Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America

James Forman Jr. (Goodreads Author)

4.38 · Rating details · 3,143 ratings · 436 reviews

Winner of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction
Long-listed for the National Book Award
Finalist, Current Interest Category, Los Angeles Times Book Prizes
One of The New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of 2017
Short-listed for the Inaugural Goddard Riverside Stephan Russo Book Prize for Social Justice

Former public defender James Forman, Jr. is a leading critic ...more

Get A Copy

Paperback, 320 pages

Published February 6th 2018 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (first published April 18th 2017)

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Locking Up Our Own, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Stephen Brusatte

History Published in Year: 2018

408 books — 56 voters

The Concept of the Political by Carl Schmitt

All the President's Men by Carl Bernstein

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 4.38 ·

Rating details

· 3,143 ratings · 436 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America

Jul 11, 2017 jv poore rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: theweek, non-fiction, prejudice-racism

Inundated with information in the best possible way, I feel like I took an entire class rather than simply reading one book.

flag 63 likes · Like · see review

Oct 11, 2020 Max rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: american-recent-history

Forman looks at the story behind the laws and practices that resulted in America’s mass incarceration of African Americans. He focuses on black led city governments, police and activist organizations which were responding to the rapid rise in street drugs and accompanying violence beginning in the late 1960s. Black leaders supported the harsh sentences and invasive searches that were implemented from the 1970s to the 1990s. Although white led jurisdictions and the federal government were also ad Forman looks at the story behind the laws and practices that resulted in America’s mass incarceration of African Americans. He focuses on black led city governments, police and activist organizations which were responding to the rapid rise in street drugs and accompanying violence beginning in the late 1960s. Black leaders supported the harsh sentences and invasive searches that were implemented from the 1970s to the 1990s. Although white led jurisdictions and the federal government were also adopting draconian sentencing practices, black leaders gained control of America’s largest cities having a particularly significant impact. 90% of people in prison in the U.S. are in state or local prisons. At the time these laws were seen as a way to stop violent crime, not fill prisons, an unintended consequence.

Forman was a public defender in Washington, D.C. in the 1990s. He concentrates on D.C. which had acquired Home Rule in the 1970s with a black mayor, majority black city council, majority black population and a very influential group of black church leaders. He also refers to the black mayors of Atlanta and Detroit and leaders of black civil rights groups to show the consensus of opinion of black leadership. Forman describes the eruption of drug abuse in the 1960s. Heroin addiction soared in the late sixties. Marijuana was seen by many as a gateway drug. The black response had historical roots. Many blacks saw the drug epidemic as being driven by whites to weaken the black community, to destroy black youth. In D.C. some blacks and most whites wanted to make marijuana possession punishable by a ticket and fine, eliminating the stigma of arrest and jail for offenders. But they lost out to black leaders who wanted to stop drug abuse in its tracks by maintaining stiff penalties for marijuana and other drugs.

Gun possession met with similar logic. In 1976 Washington D.C. banned the possession of guns, a popular decision with both black and white residents. Crime was out of control and residents were scared. However, penalties were light to keep Congress from interfering, and guns were always readily available outside the city. Similar measures were proposed in other black led cities. With a history of violence by white vigilantes against blacks, many saw gun possession as an essential protection. But in the sixties and seventies urban violence against blacks was primarily committed by blacks. Gun prohibitions turned out to be ineffective and were followed by increased maximum and mandatory minimum sentences for crimes committed with guns. Increasingly blacks, predominately the poor, would be incarcerated for far longer terms.

Forman gives us a short history of the rise of black police. In Atlanta in 1946, a city with a large black population, there were no black police officers. As the civil rights movement pushed forward following WWII blacks were increasingly able to become police officers in many large cities. It began slowly and with many restrictions on black officers, but by the 1970s there were black police captains and even chiefs. Black civil rights leaders thought black leadership of the police would stop the problem of police brutality toward black offenders and help bring peace to black communities suffering from crime. It didn’t work that way. Most black police officers were there for a job, not civil rights advocacy. They didn’t see black people as needing special breaks and often were harsher than white police. They saw simple crimes like public drunkenness and disorderly conduct as a reflection on the black race, whereas a white officer might see it as expected behavior and ignore it in a poor black community.

In 1982 D. C. passed initiative 9, which detailed increased maximums and mandatory minimums for drug offenses. The initiative carried by a wide majority of blacks and whites. Most black city leaders including black police were firmly behind the initiative. Crime was rampant, but prison not treatment was seen by the local community as the answer. Forman points out that citizen complaints about drug paraphernalia littering streets and alleys always ended up at the police. People did not look to expanded treatment as a solution. He notes “When we ask ourselves how America became the world’s greatest jailer, it is natural to focus on bright shiny objects: national campaigns, federal legislation, executive orders from the Oval Office. But we should train our eyes, also, on more mundane decisions and directives, many of which took place on the local level. Which agency director did a public official enlist in response to citizen complaints about used syringes in back alleys? Such small choices, made daily, over time, in every corner of our nation, are the bricks that built our prison nation.”

In the late 1980s and early 1990s the crack epidemic and the related violence grew exponentially. The murder rate in cities like D.C. soared. D.C. instituted Operation Clean Sweep where officers raided drug market street corners throwing everyone against the wall and throwing everything in their pockets on the street. Other cities adopted similar programs, but these didn’t slow down the murder rate or stop drug sales. Congress established ever higher mandatory minimum sentences. In Forman’s words, “The process was often as hurried as the outcomes were draconian. Instead of holding public hearings and soliciting expert testimony n proposed legislation, members of congress engaged in a bipartisan bidding war to raise the penalties ever higher.” “The nation’s urban centers exercised their own power – especially when it came to policing.” “And African Americans…featured prominently in many municipal governments. By 1990, for example, there were 130 black police chiefs nationwide, including the top cops in D.C., New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago, and Houston. There were also more than 300 African American mayors, including those in D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore, Atlanta, and Oakland. The words and deeds of these black law enforcement officials and politicians…are crucial to explaining why and how the war [on drugs] developed as it did in American cities.”

In 1995 future Obama Attorney General Eric Holder became the first African American to serve as U.S. Attorney of the District of Columbia. That year he announced Operation Ceasefire. This was the motor vehicle version of New York City’s stop and frisk for pedestrians, implemented that same year. Its goal was to find guns by stopping drivers for any one of many minor offenses including following too closely, windows tinted too darkly, changing lanes without a turn signal, and on and on. The police would then ask to search the car for weapons. Over 90% of people would say yes, although the police may not have always asked. Just looking through the windows, the police might find probable cause to search. Of course most of the stops were in the poor black areas of D.C. The program did find more guns, but a lot of cars had to be stopped. The biggest find was drugs and this hit blacks in the poorest communities disproportionately hard. While there was good justification for not stopping cars to search for guns in upscale white neighborhoods where very few murders occurred, car searches in white areas would have uncovered more drugs just as in black areas. Many whites as well as blacks had a small stash of marijuana in their car. Even an arrest that was dismissed for a token amount of marijuana kept people from getting jobs. And many would end up in jail and not be able to post bail and lose their jobs. Those convicted could expect a stiff sentence. The D.C. police department was majority black and it was primarily black officers making the stops. The police avoided well off black neighborhoods where crime was lower and residents often had connections to city and police leaders.

D.C. decriminalized marijuana in 2014. Black leaders had reversed their view of two decades earlier. Drug related murders had declined by 83% from 2000. The reasons are endlessly argued: tough crime measures, aging of the population, reduction of childhood lead exposure, the decline of crack, and on. The toll in incarceration remained. In eleven states more than 1 in 20 black men were in prison. Also technology advances meant that arrest records were readily available to employers, credit agencies and others. Forman holds that a focus only on low level non-violent offenders will not remedy the problem of mass incarceration. Only a tiny percentage of those incarcerated are there for marijuana possession, although 20% are there on drug related charges. Forman points out that even if that 20% were released, America would still have more people in prison than any other country in the world. He points out how exceedingly difficult it is to find rehabilitation programs for violent offenders in lieu of prison. He details a case he handled of a minor who robbed a man at a bus stop threatening him with a knife. Forman reached out to the victim to support giving the boy a another chance. It was his first offence. He was fifteen. Forman found a unique education program that would take the boy and teach him carpentry which he had aptitude for. Such programs usually denied those charged with violent crimes. Then Forman asked the victim to come to court and tell the judge he wanted to give the boy a second chance. Amazingly the judge agreed and put him on probation. Years later Forman ran into the defendant who was working on a construction crew. He had completed the program and entered the work force. If convicted and sent to prison he would have been another life lost.
...more

flag 35 likes · Like · see review

Jan 27, 2018 Mehrsa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is a really important book that complicates the dominant narrative on crime espoused in books like the new jim crow and others. It adds more nuance and it shows how the black community participated in raising the stakes for crimes. Forman is a public defender in DC and son of the SNCC Forman. He knows what he's talking about, his history is fascinating, and the stories are heartbreaking. Even if you think you know everything about this issue, don't skip this one. ...more

flag 34 likes · Like · see review

Jun 25, 2017 Benjamin Lettuce Treuhaft rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A book about policy yes. BUT at the end it makes you cry.

flag 29 likes · Like · see review

Sep 25, 2019 Dan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: pulitzer-non-fiction

This book won the Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction recently and was penned by James Forman Jr, a long time public defender in Washington DC and Yale Law School Professor.

I liked the messaging and the detail on some of the history of African Americans living in DC and the ongoing challenges going back to 1919 was quite good. The section on class distinction - specifically African American cops in DC and how some were the most brutal to the poorest African-American suspects - was well written and in ...more

flag 28 likes · Like · see review

Jul 03, 2017 Andre rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Using Washington D.C. as foundation, Mr. Forman, Jr. takes a look at how, many small events conspired to land the Nation to where it sits today as the greatest jailer in the world. Mass incarceration didn't just happen, it built slowly but steadily and many Black politicians, civic and religious leaders bear some responsibility. He details with solid research how Black communities consistently called for tougher sentencing laws, not just in D.C. but in Black communities all across the land. The Using Washington D.C. as foundation, Mr. Forman, Jr. takes a look at how, many small events conspired to land the Nation to where it sits today as the greatest jailer in the world. Mass incarceration didn't just happen, it built slowly but steadily and many Black politicians, civic and religious leaders bear some responsibility. He details with solid research how Black communities consistently called for tougher sentencing laws, not just in D.C. but in Black communities all across the land. The aim wasn't malicious but lacking foresight, Black leadership was unprepared for the result of the call to get tough on crime.

With the advent of Black Lives Matter movement, a popular refrain to the activism and outrage is Blacks don't care about so-called Black on Black crime.James Forman Jr. is a former public defender and the son of prominent civil rights activist. And he effectively explodes that myth in these pages.

"In documenting the range of black responses to crime, this book repudiates a claim sometimes made by defenders of the criminal justice system: that African Americans protest police violence while ignoring violence by black criminals." Not only have Black communities cared, they have responded in myriad ways, from corner patrols to stop the violence marches and rallies.
"Far from ignoring the issue of crime by blacks against other blacks, African American officials and their constituents have been consumed by it." So how did we get here? James argues, "Mass incarceration is the result of small, distinct steps, each of whose significance becomes more apparent over time, and only when considered in light of later events."As you turn these pages the journey to mass incarceration shines through with a distinct clarity that James presents in engaging prose with abundant notes and poignant examples. Well written and researched it is a book I recommend for those asking the same question that the author asked, how did this happen?

"When we ask ourselves how America became the world’s greatest jailer, it is natural to focus on bright, shiny objects: national campaigns, federal legislation, executive orders from the Oval Office. But we should train our eyes, also, on more mundane decisions and directives, many of which took place on the local level. Which agency director did a public official enlist in response to citizen complaints about used syringes in back alleys? Such small choices, made daily, over time, in every corner of our nation, are the bricks that built our prison nation." And in building those bricks Black folk bear some culpability by choosing punishment over treatment where drugs are concerned as often drug use and abuse where factors in increased criminality. Also the willingness to draw class distinctions led to a fracturing of communities and hence some seeing others as monsters and not people in need of help. Forman doesn't shirk from some of these hard truths but maintains a semblance of balance throughout. It's a solid look at the so-called war on drugs and guns and the resulting experiences. ...more

flag 18 likes · Like · see review

Jul 11, 2017 Adofo Minka rated it really liked it · review of another edition

As a public defender working in the criminal punishment system in Hinds County, Mississippi, a county that is well over 70% black,, I found Professor Foreman's book to be long overdue, yet timely. Where many authors look at the current state of our criminal punishment system in the larger context of systematic racism, Foreman's work digs deeper and gives readers an up close look at class dynamics and how they have played out in cities where black elected and appointed officials were tasked with As a public defender working in the criminal punishment system in Hinds County, Mississippi, a county that is well over 70% black,, I found Professor Foreman's book to be long overdue, yet timely. Where many authors look at the current state of our criminal punishment system in the larger context of systematic racism, Foreman's work digs deeper and gives readers an up close look at class dynamics and how they have played out in cities where black elected and appointed officials were tasked with controlling the local criminal punishment apparatus and legislative processes.

The history that Foreman uncovers shows that black elected and appointed officials who made political, economic and social gains from the advancements of the civil rights movements, many times adopted the status quo solutions to of remedying crime through punishments in many instances even when they knew that the true root causes of criminality were addiction, economic inequity and racism. However, instead of taking the time, energy and brain power necessary to come up with root cause solutions to crime such providing mental health services, drug rehabilitation, leveling the economic playing field and ultimately, taking the political positions that they had acquired in government and attempt to dismantle the status quo that kept so many poor black people locked inside of a vicious cycle that was marred by poverty, crime and hopelessness, these individual took their new found class status, pushed the dominant narrative and passed harsher and more punitive laws that played into the politics of fear and punishment.

To be fair to these politicians who added fuel and legitimacy to the call for longer and harsher punishment, Foreman also points out that the community bewildered by crime, drugs and violence also were calling for these elected leaders to do something about the devastation the crime, drugs and violence were wreaking on their communities. Looking back, we can clearly see that these politicians took the road of least resistance and that was throwing poor black people away into prisons and jails who were ultimately victims of a political, social and economic context that they did not create. If Foreman's work does not demonstrate anything else, it demonstrates that leadership must employ creativity, empathy, compassion and ingenuity to solve the problems of crime and violence. There are no short cut solutions. The history shows that the individuals in political authority who had control of the criminal punishment apparatus after being victimized by it for so long, failed when they had their shot at the helm. Many black politicians continue to fail the masses of poor black people in this way.

Even In the Age of Trumps America, there are still localities throughout the United States who claim to be electing black progressive and even "radical" political leadership. Locking Up Our Own serves as a cautionary tale to what not to do in the realm of criminal justice if we are to have any real justice on the local and state levels particularly. It also shows what happens when oppressed group take control of the political apparatus without purging themselves of the social values of our oppressors. Without such a purging, the formerly oppressed class will be just as punitive and unforgiving as those who held control previously. However, instead of being on the basis of race, such punishment and long term harm will be carried out on the basis of class. ...more

flag 17 likes · Like · see review

Jun 24, 2017 Candice rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: criminal-justice-reform

One of the best books on criminal justice and the root causes of mass incarceration that I have read. I especially appreciated the history of city politics and local black elected officials and law enforcement in Atlanta and D.C. Most of the books and studies on mass incarceration focus on everything and everyone but the role that our own community and leaders played while doing their best to save the community from rampant crime. Incredibly eye opening and captivating read, and very accessible ...more

flag 16 likes · Like · see review

Aug 21, 2020 Andy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is a very important accompaniment for The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Especially in the current climate (2020) of people trying to understand how to stop incidents like the George Floyd killing when one of the four policemen was black. The mass incarceration system is not a simple story that can be explained entirely by white supremacy. Its establishment was, according to this book, enthusiastically demanded by black leaders. We need to rethink our entire ...more

flag 14 likes · Like · see review

Feb 16, 2020 Becky rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, politicalish, black-lives-matter, audiobook, highly-recommended, tear-jerkers, 2020, social-justice, non-fiction

I finished this book 2 weeks ago, but I have put off reviewing it because... well, I guess because there was SO MUCH information in this book that reviewing it was a little daunting. I don't know how to write this review. On the surface, this is a book about mass incarceration, and how black people are imprisoned at much higher rates, but this is called "Locking Up Our Own", not "Locking Them Up" so this book looks at the reasons and ways that black people have affected policies that increase th I finished this book 2 weeks ago, but I have put off reviewing it because... well, I guess because there was SO MUCH information in this book that reviewing it was a little daunting. I don't know how to write this review. On the surface, this is a book about mass incarceration, and how black people are imprisoned at much higher rates, but this is called "Locking Up Our Own", not "Locking Them Up" so this book looks at the reasons and ways that black people have affected policies that increase the black prison population. And MAN, was it interesting.

I mean, let's think about things from the modern perspective, with excessively long mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenses, stop and frisk laws, school-to-prison pipelines, racial profiling in traffic stops, huge police presences in neighborhood primarily composed of people of color, on and on... You would think - "Black people don't want this!" And you wouldn't be wrong, because a lot of people, not just black, do not want this. But there is still, and used to be even more, a strong opinion that harsh punitive actions were necessary among the black community to make it safe. This was a time when heroin was rampant, crack wasn't even a thing yet, and coming out of the 60s Civil Rights era, black people wanted guns more than ever before to ensure their safety amongst a community that DID NOT WANT THEM TO BE PART OF IT, and had the arms to enforce it. These issues were HUGELY divisive, and in the end, conservatism and punishment won out over treatment and social service policies.

But it didn't happen all at once. This book shows, if nothing else, how good-intentioned "for the greater good" policies can stack up over time and create a monster that is almost impossible to kill. It's political suicide NOT to claim to be Tough On Crime(tm). And yet, we've had these policies in place for 40+ years and haven't seen a reduction in crime or drug use... just a massive increase in the number of people, mostly black people, locked up.

Prison isn't a deterrent. And it is not any real form of rehabilitation. It's not a means for someone to pay for a crime and then re-enter society after their term is up, because the stain on their record - even from arrests that do not result in charges - can follow them for a lifetime, ruining job prospects, housing options, social safetry nets, etc. And, when there's no options for someone to make a living legally after they have served their time, what other option is there but to turn to illegal methods?

This is not justice. This is disenfranchisement from society and the ability to live one's life after having made a mistake of committing a crime.

It's only with hindsight that we're able to see that these policies are incredibly harmful. They are cyclical and unending and DO NOT WORK. (Well, unless you run a for-profit prison, and then they work beautifully.)

The communities that voted for these policies didn't want to rip families apart and take people from their homes and lock them away forever, they just wanted the drugs out of their neighborhoods. They didn't want to lock up young men for 30 years for having a gun to protect themselves, but they wanted the violence to stop. They didn't want THIS, they just wanted to be safe. And they didn't know how else to accomplish it. By "they" I am referring to both elected officials AND community members who voted for these policies. There were opposing arguments proposing social reforms, like rehab facilities, free methadone, decriminalization of marijuana, etc etc etc, but the option seen as the quicker, more GET IT DONE method was punitive action, and that's what people opted for to see results NOW... and each little decision stacked on top of others, and this is where we end up.

This book opened with an anecdote about Forman sitting with a teenage defendant waiting for a judge to make a determination as to whether to give him probation for possessing a weapon, or send him to the juvenile jail. The kid had plead guilty, and said that he had only had the gun for protection because he lived in a dangerous area. He had no prior arrests, no record, was an average student, etc. A normal kid who just happened to feel like he needed a gun in his neighborhood to feel safe. (This all takes place in D.C. by the way.)

The judge, a black man, (everyone in the court was black - judge, lawyers, defendants, families, everyone) decided to send him to Juvie for 6 months because the defendant, as a young black man who got caught up in the dangerous area he lived in through no fault of his own (though admittedly DID have a gun through his own actions) was essentially throwing the legacy that Dr. Martin Luther King fought and died for back in his face.

This has stayed with me, as it stayed with Forman, because it's MASSIVELY unfair. These days, the system is stacked against kids. They can't control where they live, the actions of their peers, the danger of walking to & from school, the social expectation and potential protection of gangs, etc. To expect anyone to rise above that based on willpower alone is unrealistic and doomed to fail. Will there be some who do? Absolutely. But for the majority, no. This is the life they know, and the life they have. You can't expect someone to scale a 30 foot wall unless you maybe give them a leg up.

So this judge sending him to Juvie is, in fact, throwing another 10 or 15 feet up on top of that already high wall. This kid will now miss 6 months of school, putting him far behind. He will have this on his record (though potentially it will be expunged at 18). He will live, for 6 months, with kids who also have hard lives, few options, and see the dangers and lack of opportunities in their neighborhoods as the only future they have, because that's their normal. But probably worst of all is that this kid will see that even taking responsibility and admitting his mistake will not help him - he will always be judged based on his failure to live up to an ideal that NOBODY lives up to, and the system will fail him in turn. Likely again and again and again. It's heartbreaking.

We need criminal & social justice reform. I understand how we could have gotten here, but we now have the benefit of hindsight and data showing that punitive policy isn't effective. Let's do better. ...more

flag 12 likes · Like · see review

Dec 22, 2018 Yun rated it really liked it

Locking Up Our Own provides a detailed look at how mass incarceration and the war on drugs and guns came to disproportionately affect people of color. These policies often had the support of African American leaders and community, and over time, they slowly contributed to making America the most locked-up country in the world. Many people are thrown in jail for minor infractions, which then robs them of the chance to get good educations and have job opportunities.

What's amazing about this book i ...more

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Apr 10, 2017 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

An excellent book! I was reading on my iPad and I tend to read very slowly that way... but I would find time for this book. Engaging, understandably infuriating, and with a tone I found passionate but unbiased, I learned how increased availability of drugs like heroin and crack in the '70s and '80s, coupled with the increased use of handguns and the rising prevalence of African-American police forces, served to influence laws and practices that led directly to the unbelievable rates of incarcera ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Apr 16, 2018 Nancy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018

Finished: 18.04.2018
Genre: non-fiction
Rating: A
Review:

Perspective: As a lawyer who started his career as a public defender in Washington D.C., Forman retains a pro-African American perspective for the entirety of the book.
Goal: His goal is an honest retelling of the struggles the black man is up against:
arrests for minor marijuana infractions, opiate crisis getting worse particularly among blacks, racial profiling and guns. "From Wyatt Earp to the Godfather...USA misleads their young people wh ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Jul 20, 2018 George rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: lacpl-ebook, non-fiction

COMPELLING.

“What was going on: How did a majority-black jurisdiction end up incarcerating so many of its 0wn?” (Kindle Location 127)

James Forman, Jr.’s book, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, is one of the most compelling, and most readable pieces of non-fiction I’ve read. It is a game (and a perspective) changer. Mr. Forman’s take on ‘warrior’ and ‘pretext’ policing, alone, is more than worth the price of admission.

I readily agree with the jacket-blurb of another of my ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Jan 02, 2020 Bonnie G. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, race-in-america, social-science, political-science

I was a criminology major in college, later a lawyer. The criminilization of blackness is something I have been studying formally and informally since the early 80s. This book has a different POV than any I have read. I think all rational people can agree that in the US white people have rigged the system to keep those with more melanin down, and that the justice system has been the most efficient and devastating tool in that arsenal. This book though goes a bit farther and looks at the ways Afr ...more

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Sep 28, 2018 Traci at The Stacks rated it liked it

This is a pretty straightforward book. Not particularly artful in style. It brings up a lot of questions of blame in the Black community around incarceration, singling out Black leaders. It’s not wrong I just question the narrowness of the subject and if it’s fair to blame these folks for a bigger national and anti-Black problem. Not sure why it won the Pulitzer.

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Aug 23, 2018 Sarah Jaffe rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: werk

A political history told in compelling narrative and framed with Forman's own experiences as a public defender...a complicated, necessary book that is also a pleasure to read (and made me cry real tears). ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Apr 29, 2020 Isabel • The Crime Bookshelf added it

I read this for my Criminal Punishment class (not for fun) so I won’t be rating it, but I’m still counting it towards by Goodreads goal 🤓

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Aug 21, 2017 Madelaine rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: black-liberation, non-fiction

This has to be one of the most profound books I've ever read. Foreman's premise tackles one of the most common detracting arguments we hear when we discuss racism in the criminal justice system today: But the arresting officer/jury/judge/other authority figure is black! How can this be an instance of racism, then? Admittedly, I would always be a bit stumped at this question before proceeding to cite the prevalence of internalized racism, the power dynamics of structures vs. those of the individu ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Oct 19, 2017 Vannessa Anderson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: american-history

Locking Up Our Own Crime & Punishment in Black America is a great read on the imprisonment of Black America. Author Forman explains how when the Black community takes one step forward there is always the white supremacist politicians and white supremacist law enforcement and the white supremacist wealthy pushing them many steps backward. Author Forman did a great job in explaining how locking up our own started to how it never stopped.

I was very impressed over how author Forman Jr. feared no re ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Nov 26, 2019 Ashley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: award-winners, class-gender-race, history, audiobooks, read-harder-challenge-2019, non-fiction, americana, scholarship

I wrote a big review of this when I first finished it. I was pretty proud of it; it said nearly all the things I wanted to say about this book. And then Goodreads ate it, even after introducing an auto-save feature that was supposed to make sure that couldn't happen. I would have written it in Word if I knew it wasn't going to work. Anyway, all that to say this book was really smart and good and I refuse to write another review of it so I DECLARE REVIEW AMNESTY. ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Jun 30, 2017 Jeimy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A great book about the root of mass incarceration. The author points his finger to religious leaders in African American communities and a nearsighted vision that did not foresee the pervasiveness of crack in their neighborhoods.

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Mar 31, 2019 Raghu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

The statistics on the US prison system is staggering. A quarter of the world’s prison population is in the US, even though we account for only 5% of the world’s population. One in three young black men is under criminal justice supervision. Nationwide, African-Americans are five times more likely to be in prison than whites. In some states, it is ten times as likely as whites. Though only 13% of the population, African-Americans comprise 40% of the prison population. How did we get here, fifty y The statistics on the US prison system is staggering. A quarter of the world’s prison population is in the US, even though we account for only 5% of the world’s population. One in three young black men is under criminal justice supervision. Nationwide, African-Americans are five times more likely to be in prison than whites. In some states, it is ten times as likely as whites. Though only 13% of the population, African-Americans comprise 40% of the prison population. How did we get here, fifty years after winning civil rights and affirmative action? The received wisdom on this is that pervasive racism within the police forces and the law courts is the cause of such a state of affairs. Others point to Richard Nixon’s ‘war on drugs’ which started locking up increasing numbers of African-Americans for even minor drug-related offenses. Yet others point to Bill Clinton’s ‘Three strike Law’ which resulted eventually in over-populated prisons. It is all the more perplexing when we are told that crime in the US has dropped dramatically since the 1990s, with the number of murders and homicides plummeting in US cities. The author of this book is a former public defender in Washington, DC, and currently Professor at Yale Law School. He combines his academic scholarship with witnessing the effects of mass incarceration firsthand in his role as a public defender. The result is this perceptive and discerning book.

Prof. Forman brings a fresh historical perspective on the question of incarceration in the US. His analysis can ruffle feathers among both white and black liberals as well as the ones on the Left. But, it is by no means a book that panders to the right-wing. In a nutshell, the book makes a couple of critical points. Crime was rising in African-American communities in the 1970s, with mounting murder rates and the mushrooming of open-air drug markets. This was seen to be undoing the gains of hard-won civil rights. Hence, under community pressure, the first bunch of black mayors, judges, and police chiefs who assumed office in the 1970s embraced ‘tough-on-crime’ measures. These measures called for longer sentences and more aggressive police tactics to combat crime involving drugs and guns. Ironically, instead of reducing crime, these policies ended up contributing to disastrous consequences for black neighborhoods over the next three decades. Essentially, it is a tale of the aphorism that ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions.’

We start in 1975 in Washington DC when people used to be arrested for just the possession of marijuana. Such arrests were not benign because it had severe consequences in getting housing, employment or admission to schools or universities. Eighty percent of those arrested happened to be African-Americans. Hence, DC council member David Clarke proposed in March 1975, the Marijuana Reform Act. It sought to lower the penalties for possession of marijuana to a fine and a citation. However, it was opposed by fellow member Douglas Moore who argued that easing punishment would result in increased crime and addiction. The majority of the DC black community agreed with Moore. In 1975, DC had 70% of its inhabitants as African-Americans. So were the mayor, police officers, and most elected officials. Why would then the black community be so severe on its own people for such offenses?

One has to go back to the 1960s to understand this punitive attitude of the black community towards its drug offenders. Heroin addiction in DC spiked in the 1960s causing the prison population to go from 3 to 45% in a decade. A majority of them were African-Americans. Studies showed that young men increasingly resorted to crime to fund their heroin addiction. The community felt that drug dealers were traitors, setting back the gains of civil rights. They saw crime and violence as being linked to drug use and sales. Support for the stringent laws was seen as a way of protecting and enhancing civil rights. Nowadays, the accepted belief in the ‘War on Drugs’ in the 1970s is that the white majority was indifferent and hostile to black lives. Hence, it imposed tough criminal penalties punishing the African-American community. Forman says that the truth is its opposite. While the leaders of the white majority supported Clarke’s bill to decriminalize marijuana, it was the African-American community leaders of DC who killed that bill.

Prof. Forman moves on next to gun control. We know that Liberals mostly oppose anti-drug measures while supporting gun control. The conservatives do the opposite. Even our language reflects this dichotomy because we say ‘War on drugs’ but use the milder expression ‘gun control’ when it comes to guns. All through the 1960s, gun violence was rising, with the murder rates tripling in that decade in DC. To combat this, Councilmember John Wilson proposed stricter gun control laws in 1975. The sale, purchase, and possession of all shotguns and handguns were sought to be banned. Maximum sentencing guidelines for people convicted of gun crimes was sought to be raised.

Furthermore, Wilson proposed that minimum sentencing times be introduced so that more offenders would go to jail. Again, Moore opposed the proposal saying that DC had a lot of racist and street violence and guns were necessary for the law-abiding to protect themselves. Wilson’s proposals carried the day with overwhelming 12-1 support from the black community. Here again, the reason was that more than 80% of people killed by guns were black and those who pulled the trigger also happened to be blacks. Community members felt that black-on-black crime was setting back the gains of civil rights and wanted harsh gun laws. Just as with drugs, the impact of these laws was highly detrimental to the African-American community over the next decades. Nearly 95% of those arrested subsequently for carrying a deadly weapon were African-Americans.

The next question Prof. Forman takes up is whether having more African-American police officers would help in better justice for the community. Even here, the answer is ‘not really.’ He quotes a 1966 study by the University of Michigan which looked at both white and black officers on duty. The black officers weren’t as biased as white ones overall, but many black officers still sounded like Klansmen. A good 28 percent of them were classified as “prejudiced” or “highly prejudiced.” Many of them perceived poor black people as posing a risk to law and order in black communities. This resulted in excessive force for minor offenses, such as loitering and drunkenness. The main reasons for this were the class divisions within the black community and the goals of African-Americans in joining the police force. Contrary to what we like to believe, African-Americans join the police force mainly for its wages, benefits, security, and promotions rather than to fight racial injustice.

Reflecting on all of this, Prof. Forman says that the gun control debate mirrored the marijuana debate. In both cases, elected officials and community leaders identified a problem plaguing the community, focused on its racial dimensions and led a political response. This response emphasized prohibition backed by law enforcement and escalating penalties. But community leaders were not blind to the composite view of this problem. In addition to strict laws, they wanted a kind of ‘Marshall Plan’ for the African-American community. It would consist of jobs, education, and healthcare as a solution to fix the root causes of the problem. However, such welfare demands fell on deaf ears in the era of Nixon and Reagan. The net result was worse than before, with the proliferation of guns and an overwhelming number of black and brown people going to prison for gun possession.

The second half of the book sums up the consequences of all these efforts over thirty years. Drug-related prosecutions increased by nearly 300 percent in the early 1980s. The drug market continued its boom and crack cocaine became an epidemic. The police declared war again and started doing what is known as ‘Warrior Policing.’ They started viewing young people with criminal incidences as dangerous enemies. They implemented what came to be known as ‘Operation Ceasefire’ as a result. This involved ‘stop and search’ as another weapon in their war on drugs. Here too, more and more black people were stopped for minor traffic infringements and then searched for possession of drugs, resulting in ever-increasing imprisonment of black people, often for just having a small packet of marijuana.

As I finished reading the book, I felt that this is an insightful, educational and compassionate book. It would be a mistake to think that Prof. Forman is blaming African Americans for mass incarceration. Far from it. Neither does he let off racism’s role easily in mass incarceration. He emphasizes that black support for tough-on-crime measures was always with a composite approach. The ‘Marshall Plan’ that included economic and social measures was unfailingly part of their larger solution for black communities. However, in the given political climate of the post-civil rights, post-Great Society period, with Nixon and Reagan in charge, the Marshall Plan failed to gain traction. Prof. Forman is critical of the way we categorise drug use. In his view, it is neither a law enforcement issue nor a symptom of poverty. Instead, he sees it as a health issue and advances convincing arguments in approaching this way. He also says that the justice system should look for accountability and not vengeance. In short, we must endeavor to make black lives matter without mass incarceration of black defendants. For me, these are some of the most significant insights from this book. ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 09, 2018 Joseph Stieb rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: us-history-non-military

Excellent, excellent, excellent. This book deserves a place alongside the New Jim Crow, Rise of the Warrior Cop, The Color of Law, and Ghettoside in our understanding of race and criminal justice in the drug war era. Forman is a public defender in DC with extensive experience defending poor, mostly African American defendants. Here are some of the big insights he brings to bear:

The main goal of the book is to complement the NJC narrative of race, policing, and criminal justice by showing that Af Excellent, excellent, excellent. This book deserves a place alongside the New Jim Crow, Rise of the Warrior Cop, The Color of Law, and Ghettoside in our understanding of race and criminal justice in the drug war era. Forman is a public defender in DC with extensive experience defending poor, mostly African American defendants. Here are some of the big insights he brings to bear:

The main goal of the book is to complement the NJC narrative of race, policing, and criminal justice by showing that African American communities, in this case in the majority-AA Washington DC, supported city-level tough on crime efforts in the 70's and 80's. One example of this was marijuana decriminalization, which a white city council member proposed in the mid-1970's. This issue provided fascinating insight into the AA community's views on drugs. Under the influence of black nationalism, many AA's viewed the sale and use of drugs as a kind of race treachery, a caving in to white oppression and poverty, and advocated harsh punishment of MJ use or sale. Black preachers and other middle class AA's saw MJ as an issue of class and morality, disdaining lower-class drug users and sellers as betraying the legacy of the Civil Rights movement (the way the CRM is used in this story as a cudgel against drug dealers and users is fascinating).

Ultimately, the AA community helped defeat MJ decriminalization, and the mostly AA city council (of DC and many other cities) passed extremely punitive drug legislation, especially when the crack epidemic hit in the 80's. This is an important corrective to the NJC narrative, showing the middle class AA's thought about how to approach the drug/crime problems quite similarly to white politicians. Like most of the country, middle class AA's who exerted the most political control in cities held little sympathy for drug users/sellers, eschewing a public health approach and trapping many in the criminal justice system (think NJC's criminal caste argument). To be fair, most AA's called for "all of the above" approaches to poverty and crime, meaning they wanted better schools, jobs, fairer policing, etc as well as tough action against drugs. What they usually got from state and federal governments was support for the drug war and little else.

This book shoots down a number of myths about race and crime. First, it makes it impossible to say that AA communities don't care about black-on-black crime. They care and have cared immensely, but their reaction (just like the national reaction) only made the problem worse in the sense of calling for extremely punitive policies. Second, it offers a mild corrective to Michelle Alexander's argument about how the war on drugs was designed by manipulative white elites to harness white fear to oppress black communities. Forman somewhat more plausibly explain the drug war as the result of unforeseen consequences from a variety of small decisions superimposed onto an already racially biased system. He also highlights the agency of black Americans in responding to the crime wave in a city that was majority AA and, after the Home Rule legislation, became mostly run by AA's. The tragedy of his story is that their solutions, while maybe helping the crime wave, directly contributing to a system of mass incarceration that has disproportionately harmed AA's.

So if you are into the lit on race, crime, and police, this is an absolute must-read. I didn't even talk about other fascinating issue this book discusses, including the issue of whether more police at higher ranks in city police departments would lead to fairer policing for AA's (hint: it didn't) It is short, well-written, convincing, and emotionally, moving. It's a fascinating new perspective on these issues that I can't recommend enough. ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 25, 2017 Darryl rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This superb book by James Forman, Jr., a professor at Yale Law School, former public defender in the District of Columbia, and son of the late civil rights activitist and SNCC leader James Forman, picks up after Michelle Alexander's influential book The New Jim Crow in its analysis of the mass incarceration of and long prison sentences meted out to poor African Americans as a result of the War on Drugs that began in the 1980s. Forman demonstrates that these harsh policies, which have decimated ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 15, 2017 Rt rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Focusing on DC, where Forman lived and worked for a number of years, Forman tells a story that applies in many places in the US: the reasons that African-Americans supported, at least initially, harsh-on-crime policies that produced the New Jim Crow, exploding prison populations and ensuring that huge numbers of young African-Americans were involuntarily involved in the criminal justice system. Forman argues: (1) The pioneers who joined and rose in the police were often looking for good jobs, no ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

May 18, 2017 Casey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2017

I learned so much from this book. It really challenged my understanding of mandatory minimums and the war on crime. At its best, it is a deep dive into the history as related by old newspaper coverage and interviews, coupled with the authors own experiences as a public defender. I loved the personal anecdotes he related. That's when the book really had its most impact on me.

At times, though, the book felt too opinionated. Some of the language he chose definitely showed me what he believes - but ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Nov 18, 2018 Mark Mortensen rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: americana, politics

The author documents the severity of guns, drugs and back on black violence within Washington D.C. I wish Forman had written the book in chronological order to follow a pattern, but too often he switched from present day back to the 50’s then to the 80’s then back to the 70’s and jumped to the 90’s. He is quick to state the problem stems from conservative U.S. Presidents and D.C. police. I don’t buy it. Among the finger pointing and his search for accountability there is no mention of children b ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jul 23, 2018 Christine rated it really liked it

Shelves: washington-dc, crime-and-trial, race-issues

A well written and important read about how laws come to be and effect people. At times, I found myself wondering why Forman Jr did not mention gender more, but this is a really important read.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 28, 2017 Ari rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2017

IQ "When we ask ourselves how America became the world's greatest jailer it is natural to focus on bright, shiny objects: national campaigns, federal legislation, executive orders from the Oval Office. But we should train our eyes, also, on more mundane decisions and directives, many of which took place on the local level. Which agency director did a public official enlist in response to citizen complaints about used syringes in back alleys? Such small choices, made daily, over time, in every co IQ "When we ask ourselves how America became the world's greatest jailer it is natural to focus on bright, shiny objects: national campaigns, federal legislation, executive orders from the Oval Office. But we should train our eyes, also, on more mundane decisions and directives, many of which took place on the local level. Which agency director did a public official enlist in response to citizen complaints about used syringes in back alleys? Such small choices, made daily, over time, in every corner of the nation, are the bricks that built our prison nation" (148).

This is the book I've been waiting for and it did not disappoint. After reading THE NEW JIM CROW I read quite a few articles on criminal justice (especially the ramifications of the 1994 crime bill) and something I could not shake was the assertion that this bill and other harsh initiatives were supported by Black Americans at the time. I wanted to really delve into why that was the case, I had my suspicions but I was hoping there was a book that could answer this question as opposed to a lengthy academic article and LOCKING UP OUR OWN more than delivers. He starts the book off with a story about when he was in a courtroom where everyone was Black, from the judge to the defendant to the police officer who arrested the defendant. It's the perfect way to start the book and his decision to make himself and his personal experiences a part of the book as well is an excellent choice, especially since DC was a majority Black city at the time. This allows him to really illustrate how in many ways we did this to ourselves, that Black communities had the best of intentions when they asked for harsher crime laws, especially for drug crimes. DC's mayor was Black (and always has been), they were the first city to elect a Black police chief and their city council was Black and yet they still passed extremely harsh sentencing laws because that was what the people wanted. I don't mean to make it sound like I blame Black people for the mass incarceration crisis because I don't and neither does Forman Jr. but he does explain the role the previous generation played in it, including icons like Maxine Waters (this was no doubt drafted and printed before she became a beloved resistance hero to my generation), Marion Barry (which is laughable) and Eric Holder (DC's first Black Attorney General who also strongly supported stop-and-frisk through an initiative called Operation Ceasefire that focused on gun crime). But the book never takes a judgmental tone or lays the blame solely at their feet. He takes great care to reiterate that Black civil rights leaders, politicians, church leaders, police chiefs and other pillars of the Black community asked for economic development, education and housing reform IN ADDITION to tough-on-crime measures but we only got the punishment part of the equation. You can also sense the terror Black communities regardless of class felt as crime rates rose, it's completely understandable that people were desperate for concrete action. Furthermore class played a huge role, it was Black elites who led the charge for being tough on crime and the urgent need for more Black policemen, even though they had no intention of becoming cops themselves. And then when lower and middle class Black men became cops for the sake of job security and nothing else, we see very clearly these efforts were doomed to make no difference especially as Forman uses countless examples to explain how Black cops looked down on/were disgusted by the poor Black people they spent most of their time policing. Forman cities a fascinating study that found that in an unnamed upper-middle class Black community, residents were perfectly content with DC police, as were wealthy whites in their community. It was only the unnamed low-income Black neighborhood that expressed great frustration with DC police. And this makes sense, particularly in DC, where cops focused few of their harassing police efforts on middle class or wealthy neighborhoods.

The mentions of John Conyers made me sad, I wasn't very familiar with his record except that every article about sexual harassment allegations against him mentioned how he was lauded as a civil rights leader. This book mentions him and his legislative efforts repeatedly and it's very impressive, he wanted a Marshall Plan for cities and was a huge advocate for gun control. I was also pleased by how much time was spent focusing on gun crime, the author makes this excellent point on the gun debate, "One unique feature of the continuing gun control debate is that a gun may be the only dangerous item that can plausibly be viewed as a solution to the very danger it presents. Nobody argues that the solution to cocaine addiction is more cocaine" (64). It seems like a lot of books about criminal justice reform focus solely on drugs so I was glad to see the author tackled another major crime element. In fact he brings up a fantastic line of thinking in the epilogue-one that I am certainly guilty of indulging in-when he notes the problem with the current criminal justice reform debate, "Basing criminal justice reform on leniency for nonviolent drug offenders reinforces a deeply problematic narrative. [...] As a result, even if we decided today to unlock the prison door of every single American behind bars on a drug offense, tomorrow morning we'd wake up to a country that still had the world's largest prison population" (228). In other words, it may be pragmatic to tackle non violent drug sentencing reform first but that won't solve our mass incarceration crisis and we need to not only acknowledge that reality but also change our values in order to ultimately change how we look at the purpose and goals of incarceration.

The only thing I had trouble with is his assertion on Black policeman. He lays out a compelling argument that Black policemen were never going to lead to better policing of low-income Black neighborhoods and we shouldn't have assumed that they would. He argues that hiring Black firefighters wouldn't change the way we fight fires so why would hiring Black policemen. But by his logic should we say the same thing about hiring Black teachers? I.e. that hiring more of them won't do anything to improve our broken education system? I think he argues his case well, I'd heard the argument before that Black policeman are only slightly better than their white counterparts (and more often than not they're worse) but I think you then have to carry that argument to other professions. I'm still unpacking that chapter in my own mind so not sure I'm making a ton of sense yet.

LOCKING UP OUR OWN is well researched, immensely readable and includes valuable personal anecdotes from Forman's time in DC as a public defender. It is an agonizing and stirring reminder that the road to hell is paved with good intentions and that it is impossible to foresee every potential consequence of a law but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try and be more thoughtful in our approach to reform (and not hastily draft sloppy laws). And of course approach the both the guns and drugs crises as public health issues. I devoured this book in a few days and can't recommend it enough, I would love to see some of my favorite intellectuals and thought leaders talk about this book more because I think it's flying under the radar (although it did make the New York Times and GQ's best books of the year lists). Pair this with THE NEW JIM CROW. Next on my list of criminal justice reading is JUST MERCY. ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Play Book Tag: Locking Up Our Own by James Forman Jr,- 4 stars	1	6	Jul 25, 2020 08:52AM
Goodreads Librari...: Combine Editions - "Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America" by James Forman Jr.	2	221	Dec 16, 2018 07:45PM
NonFiction Pulitzers: Locking Up Our Own Oct/Nov 2018 Buddy Read	38	24	Nov 16, 2018 05:37AM

Readers also enjoyed

See similar books…

Genres

Nonfiction

383 users

Race

169 users

History

161 users

Politics

137 users

Social Movements > Social Justice

97 users

Race > Anti Racist

67 users

Law

42 users

Mystery > Crime

34 users

Cultural > African American

30 users

Sociology

27 users

See top shelves…

About James Forman Jr.

James Forman Jr.

80 followers

James Forman Jr. is one of the nation’s leading authorities on race, education, and the criminal justice system, and a tireless advocate for young people who others have written off.
Forman attended Yale Law School, and after he graduated, worked as a law clerk for Judge William Norris of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the U.S. Supreme Court. After clerking, he ...more

News & Interviews

Goodreads Editors (and CEO) Share Their Mystery Picks

Die-hard mystery fans are always on the hunt for their next supremely satisfying whodunit. To help you stock that Want to Read shelf, we asked...

Trivia About Locking Up Our Ow...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from Locking Up Our Ow...

“When we ask ourselves how America became the world’s greatest jailer, it is natural to focus on bright, shiny objects: national campaigns, federal legislation, executive orders from the Oval Office. But we should train our eyes, also, on more mundane decisions and directives, many of which took place on the local level. Which agency director did a public official enlist in response to citizen complaints about used syringes in back alleys? Such small choices, made daily, over time, in every corner of our nation, are the bricks that built our prison nation.” — 4 likes

“But when they are carrying out investigatory or pretext stops, they are much more likely to stop black and other minority drivers: blacks are about two and a half times more likely to be pulled over for pretext stops.66 Moreover, the disparities are present regardless of gender. Black men are more than twice as likely as white men, and black women are more than twice as likely as white women, to be subjected to a pretext stop.67 In fact, black women are more likely to be pulled over for pretext stops than are white men, despite the fact that white men carry guns and commit violent crimes at much higher rates than black women do.68” — 0 likes

More quotes…

See a Problem?

Preview — Locking Up Our Own by James Forman Jr.

Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About James Forman Jr.

News & Interviews

Trivia About Locking Up Our Ow...

Quotes from Locking Up Our Ow...

See a Problem?

Preview — Locking Up Our Own by James Forman Jr.

Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America

Get A Copy

Friend Reviews

Reader Q&A

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

Readers also enjoyed

Genres

About James Forman Jr.

News & Interviews

Trivia About Locking Up Our Ow...

Quotes from Locking Up Our Ow...

new topic
Discuss This Book