The U.S. crime rate has dropped steadily for more than a decade, yet the rate of incarceration continues to skyrocket. Today, more than 2 million Americans are locked in prisons and jails with devastating consequences for poor families and communities, overcrowded institutions and overburdened taxpayers. How did the U.S. become the world's leader in incarceration? Why have the numbers of women, juveniles, and people of color increased especially rapidly among the imprisoned? The Politics of Injustice: Crime and Punishment in America, Second Edition is the first book to make widely accessible the new research on crime as a political and cultural issue. Katherine Beckett and Theodore Sasson provide readers with a robust analysis of the roles of crime, politics, media imagery and citizen activism in the making of criminal justice policy in the age of mass incarceration. Features of this text: Critical Approach. Debunks myths about crime in the U.S., challenges many current anticrime policies that became harsher in the 1990s, and illuminates the political implications of crime and punishment. Contemporary. Updated throughout with particular attention to Chapter 5, "Crime in the Media," including research and analyses of crime in the news, crime as entertainment, and the interplay of news media, entertainment, and crime. Comprehensive Research. Draws on a wide range of scholarship, including research on crime's representation in political discourse and the mass media, public opinion, crime-related activism, and public policy. Consistent and Accessible. A great source to communicate new research to both non-specialists and specialists in accessible language with riveting, real-life examples. Intended as a supplement for use in any criminal justice or criminology course, especially in the punishment, corrections and policy areas, The Politics of Injustice, Second Edition will appeal to those who take a critical approach to crime issues.
Katherine Beckett, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and in the Law, Societies and Justice Program at the University of Washington in Seattle. She teaches courses on law, culture, drugs, social control, and terrorism. She is the author of Making Crime Pay: Law and Order in Contemporary American Politics (1997), as well as numerous articles and chapters, including "How Unregulated Is the U.S. Labor Market? The Dynamics of Jobs and Jails, 1980-1995," with Bruce Western (American Journal of Sociology, 1999). Theodore Sasson, Ph.D., is Chair and Associate Professor of Sociology, Middlebury College, where he teaches courses in criminology, political sociology, social theory, and media studies. He has also taught sociology and criminology at Northeastern University, Boston College, and the University of Southern Maine. He is the author of Crime Talk: How Citizens Construct a Social Problem (1995), as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters.
Preface Acknowledgments Chapter 1. Criminal Justice Expansion Explaining the Expansion of the Penal System Outline of the Book Chapter 2. Crime in the United States Crime in Historical Perspective Crime in Comparative Perspective Conclusion Chapter 3. Murder, American Style Popular Explanations of Violence Guns Inequality and Homicide Conclusion Chapter 4. The Politics of Crime The Origins of the Discourse of Law and Order From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime From the War on Crime to the War on Drugs Conclusion Chapter 5. Crime in the Media Crime in the News Crime as Entertainment The Police Drama The Crime Film The "Reality-Based" Cop Show Media Imagery and Public Opinion Conclusion Chapter 6. Crime and Public Opinion Fear of Crime Crime as a Social Problem Popular Punitiveness Understanding Popular Punitiveness Alternatives to Punitiveness Minority Dissent Conclusion Chapter 7. Activism and the Politics of Crime Community-Based Crime Prevention Efforts The Victim Rights Movement Adverasarial Activism: Human Rights Campaigns Against Police Brutality, Capital Punishment, and the War on Drugs Conclusion Chapter 8. Crime and Public Policy Drug Policing Punitive Sentencing Return of Capital Punishment Retreat From Juvenile Justice Prisoner Warehousing The Surveillance Society Criminal Justice and Democracy Conclusion Chapter 9. Alternatives Social Investment Harm Reduction Alternative Sentencing Rehabilitating Reintegration Toward Disarmament Community Policing Conclusion Notes References Index
