Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Criminal justice activists Schenwar (Locked Down, Locked Out) and Law (Resistance Behind Bars) deliver a cogent critique of proposals to end mass incarceration that replicate the surveillance, control, and punishment of the "prison industrial complex" rather than offering genuine justice or rehabilitation. Contending that "innovation, in itself, is no guarantee of progress," the authors cite studies indicating that house arrest actually increases the likelihood of recidivism, that sex offender registries do nothing to prevent sexual violence, and that diversionary drug treatment programs focused on total abstinence all but guarantee relapse. The authors illustrate their arguments with stories of vulnerable people "ensnared in the carceral web," including a transgender woman picked up in a "prostitution diversion" program in Arizona, and an African-American teenager held at gunpoint by police officers investigating a string of calculator thefts at his high school in Oregon. Identifying prison abolition as the ultimate goal, Schenwar and Law suggest systemic changes to reduce crime and the targeting of minorities by law enforcement, such as providing adequate health care, food, and housing to all Americans. Their impassioned yet evidence-based polemic exposes flaws in much of the perceived wisdom around the issue. Policy makers and criminal justice reform advocates should consider this bracing account a must-read. Agent: Hannah Bowman, Liza Dawson Associates. (July)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Journalists Schenwar (editor in chief, Truthout) and Law (Resistance Behind Bars) present a powerful critique of emerging alternatives to traditional incarceration that, rather than reimagining the world without prisons, extend the reach of prison into the communities, homes, and even bodies of the people whom society has criminalized. In a series of thematic yet intimately interconnected chapters, the authors use the stories of people and families caught up in this web of restrictive and punitive reforms to document their failures to reduce violence and offer pathways out of a permanently criminalized underclass. Schenwar and Law document the harsh reality of technologies and practices such as electronic monitoring, house arrest, mandated treatment plans, probation, sex offender registration, forms of carceral parenting, community policing, and the school-to-prison pipeline. Prison alternatives also typically shift financial burdens from the state to the prisoners, making it difficult if not impossible for them to access resources and services that would help them escape the circumstances that led to their criminalization in the first place. The final chapter lays out a brief case for true noncarceral alternatives. VERDICT Necessary reading for any critic of mass incarceration seeking to understand the myriad policy alternatives and the path to lasting liberation.--Anna J. Clutterbuck-Cook, Massachusetts Historical Soc., Boston
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A useful survey of a variety of "alternatives to incarceration." Truthout editor-in-chief Schenwar and Law, the co-founder of NYC Books Through Bars, critique efforts by reformers seeking to significantly reduce the prison population. Both authors have firsthand experience with the criminal justice system: Schenwar's sister, a heroin addict, spent more than 14 years in a variety of detention centers and on parole and probation; as a teenager, Law was arrested for armed robbery and served five years of probation. Now journalists on the front lines of the incarceration issue, the authors offer a massively researched book about not just prison reform, but about the people who are trying to effect needed change. They show that although advocates are almost universally well intentioned, not all of the work has led to progress. In a poignant foreword, Michelle Alexander sets the tone, discussing how both high-tech digital prisons and lower-tech control mechanisms are often as harsh as what can be found inside traditional jails and prisons. Schenwar and Law build on the foreword skillfully and persuasively, explaining with case studies, anecdotes, and scholarly research how many of the new pathways are about controlling those deemed criminals, about punishment rather than rehabilitation. Those who avoid a physical prison cell for a year through a plea bargain or some other protocol often end up with years of house arrest wearing a costly, confining ankle monitor followed by additional years of scrutiny by a probation officer. Many POs report negligibly small violations, which puts the offender back into the prison system. The authors also illuminate the mechanics of mandatory drug treatment facilities, mental illness centers, sex offender regimens, prostitution "rescue" programs, foster care placements, and school-to-prison pipelines. Regarding the last, the authors write that "it is time to challenge the notion that surveillance and policing are the answers to school-based violence. School safety does not come in the form of a uniform, a badge, and a gun." Important reading for anyone involved in the criminal justice system. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
