For nearly 40 years, this classic text has taken the issue of economic inequality seriously and asked: Why are our prisons filled with the poor? Why arent the tools of the criminal justice system being used to protect Americans from predatory business practices and to punish well-off people who cause widespread harm?
The Rich Get Richer shows readers that much that goes on in the criminal justice system violates citizens sense of basic fairness. It presents extensive evidence from mainstream data that the criminal justice system does not function in the way it says it does, nor in the way that readers believe it should. The authors develop a theoretical perspective from which readers might understand these failures and evaluate them morally and they to do it in a short and relatively inexpensive text written in plain language.
New to this edition
Presents recent data comparing the harms due to criminal activity with the harms of dangerousbut not criminalcorporate actions.
Presents new data on recent crime rate declines, which are paired with data on how public safety is not prioritized by the US government
Updated statistics on crime, victimization, wealth and discrimination, plus coverage of the increasing role of criminal justice fines and fees in generating revenue for government
including the report on Ferguson, MO.
Updates on the costs to society of white collar crime
Updates and deepens analysis of why fundamental reforms are not undertaken
The prose has been streamlined and condensed for greater clarity
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xiii | |
| Preface to the Eleventh Edition |
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xv | |
| Acknowledgments for the First Edition |
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xxi | |
| Introduction: Criminal Justice Through the Looking Glass, or Winning by Losing |
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1 | (10) |
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Abbreviations Used in the Notes |
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9 | (1) |
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9 | (2) |
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Chapter 1 Crime Control in America: Nothing Succeeds Like Failure |
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11 | (53) |
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12 | (9) |
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Understanding the Decline in Crime Rates |
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21 | (6) |
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Three Excuses That Will Not Wash, or How We Could Reduce Crime If We Wanted To |
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27 | (1) |
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First Excuse: We're Too Soft! |
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28 | (1) |
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Second Excuse: A Cost of Modern Life |
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29 | (2) |
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Third Excuse: Blame It on the Kids! |
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31 | (2) |
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33 | (1) |
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33 | (3) |
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36 | (2) |
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38 | (1) |
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39 | (5) |
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What Works to Reduce Crime |
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44 | (1) |
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Failing to Reduce Crime: Erikson, Durkheim, and Foucault |
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45 | (1) |
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Erikson, Durkheim, and the Benefits of Deviance |
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45 | (3) |
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48 | (16) |
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50 | (1) |
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50 | (1) |
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51 | (1) |
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51 | (13) |
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Chapter 2 A Crime by Any Other Name ... |
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64 | (49) |
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65 | (1) |
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66 | (5) |
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Criminal Justice as Creative Art |
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71 | (3) |
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A Crime by Any Other Name ... |
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74 | (10) |
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1 Defenders' First Objection |
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77 | (3) |
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2 Defenders' Second Objection |
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80 | (1) |
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3 Defenders' Third Objection |
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81 | (1) |
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4 Defenders' Fourth Objection |
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82 | (2) |
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Work May Be Dangerous to Your Health |
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84 | (6) |
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Health Care May Be Dangerous to Your Health |
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90 | (2) |
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Waging Chemical Warfare Against America |
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92 | (6) |
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98 | (3) |
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101 | (1) |
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102 | (1) |
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102 | (1) |
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102 | (11) |
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Chapter 3 ... And the Poor Get Prison |
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113 | (52) |
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113 | (5) |
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The Costs of White-Collar Crime |
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118 | (2) |
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120 | (6) |
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Adjudication and Conviction |
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126 | (2) |
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128 | (21) |
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... And the Poor Get Prison |
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149 | (3) |
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152 | (1) |
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152 | (1) |
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153 | (1) |
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153 | (12) |
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Chapter 4 To the Vanquished Belong the Spoils: Who Is Winning the Losing War Against Crime? |
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165 | (29) |
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Why Is the Criminal Justice System Failing? |
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166 | (6) |
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The Poverty of Criminals and the Crime of Poverty |
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172 | (1) |
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The Implicit Ideology of Criminal Justice |
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173 | (5) |
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178 | (2) |
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Ideology, or How to Fool Enough of the People Enough of the Time |
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180 | (1) |
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180 | (4) |
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184 | (2) |
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186 | (1) |
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187 | (1) |
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187 | (1) |
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187 | (7) |
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Conclusion: Criminal Justice or Criminal Justice |
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194 | (18) |
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194 | (2) |
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Rehabilitating Criminal Justice in America |
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196 | (1) |
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197 | (6) |
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203 | (5) |
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208 | (1) |
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208 | (1) |
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209 | (1) |
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209 | (3) |
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Appendix I The Marxian Critique of Criminal Justice |
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212 | (20) |
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214 | (2) |
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216 | (4) |
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220 | (6) |
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226 | (3) |
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229 | (3) |
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Appendix II Between Philosophy and Criminology |
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232 | (13) |
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Philosophical Assumptions of Social Science Generally |
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233 | (1) |
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Special Philosophical Needs of Criminology |
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234 | (4) |
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The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Philosophy |
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238 | (6) |
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244 | (1) |
| Index |
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245 | |
Jeffrey Reiman is the William Fraser McDowell Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at American University in Washington, D.C. In addition to The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, Dr. Reiman is the author of In Defense of Political Philosophy (1972), Justice and Modern Moral Philosophy (1990), Critical Moral Liberalism: Theory and Practice (1997), The Death Penalty: For and Against (with Louis P. Pojman, 1998), Abortion and the Ways We Value Human Life (1999), As Free and as Just as Possible (2012), and more than 60 articles in philosophy and criminal justice journals and anthologies.
Paul Leighton is a Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology at Eastern Michigan University. In addition to The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, Dr. Leighton is the co-author of Punishment for Sale (with Donna Selman, 2010) and Class, Race, Gender and Crime (with Gregg Barak and Allison Cotton, 4th edition, 2013). He is also co-editor, with Jeffrey Reiman, of the anthology Criminal Justice Ethics (2001). In addition to his publications, Dr. Leighton is webmaster for PaulsJusticePage.com and PaulsJusticeBlog.com.
