where large numbers of individuals have been imprisoned. In the first detailed, empirical exploration of the effects of mass incarceration on poor places, Imprisoning Communities demonstrates that in high doses incarceration contributes to the very social problems it is intended to solve: it breaks up family and social networks; deprives siblings, spouses, and parents of emotional and financial support; and threatens the economic and political infrastructure of already struggling neighborhoods. Especially at risk are children who, research shows, are more likely to commit a crime if a father or brother has been to prison. Clear makes the counterintuitive point that when incarceration concentrates at high levels, crime rates will go up. Removal, in other words, has exactly the opposite of its intended effect: it destabilizes the community, thus further reducing public safety.
Demonstrating that the current incarceration policy in urban America does more harm than good, from increasing crime to widening racial disparities and diminished life chances for youths, Todd Clear argues that we cannot overcome the problem of mass incarceration concentrated in poor places without incorporating an idea of community justice into our failing correctional and criminal justice systems.

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- Highly recommended by Barnaby
Our growing reliance on incarceration in the United States helps us to avoid confronting a host of deep and stubborn problems. The problem of mass incarceration directly affects families and communities. Elliot Currie in Crime and Punishment in America argues that there are three important tasks to be undertaken in order to address mass incarceration: investing in rehabilitation, rethinking sentencing, and reducing violence in the community through more effective police strategies. On the other hand, Bruce Western in Punishment and Inequality in America urges the United States to examine the steady rise in its economic inequality and the high unemployment levels among poor urban blacks.

While Michael Jacobson in Downsizing Prisons acknowledges the work of both Currie and Western, he calls for a new type of policy reform. By relying heavily on his own experience in budgeting and managing for corrections, ... Read More

Rating:

- TIME TO HIT THE BRAKES IN ORDER TO BREAK THE CYCLE OF POVERTY AND CRIME
Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse (Studies in Crime and Public Policy)

This book is but yet another siren being sounded to warn the American public to awaken from their delusional slumber. Having written a book detailing my own experiences growing up in impoverished, socially dysfunctional communities, I find the research of Professor Clear not only compelling, but reaffirming the realities tens of millions of individuals in this country face each and every day.

In fiscal 2005 Federal, State, and local governments spent an estimated $204 billion for police protection, corrections and judicial and legal activities, a 5.5% increase over the previous year. There is a vested financial interest by those who profit from maintaining the current status quo as it pertains to so called criminal justice and incarceration.

A holistic and radically ... Read More

Rating:

- Mostly hogwash
While it may be fair to argue that the rate/length of incarceration in this country is higher than necessary, the rest of Clear's premise is pure ivory tower hogwash. Anyone who actually "works" in the field knows that recidivists are not unfortunate tax paying citizens scooped up by over-zealous police after their first transgression. Self-report research confirms that typical criminals commit scores of crimes before they are incarcerated. They do not work or support their multiple dependents, and are a blight on the majority of their hard-working neighbors. Need I remind the author that targeted crime enforcement is often a response to the pleas of the pro-social majority to rid their communities of anti-social predators.

Rating:

- A New Look at the Problem of Incarceration
"Lock `em up and throw away the key." That sums up our attitude towards crime and criminals in general. We believe that imprisonment will reduce crime in our society. Today the American society has more than two million people in prisons across the nation. Prisoner population is on the rise and we are building more and more prisons. On the other hand, however crime also is on the increase; prisons do not seem to prevent it.

Todd R. Clear, distinguished professor of John Jay College of Criminal Justice and editor of the journal 'Criminology and Public Safety' demonstrates in this book that the current policy of incarceration is not only ineffective in reducing crime, but it positively contributes to its increase in our neighborhoods. Incarceration aggrevates the very problems it is intended to solve. Our criminal justice system is backfiring. Our politicians and policy makers must take note of this eye-opening book. ... Read More

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