The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: Ideology, Class, and Criminal Justice

by Reiman, Jeffrey

• ISBN13: 9780205305575
• ISBN10: 0205305571
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-07-01
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Summary

"What if our criminal justice system is biased against the poor from start to finish - from the definition of what constitutes a crime through the process of arrest, trial, and sentencing?" The author argues that actions of well-off people - refusal to make workplaces safe, refusal to curtail deadly pollution, promotion of unnecessary surgery, prescription of unnecessary drugs, etc. - cause occupational and environmental hazards to innocent members of the public and produce as much death, destruction, and financial loss as so-called crimes of the poor. However, these crimes of the well-off are rarely treated as severely as those of the poor. Reiman documents the extent of anti-poor bias in arrest, conviction, and sentencing practices and shows that the bias is conjoined with a general refusal to remedy the causes of crime - poverty, poor education, and discrimination. As a result, the criminal justice system fails to reduce crime. The author uses numerous studies and examples to illustrate his points, and difficult concepts are explained in a non-technical mann

Author Biography

Jeffrey Reiman is the William Fraser McDowell Professor of Philosophy at American University in Washington D.C.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Sixth Edition	xi
Acknowledgments for the First Edition	xv
About the Author	xvi
Introduction: Criminal Justice through the Looking Glass, or Winning by Losing	1	(8)
Abbreviations Used in the Notes	9	(1)
Notes to the Introduction	10	(2)
Crime Control in America: Nothing Succeeds Like Failure	12	(46)
Designed to Fail	12	(9)
Four Excuses That Will Not Wash, or How We Could Reduce Crime If We Wanted To	21	(1)
First Excuse: We're Too Soft!	22	(1)
Second Excuse: A Cost of Modern Life	23	(2)
Third Excuse: Blame It on the Kids!	25	(4)
Fourth Excuse: We Just Don't Know What to Do	29	(2)
Known Sources of Crime	31	(13)
Poverty	32	(2)
Prison	34	(1)
Guns	35	(2)
Drugs	37	(7)
What Works to Reduce Crime	44	(1)
How Crime Pays: Erikson and Durkheim	45	(3)
Summary	48	(1)
Study Questions	48	(1)
Additional Readings	49	(1)
Notes	49	(9)
A Crime by Any Other Name...	58	(51)
What's in a Name?	58	(2)
The Carnival Mirror	60	(5)
Criminal Justice as Creative Art	65	(3)
A Crime by Any Other Name...	68	(11)
Work May Be Dangerous to Your Health	79	(6)
Health Care May Be Dangerous to Your Health	85	(3)
Waging Chemical Warfare against America	88	(6)
Poverty Kills	94	(4)
Summary	98	(1)
Study Questions	99	(1)
Additional Readings	99	(1)
Notes	100	(9)
...and the Poor Get Prison	109	(48)
Weeding out the Wealthy	109	(5)
Arrest and Charging	114	(10)
Conviction	124	(4)
Sentencing	128	(14)
...and the Poor Get Prison	142	(3)
Summary	145	(1)
Study Questions	145	(1)
Additional Readings	146	(1)
Notes	146	(11)
To the Vanquished Belong the Spoils: Who Is Winning the Losing War against Crime?	157	(31)
Why Is the Criminal Justice System Failing?	157	(6)
The Poverty of Criminals and the Crime of Poverty	163	(1)
The Implicit Ideology of Criminal Justice	164	(6)
The Bonus of Bias	170	(4)
Ideology, or How to Fool Enough of the People Enough of the Time	174	(6)
What Is Ideology?	174	(4)
The Need for Ideology	178	(2)
Summary	180	(1)
Study Questions	180	(1)
Additional Readings	181	(1)
Notes	181	(7)
Conclusion: Criminal Justice or Criminal Justice	188	(19)
The Crime of Justice	188	(2)
Rehabilitating Criminal Justice in America	190	(1)
Protecting Society	191	(6)
Promoting Justice	197	(4)
Summary	201	(1)
Study Questions	202	(1)
Additional Readings	202	(1)
Notes	203	(4)
Appendix: The Marxian Critique of Criminal Justice	207	(22)
Marxism and Capitalism	209	(3)
Capitalism and Ideology	212	(3)
Ideology and Law	215	(7)
Law and Ethics	222	(3)
Notes	225	(4)
Index	229