Race to Incarcerate: The Sentencing Project

by Marc Mauer

A stunning examination of how the United States became the incarceration capital of the world, from one of the country’s leading experts on sentencing policy, race, and the criminal justice system

In this revised edition of his seminal book on race, class, and the criminal justice system, Marc Mauer, former executive director of one of the United States’ leading criminal justice reform organizations, offers the most up-to-date look available at three decades of prison expansion in America. Race to Incarcerate tells the tragic story of runaway growth in the number of prisons and jails and the overreliance on imprisonment to stem problems of economic and social development. Called “sober and nuanced” by Publishers Weekly , Race to Incarcerate documents the enormous financial and human toll of the “get tough” movement, and argues for more humane—and productive—alternatives.

Genres: Nonfiction, Social Justice, Law, Politics, Race, Academic

208 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1999

Reviews

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a very interesting review of the increasing incarceration rates in America compared to the rest of the world. The description of the drug policy changes through the years was also very interesting. He has a good style which makes the book seem more like a story than a non=fiction book.

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Valuable, replete with statistics, depressing, astonishing & confounding statistics! The stats make the reading a bit dry, I felt like the author illustrated people as numbers too often; however the exposition of the problems of incarceration makes the overall reading experience informative & educational.

Previous reads: "The New Jim Crow," and "The Anatomy of Racial Inequality," and "Race Matters, and "The Wrong Men: America's Epidemic of Wrongful Death Row Convictions."

There are some interesting graphs; chapters are somewhat brief; writing is pretty basic, the author relies on statistics to prove points, sometimes I felt like he could have just said plainly that certain peoples are in every meaning of the word, racist, and that this is the primal issue, the ancient injustice. But the book is written with regards to those who actually do think that blacks & browns commit more crime and deserve more punitive measures, mandatory sentences & societal condemnation, so the stats are there to dispel any of that non-sense & non-truth.

This book (as well as the previous reads listed above) pains me. We see crime but are too quick to judge, or are too far away to care at all, but in the light of compassion, understanding & tolerance, and in the basking warmth of mercy, clemency & true justice, we realize that circumstances lead to actions, and that impoverished circumstances lead to desperate, foolish, miscalculated, but often "choice-less choices," i.e. people have to cope with legacies of slavery, Jim Crow laws, segregation, lack of health institutions for mental therapies or rehabilitation, the absence of job markets, real discrimination in those markets, the prevalence of handguns, the mysterious import of crack & of cocaine, the broken families, and the stigma of being different from the founding fathers and their mother countries (in Europe). I agree with another reviewer in that Mauer doesn't provide much of a solution to address, really, any of the problems he mentioned--he exposes those problems, making the case that they are real, and that they make little sense and contribute to more problems, but he himself, judging from the entirety of the book, seems at a loss for how to fix it all. And I personally think that the problem is really really deep because it is connected to a stigma (Glenn Loury wrote of this in "An Anatomy of Racial Inequality") that basically equates to a certain animal fear of the “racial markers" of Afros (& N. Americans, et. al.). Some people really believe blacks & browns are inferior or have inherently bad qualities. We’re all aware of this in this century I think, and we that it’s dumb, that the advocates of such superstitious non-science are in error--but there it is: the reality that segments or classes or dominant groups will exercise such twisted perception. Mauer could've went here, to this raw matter, but he didn't. Well, no, to be fair, he does go "there," but in a scientific , analytic way. The book's a general overview of the many inadequacies in criminal justice. Certainly worth the time, won't take too long, and it is a good lead into more literature & study & action on the issue of the prison industrial complex.

[Lin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even if you already agree with the premise that the US criminal justice system is unfair and failing, this well-researched, well-reasoned argument is a valuable read. Buy a copy, read it, then donate it to books through bars.

[Clay Strong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-researched, interesting, a bit discouraging.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing that 25 years later, we still have the same problems. Does anyone listen? Does anyone care?

[Gaga · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, I'd say this book is worth reading. I think it provides an important look at the correctional system in the US and, more importantly, still-existing race and class divisions and their effects on American society.

That said, I found there to be a great deal lacking from this book. Mauer's arguments are valid and well reasoned, but I could not help but feel as though there were gaping holes in a lot of his arguments, particularly with regards to his discussion of class and racism. His points seemed to me myopic and far too simplistic for what are extremely complicated issues. In particular, his depiction of America seemed to be impoverished minorities slumming in the big cities and middle-class whites in the suburbs. He associates poverty with African Americans and wealth with whites, which may have a shred of truth, but ignores a number of other issues. What about impoverished whites? What about the upper classes who, not only have access to resources that lower classes do not, but who are able to use their power and influence to cheat the system? In my opinion, the divide between classes is much more complicated than he was able to explore in a mere 10 pages, and much of his discussion was focussed on poor blacks/rich whites, which is a gross oversimplification.

Another issue that I wish could have been explored is the reality of sexual assault. I think there is a lot to be said for not just racism, but also sexism in the criminal justice system (and in a large number of cases, both). While I admit that may derail the issue at hand to a feminist sphere, I think that such a topic could have been explored and coincided nicely with his discussion of the war on drugs. Why do drug-related offenses have harsher penalties than violent offenses? Yes, there is a huge discussion about this topic, but I think Mauer could have done some research into how this relates to rape and sexual assaults.

With regards to the writing itself, the book is packed with statistics. By which I mean that the majority of the text is statistical figures strung together with sentences. While I'm in favour of statistical evidence to make a case, it made for extremely dry and unenjoyable reading. (And may I point out that if he misused 'whom' one more that before the end, I would have chucked the book across the room and given up entirely.)

Ultimately, I think this is an important book and addresses a lot of important issues, but raises a lot more questions than it answers, and it's clear that it was written by someone who has done a great deal of research on the subject and is aware of the problems with the system, but has few valuable contributions to make otherwise. I think this discussion would benefit from some academic voices, particularly economists, sociologists, and lawyers. This would be important to exploring the issues that Mauer has addressed, and delving beyond his simplifications.

[Caroline Cannata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-done introduction to the schemes of oppression that found the US prison system. Very direct, using a blend of statistics and history.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the original version, so much of the data is outdated, but it's safe to say the issues Mauer addresses have only worsened. This book is a great resource for a broad range of statistics. It's fairly short, but the strong research is combined with succinct descriptions and analyses of the political, social, and racial factors contributing to the enormous increase in the US prison population, and he offers a few more suggestions than most books on the subject do.

[Sam Newton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had some great data on the current prison crisis, but it was dry reading, lacked a consistent argument, and had very little, if anything to do with race issues. If you're looking for a book with data on mass incarceration, this is it.