Punishment Without Crime: How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal by Alexandra Natapoff -4 stars

[Booknblues]

I often like to start the year reading something light and positive, but this year I did the opposite. Reading Punishment Without Crime: How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal, I felt that I was reading something important, which I hope will get people thinking about ways to improve our misdemeanor system. As Alexandra Natapoff states:


Misdemeanors .....are the chump change of the criminal system. They are labeled “minor,” “low-level,” and “petty.” Sometimes they go by innocuous names like “infraction” or “violation.” Because the crimes are small and the punishments relatively light in comparison to felonies, this world of low-level offenses has not gotten much attention. But it is enormous, powerful, and surprisingly harsh. Every year, approximately 13 million people are charged with crimes as minor as littering or as serious as domestic violence.3 Those 13 million misdemeanors make up the vast majority, around 80 percent, of the nation’s criminal dockets. Most arrests in this country are for misdemeanors. Most convictions are misdemeanors.

I have recently been hearing about people being jailed for failure to pay fines and thought to myself "this can't be right we don't have debtors prisons in this country." So when I saw that Punishment Without Crime was being released and critics were acclaiming it, I thought that I should read it as well and get down to the bottom of the story. It was indeed eye-opening as I confess to being quite ignorant of the whole misdemeanor system which is enormous and according to Natapoff anything but just:

As legal scholar Jonathan Simon puts it, “The whole structure of misdemeanor justice… seems intended to subject the urban poor to a series of petty but cumulative blows to their dignity as citizens of equal standing.”38

Natapoff has done her homework. This work has been thoroughly researched and is annotated throughout. She is also clear in her descriptions and explanations so that a lay person can understand the law and what is happening easily.

Natapoff explains how the misdemeanor system effects the disparities of race and wealth, how it frequently tramples our constitution, how it has become privatized, and causes negative life changing impacts. In the final chapter she cautiously lays out how it could be changed for the better.

I will admit to being pretty ignorant of this part of our justice system and am happy to have read this book.

[[deleted user]]

Good review! I learned so many things I did not know when I took a few Criminal Justice classes in college.

[Holly R W]

I am a social worker in a large, urban hospital. I see up close the inequities of our justice system and how this affects people. People do get put in jail, due to inability to pay fines. Other sentences can hurt their ability to drive and get to a job. Thank you for your thoughtful review.

[Amy]

Holly, quite a few of us mental health clinicians lurk amongst these lists. You are not alone.

[Booknblues]

Holly R W wrote: "I am a social worker in a large, urban hospital. I see up close the inequities of our justice system and how this affects people. People do get put in jail, due to inability to pay fines. Other sen..."

I really encourage anyone interested to read this book, because I think this is the only way we can make change. I appreciated her final chapter when she outlines some cautionary changes she thinks are possible.

Really< I believe people speaking out and bringing awareness to others is an excellent way to start.

[Joi]

Great review, this sounds really interesting. Did you find it dense at all?

[Booknblues]

Joi wrote: "Great review, this sounds really interesting. Did you find it dense at all?"
No, the writing made it easy to understand. She used lots of real life examples which I appreciated. It was at times repetitive, but I was ok with that because I wanted to understand the whole misdemeanor system.

[Joi]

Booknblues wrote: "No, the writing made it easy to understand. She used lots of real life examples which I appreciated.."

And just like that, it's added to the TBR!