Top
A wide-ranging look at the true cost to society of our current approach to criminal justice, from the nation's foremost criminologists. In a series of newly commissioned essays from the leading scholars and advocates in criminal justice, Invisible Punishment explores, for the first time, the far-reaching consequences of our current criminal justice policies. Adopted as part of "get tough on crime" attitudes that prevailed in the 1980s and '90s, a range of strategies, from "three strikes" and "a war on drugs," to mandatory sentencing and prison privatization, have resulted in the mass incarceration of American citizens, and have had enormous effects not just on wrong-doers, but on their families and the communities they come from. This book looks at the consequences of these policies twenty years later. Essays include:
Jeremy Travis on the little-known, life-long consequences of a felony conviction
Beth Richie on the coming of age of a generation of children raised with imprisoned parents
Bruce Western on the disastrous employment consequences of incarceration for young black men
Todd Clear on problems created by pulling vast numbers of young men from low-income communities
Paul Farmer on disease epidemics begun and perpetuated in prisons
Judy Greene on the warped incentive structure of for-profit prisons
