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Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
James, a University of Colorado at Boulder ethnic studies professor, gathers 26 critical assessments of the "prison industrial complex" and "the rising abuse of police powers." The essays (many based on papers presented at a 1998 conference, "Unfinished Liberation: Policing, Detention and Prisons") address "Executions" (Robert Meeropol, Steven Hawkins, Daniel R. Williams); "Blacks and Criminal Justice" (Manning Marable, Angela Y. Davis, Mark Mauer, Salim Muwakkil, Adrien Wing); "Gender, Sexuality, and Confinement" (Joanne Belknap, Juanita Diaz-Cotto, Luana Ross, Alexandra Suh, Brenda Rodriguez, Annjanette Rosga); "Policing" (Larvester Gaither, Gabriel Torres, David A. Love, Eric Tang, Julie Su, Gary Marx); and "Political Repression and Resistance" (Margaret Ratner, Michael Ratner, Huessin Ibish, Jose Lopez, Donna Willmott, Judi Bari). Academics and activists share the conviction that "social myths and political demagoguery have joined with dehumanizing and often racist, heterosexist, and classist speech and practices . . . [to] demoniz[e] marginalized social sectors and . . . obscur[e] complex social realities." Some may find the authors' analysis over the top, but this challenge to conventional wisdom about the criminal justice system is needed. Mary Carroll
From Kirkus Reviews
In a hard-hitting survey of left-wing thought on the American system of policing and punishment, James (Ethnic Studies/Univ. of Colorado) presents 26 critical and radical perspectives of varying quality. Introducing essays on issues from capital punishment to the special problems confronting African-Americans, gays, and women in the prison system, and on the use of policing and imprisonment to suppress political dissent, James notes that the US has ``the highest incarceration and execution rate in the industrialized world.'' The authors in this collection leave no doubt why: class war, racism, sexism, and other reactionary isms. Though these essays are replete with statistics showing racial and other biases in policing and sentencing, primary sources sometimes aren't cited for startling statistics, such as one author's statement that criminal suspects in Arizona in 1996 were mostly white, while most people incarcerated there were black. Several contributors sound familiar rhetorical notes from the old and new left (``surplus value,'' ``prison-industrial complex,'' ``critical race feminism''). And some of the analyses, like Angela Y. Daviss analogy of the modern prison system with slavery, go over the top. Yet many of the contributions are persuasive and passionate. Robert Meeropol's haunting ``Testimony,'' part angry polemic, part sorrowful memoir of his parents Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, advances a well-reasoned and eloquent argument against the death penalty; Adrien K. Wing offers a sensitive study of black female gang members; Steven Hawkins protests against the execution of children; Margaret and Michael Ratner detail the abuses of the grand-jury system; and Larvester Gaither brings anti- black brutality shockingly to life. Not everybody will agree with everything herebut there's enough thoughtful analysis to make this collection worthwhile for anyone concerned about justice in America. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
See all Editorial Reviews
James, a University of Colorado at Boulder ethnic studies professor, gathers 26 critical assessments of the "prison industrial complex" and "the rising abuse of police powers." The essays (many based on papers presented at a 1998 conference, "Unfinished Liberation: Policing, Detention and Prisons") address "Executions" (Robert Meeropol, Steven Hawkins, Daniel R. Williams); "Blacks and Criminal Justice" (Manning Marable, Angela Y. Davis, Mark Mauer, Salim Muwakkil, Adrien Wing); "Gender, Sexuality, and Confinement" (Joanne Belknap, Juanita Diaz-Cotto, Luana Ross, Alexandra Suh, Brenda Rodriguez, Annjanette Rosga); "Policing" (Larvester Gaither, Gabriel Torres, David A. Love, Eric Tang, Julie Su, Gary Marx); and "Political Repression and Resistance" (Margaret Ratner, Michael Ratner, Huessin Ibish, Jose Lopez, Donna Willmott, Judi Bari). Academics and activists share the conviction that "social myths and political demagoguery have joined with dehumanizing and often racist, heterosexist, and classist speech and practices . . . [to] demoniz[e] marginalized social sectors and . . . obscur[e] complex social realities." Some may find the authors' analysis over the top, but this challenge to conventional wisdom about the criminal justice system is needed. Mary Carroll
From Kirkus Reviews
In a hard-hitting survey of left-wing thought on the American system of policing and punishment, James (Ethnic Studies/Univ. of Colorado) presents 26 critical and radical perspectives of varying quality. Introducing essays on issues from capital punishment to the special problems confronting African-Americans, gays, and women in the prison system, and on the use of policing and imprisonment to suppress political dissent, James notes that the US has ``the highest incarceration and execution rate in the industrialized world.'' The authors in this collection leave no doubt why: class war, racism, sexism, and other reactionary isms. Though these essays are replete with statistics showing racial and other biases in policing and sentencing, primary sources sometimes aren't cited for startling statistics, such as one author's statement that criminal suspects in Arizona in 1996 were mostly white, while most people incarcerated there were black. Several contributors sound familiar rhetorical notes from the old and new left (``surplus value,'' ``prison-industrial complex,'' ``critical race feminism''). And some of the analyses, like Angela Y. Daviss analogy of the modern prison system with slavery, go over the top. Yet many of the contributions are persuasive and passionate. Robert Meeropol's haunting ``Testimony,'' part angry polemic, part sorrowful memoir of his parents Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, advances a well-reasoned and eloquent argument against the death penalty; Adrien K. Wing offers a sensitive study of black female gang members; Steven Hawkins protests against the execution of children; Margaret and Michael Ratner detail the abuses of the grand-jury system; and Larvester Gaither brings anti- black brutality shockingly to life. Not everybody will agree with everything herebut there's enough thoughtful analysis to make this collection worthwhile for anyone concerned about justice in America. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
See all Editorial Reviews
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