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...and the Poor Get Prison: Economic Bias in American Criminal Justice

NCJ Number
174028
Author(s)
J Reiman
Date Published
1996
Length
202 pages
Annotation
This book attempts to prove that the American criminal justice system policies and definitions of crime are inherently biased against the poor, and offers suggestions to rehabilitate the system.
Abstract
Statistics show that the poor are more likely than the well-off to be arrested, if arrested more likely to be convicted, and if convicted, more likely to be sentenced to prison. The failure of the American criminal justice system to protect the citizenry is not haphazard; it has a pattern. The system devotes most of its resources to fighting crimes like murder and mugging, which are characteristically committed by the poor, but has failed to fight vigorously, even to treat as criminal, the dangerous acts of the wealthy and powerful. The book compares statistics on harm due to crimes and statistics on harm due to noncriminal acts, such as failure to reduce the presence of deadly chemicals in the workplace. It offers a theory to explain why the criminal justice system continues to fail to provide either justice or safety for American citizens, and suggests ways to rehabilitate the system. Notes, tables, index