Race to Incarcerate (Hardcover)

by Marc Mauer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In recent years, Mauer, the assistant director of the Sentencing Project in Washington, D.C., has raised one of the few voices in the media decrying the explosive increase in the U.S. prison population, and especially the high percentages of incarcerated young black men. In this sober, nuanced analysis, he assesses how we have come to lock up offenders "at a rate 6 to 10 times that of most comparable countries"Aa rate that represents a 500% increase since 1972. Meanwhile, "about the best that can be said is that crime rates in some categories are no worse than they were when only one sixth as many inmates filled the nation's prisons." The major culprits for the expanded rolls, he contends, are mandatory sentencing statues and the "war on drugs" that began in the early '80s. Yet the evidence is too murky to prove that increased incarceration leads to a lowered crime rate, Mauer argues. With some crimes, notably drug peddling, offenders are often "replaced" on the streets, since "a thriving market exists with the potential for lucrative profits." His policy solutionsAjobs, educationAmight be dismissed as "hopelessly liberal," he acknowledges, but they're what work for the middle class; while they may not fully address the complexities of the underclass, there is evidence that they help. He also argues for increased drug treatment. Pointing out some potent unintended consequences of overcrowded prisons, Mauer cites displaced criminal justice resources, significant African-American disenfranchisement and family disruption (including increased sexual bargaining power for unimprisoned black men, and thus more illegitimacy). (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
A meticulously researched rejoinder to the war on crime.'' The Sentencing Project, a nonprofit organization that promotes criminal justice reform, has monitored a literal explosion since 1973 in both incarceration rates and sentencing severity, ironically as real crime rates fluctuated and declined. Assistant director Mauer, a former consultant to the National Institute of Corrections, galvanizes the reader with both detail and directness as he examines closely how this Kafkaesque state of American justice developed and its untenable implications for our future. Mauer explicitly concerns himself with the curious intersections of race and class within this situation, examining the role of social unrest in the 1960s and other factors in conflating various crime in the streets scares, which faded as repressive measures directed largely against urban minorities remained, and the ultimately thwarted incarceration reform movement of the 1970s. Unsurprisingly, a good portion of his narrative concerns the war on drugs (as in one aptly titled chapter, Crime as Politics). Mauer demonstrates the labyrinthine methodology by which antidrug hysteria conceals both a means of underclass social control (particularly in the wake of post-1973 mandatory minimum laws) and the constant inflation of corrections and law enforcement spending. Mauers exposure of the deep race-based inequities in the prosecution of this war is upsetting and powerful; yet arguably the book is hobbled here by its rather dry and exhaustive approach, which could prove anathema to the readers who most need to consider the injustice and civil rights erosion which they tacitly support. (The books array of sophisticated charts, graphs, and footnotes provide a dizzying counterpoint to Mauers coolly deliberative prose.) Additionally, Mauer discusses the unintended consequences of maximum incarceration, such as the diversion of law enforcement resources and the disenfranchisement of minority populations through loss of voting rights; he concludes by offering possible new frameworks for thought and modulation within a seemingly intractable problem. Mauer provides a sobering, crucial voice amid the obfuscatory, insensate tough-on-crime din. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: New Press; 1 edition (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565844297
• ISBN-13: 978-1565844292
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,256,881 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Important and Thought-Provoking Book, August 21, 1999

By	Philipp W. Rosemann (Dallas, TX, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I want to recommend this book to anyone who is troubled by the fact that the US is the country with the world's second highest incarceration rate, right after Russia: currently, 1.7 million Americans are in prison or jail. Half of all prison inmates are African American. It is impossible to summarize the author's subtle and well documented analyses in a few sentences. He convincingly shows that these numbers are not, or are not merely, due to high rates of criminal activity, but rather to factors such as social inequality, inordinate media attention given to crime, political demagoguery ("get tough on crime"), and a long legacy of racial discrimination. Mauer makes many suggestions for a more humane and effective response to crime than the current "race to incarcerate." He concludes his book with the moving appeal to stop "caging the least fortunate among us to solve our problems." Read it!!

5.0 out of 5 stars Many "A-ha" moments, June 25, 2008

By	Elisabel Vega (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Race to Incarcerate: (Revised and Updated Edition) (Paperback)

This book came to me a bit by accident, and after reading it I have taken what opportunities I have to tell people about it.

The author analyzes many, many studies relating to the criminal justice system to shed light on why we have so many people in jail, why a disproportionate number of them are minorities, and why this massive rate of incarceration hasn't been as effective as one would think in reducing crime. Reading it, I had many moments where I had to stop and truly digest what was being said. One such moment was Mauer's discussion of how the degree of punitiveness in a community has drastic consequences for how many members of that community end up in jail. For example, if the result of a minor drug offense in Urban City X results in jail time, while the laws of Suburb Y punish that same offense with mandatory drug rehabilitation and/or community service, the Inner City ends up with a seemingly higher crime rate because more people are incarcerated. And that's just one example of the insights in this book.

I will say that the constant reference to statistics can make the book a bit of a slower read. However, Mauer wouldn't be able to make his case without these facts. I think it is important for all citizens to become more aware of what's happening with this, even if the topic of jail seems to have nothing to do with your life. I don't have a background in Criminal Justice, so I don't know if maybe there's a better book for people to read to get informed about the topic. But having read this one, I highly recommend it.

8 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Many good facts; should be (and isn't) a spellbinder, June 9, 2001

By	Ray Woodcock (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Race to Incarcerate (Paperback)

Small, slim book. Easy reading. The author provides numerous endnotes so you can track down the sources. I wanted more sound bites, more pithy quotes, more compelling arguments -- not because the book lacks for substance, but because the author does not present his powerful facts in the persuasive language of a lawyer or pundit.

Example: on pp. 156-57, he says, "The folly of using expensive prison space for drug offenders, even traffickers, has been documented in research conducted on the federal prison population." My objections: (1) The author uses the passive voice constantly, and it sounds weak. Why not phrase it like this: "Researchers have documented the folly ...." (2) I would break out the argument about traffickers separately. Win the point about small-time users first, and then piggyback on that to explain the presumably more controversial view that we should not even incarcerate the traffickers. (3) After reading the sentence just quoted, I immediately thought to myself that the other dumb thing about locking up a small-time user is that you basically send him/her to graduate school for criminals. S/he might learn better ways of avoiding detection or conviction for crimes, drug-related or otherwise, and might come to sympathize with the anti-law enforcement attitudes of convicted criminals who become his/her friends in prison. I wanted to know whether these sorts of outcomes do occur, and I wanted the author to make a strong anecdotal and/or statistical case for the rather obvious point that iffy characters, who are not hardened criminals, should have good role models. The author did not say any of these things, nor indicate the extent of existing or needed research on such questions. Moreover, he said nothing at all on this matter until his very last sentence in that section of the book, where he said only this: "Further, by reducing ties to legitimate institutions, incarceration may make these offenders 'more prone to subsequent criminal involvement.'" I make this point because it happened repeatedly throughout the book: to me, a stated fact or finding immediately implied certain follow-up questions or conclusions, but the author did not seem to share my sense of what was most interesting or important about it.

Admittedly, more persuasive language would have lengthened the book, and possibly the author and/or publisher decided the actual writing style would be better for their own particular purposes. For instance, I did in fact check this book out of the library, and I did read it, whereas I, or at least some readers, might not have checked out a thicker volume. Even so, I did not come away from the reading with a sense of having been moved, persuaded, or given the sort of substance that would stay with me. I submit that, ultimately, the reader will prefer a longer book over a shorter one if the longer book is more gripping.