ISBN: 0465096921 9780465096923

Category: Social Science / Criminology

Page count: 272

<b>A groundbreaking reassessment of the American prison system, challenging the widely accepted explanations for our exploding incarceration rates</b><br><br> In <i>Locked In</i>, John Pfaff argues that the factors most commonly cited to explain mass incarceration -- the failed War on Drugs, draconian sentencing laws, an increasing reliance on private prisons -- tell us much less than we think. Instead, Pfaff urges us to look at other factors, especially a major shift in prosecutor behavior that occurred in the mid-1990s, when prosecutors began bringing felony charges against arrestees about twice as often as they had before. <br><br> An authoritative, clear-eyed account of a national catastrophe, <i>Locked In </i>is "a must-read for anyone who dreams of an America that is not the world's most imprisoned nation" (Chris Hayes, author of <i>A Colony in a Nation</i>). It transforms our understanding of what ails the American system of punishment and ultimately forces us to reconsider how we can build a more equitable and humane society.