| | |  | Books | Home » » The Politics of Injustice: Crime and Punishment in America | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | 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. 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. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Katherine A. Beckett | | Paperback:
| 272 pages | | Publisher:
| Sage Publications, Inc | | Publication Date:
| October 16, 2003 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0761929940 | | Product Length:
| 8.96 inches | | Product Width:
| 6.1 inches | | Product Height:
| 0.59 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.81 pounds | | Package Length:
| 8.9 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.9 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.5 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.7 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 6 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 6 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 found the following review helpful:
 Comprehensive Coverage, But Heavy-Handed BiasMay 03, 2001
By Brian Sklar
The book takes on the ambitious (and useful) task of analyzing America's political and legislative responses to crime. Where it is strong is analyzing broad trends and recording the themes, policies, and actors that have impacted federal policy and the national debate on crime. Where it is less strong is in developing its thesis that prevention should play a larger policy role than "tough on crime" enforcement policies. Its constant filtering of the data along these lines detracts from the information provided as the reader never receives the opportunity to come to his/her own conclusions before heavy-handed author commentary in each chapter. Also, the book is weak in its attempt to fully portray recent innovations in policing and corrections. Still, it presents an easy to read outline of the history of criminal justice policy and is sure to educate its readers.
6 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 Wonderful Expressions!Mar 21, 2001
I LOVED the book myself! Wish I had written it! Got straight to the point, AND made a lot of sense.
0 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Comprehensive overview of policies, presented as persuasive essaysDec 15, 2006
By J. Kennedy
A very comprehensive review of current criminal justice system policies. Details what has worked and what has not worked, in a moderately fair manner, in general.
The book's main fault is that in several instances, conclusions are drawn as to the reasons why certain programs or certain policies succeeded (or failed), and politics often are brought into the discussion. There are some moments in which some of the authors' statements, presented without any cited studies or lacking footnotes, may appear somewhat speculative or even biased to the reader.
On the whole, a decent overview of the many directions the criminal justice system has taken as well as a decent look at some of the policies foisted onto the CJS by the politics of the last fifty or so years.
1 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Should be titled "The war against conservativism".Sep 18, 2006
By A. Juel
Without doubt the book is well written and the authors do an amazing job of using "smoke and mirrors" to convince readers that their analysis of the criminal justice system is true and factual. However, I have never seen a more perfect example of an author intentionally manipulating data and statistics to support his or her opinion.
Besides the clear political bias of the author, there are even a number of blatant factual errors. For example, look hard enough and you will find that the same exact bar graph is erroneously used twice in the book for two entirely different studies.
This is NOT a history book. Nor should it be used as such. It has a very clear purpose and that is to demonize conservatives and those who are "tough on crime".
1 of 18 found the following review helpful:
 Another piece of trash from fringe-left cooks...Feb 16, 2006
By Frederick J. Freeman Jr.
This is perhaps the most liberal textbook I have ever read in my entire life. The authors come across as subjective and emotional, espousing the evils of capitalism and taking responsibility for one's own actions.
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