Start Here: A Road Map to Reducing Mass Incarceration

ISBN-13: 9781620972236 / Angielski / Twarda / 2018 / 224 str.

Opis

We are living at the beginning of the end of mass incarceration in America. Notwithstanding the posturing at the federal level, states have begun to take real steps to keep their citizens out of prisons. And yet the two million teenagers who report that they've used an illegal drug in the last month still remain at risk of arrest, and many will face the trauma of being cuffed and fingerprinted. The good news is that it's easy to change their lives for the better, right now: we just need to change our policies. This is but one example of the pragmatic case that Greg Berman and Julian Adler build in Start Here, which moves from abstract critique of the justice system to concrete action. Berman and Adler present three overarching, revolutionary ideas, each supported with a litany of practical solutions and battle-tested programs that could be implemented nationwide: to engage the public in preventing crime, to treat all defendants with dignity and respect, and to link people to effective community-based interventions rather than jails or prisons. These three frameworks present an alternative discourse that helps us break down the massive problem into scalable solutions. Although it is true that the criminal justice system is flawed in many ways, Berman and Adler provide us proven reforms that we know work--solutions that will improve the lives of people today, engage the public in crime prevention, treat all defendants with dignity and respect, and create community-based alternatives to jails and prisons. Start Here will be a must-read for everyone who wants to start dismantling the American prisons system without waiting for permission, whether they are policy makers, activists, or students.