Our Punitive Society: Race, Class, Gender, and Punishment in America, Second Edition

This reader-friendly exploration of the primary forces relevant to punishment—poverty and political powerlessness—highlights the necessity for humane alternatives to our current incarceration binge. This provocative overview looks at the business of punishment and at the historical patterns of control regarding slavery, the death penalty, women, the LGBTQ community, juveniles, and supervision.
The United States has the world's highest rate of incarceration—a form of punishment that separates the least privileged from the rest of society, creating populations of damaged lives. All of society pays the price for overly punitive sanctions. Equal justice is not possible in an unequal society. Up-to-date statistics illustrate the race, class, and gender inequalities in the criminal justice system.
The criminal justice system has expanded for half a century. Will challenges to policing succeed in narrowing the net of social control? Will the cost of maintaining a massive system stimulate a transformation, or will stakeholders support minimal reforms that do not threaten their interests? The public is largely unaware of most of the workings of the criminal justice system. Through this engaging text, the authors hope to provide insights that encourage readers to examine the collateral effects of policies to address crime and the role of punishment.
Also available from Randall G. Shelden by Waveland Press: with Vasiliev, Controlling the Dangerous Classes: A History of Criminal Justice in America, Third Edition (ISBN 9781478634867); Shelden et al., Crime and Criminal Justice in American Society, Second Edition (ISBN 9781478607656); and with Troshynski, Delinquency and Juvenile Justice in American Society, Third Edition (ISBN 9781478634874).
Titles of related interest also available from Waveland Press: Jessie, On the Patio: Serving Time in a Women's Correctional Facility (ISBN 9781478638209) and Shichor, The Meaning and Nature of Punishment (ISBN 9781577663874).