Not a Crime to Be Poor

Not a Crime to Be Poor PDF Author: Peter Edelman
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 162097553X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book Here

Book Description
Awarded "Special Recognition" by the 2018 Robert F. Kennedy Book & Journalism Awards Finalist for the American Bar Association's 2018 Silver Gavel Book Award Named one of the "10 books to read after you've read Evicted" by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel "Essential reading for anyone trying to understand the demands of social justice in America."—Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy Winner of a special Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, the book that Evicted author Matthew Desmond calls "a powerful investigation into the ways the United States has addressed poverty . . . lucid and troubling" In one of the richest countries on Earth it has effectively become a crime to be poor. For example, in Ferguson, Missouri, the U.S. Department of Justice didn't just expose racially biased policing; it also exposed exorbitant fines and fees for minor crimes that mainly hit the city's poor, African American population, resulting in jail by the thousands. As Peter Edelman explains in Not a Crime to Be Poor, in fact Ferguson is everywhere: the debtors' prisons of the twenty-first century. The anti-tax revolution that began with the Reagan era led state and local governments, starved for revenues, to squeeze ordinary people, collect fines and fees to the tune of 10 million people who now owe $50 billion. Nor is the criminalization of poverty confined to money. Schoolchildren are sent to court for playground skirmishes that previously sent them to the principal's office. Women are evicted from their homes for calling the police too often to ask for protection from domestic violence. The homeless are arrested for sleeping in the park or urinating in public. A former aide to Robert F. Kennedy and senior official in the Clinton administration, Peter Edelman has devoted his life to understanding the causes of poverty. As Harvard Law professor Randall Kennedy has said, "No one has been more committed to struggles against impoverishment and its cruel consequences than Peter Edelman." And former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert writes, "If there is one essential book on the great tragedy of poverty and inequality in America, this is it."

Not a Crime to Be Poor

Not a Crime to Be Poor PDF Author: Peter Edelman
Publisher: The New Press
ISBN: 162097164X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 200

Get Book Here

Book Description
Awarded "Special Recognition" by the 2018 Robert F. Kennedy Book & Journalism Awards Finalist for the American Bar Association's 2018 Silver Gavel Book Award Named one of the "10 books to read after you've read Evicted" by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel "Essential reading for anyone trying to understand the demands of social justice in America."—Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy Winner of a special Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, the book that Evicted author Matthew Desmond calls "a powerful investigation into the ways the United States has addressed poverty . . . lucid and troubling" In one of the richest countries on Earth it has effectively become a crime to be poor. For example, in Ferguson, Missouri, the U.S. Department of Justice didn't just expose racially biased policing; it also exposed exorbitant fines and fees for minor crimes that mainly hit the city's poor, African American population, resulting in jail by the thousands. As Peter Edelman explains in Not a Crime to Be Poor, in fact Ferguson is everywhere: the debtors' prisons of the twenty-first century. The anti-tax revolution that began with the Reagan era led state and local governments, starved for revenues, to squeeze ordinary people, collect fines and fees to the tune of 10 million people who now owe $50 billion. Nor is the criminalization of poverty confined to money. Schoolchildren are sent to court for playground skirmishes that previously sent them to the principal's office. Women are evicted from their homes for calling the police too often to ask for protection from domestic violence. The homeless are arrested for sleeping in the park or urinating in public. A former aide to Robert F. Kennedy and senior official in the Clinton administration, Peter Edelman has devoted his life to understanding the causes of poverty. As Harvard Law professor Randall Kennedy has said, "No one has been more committed to struggles against impoverishment and its cruel consequences than Peter Edelman." And former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert writes, "If there is one essential book on the great tragedy of poverty and inequality in America, this is it."

The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison

The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison PDF Author: Jeffrey Reiman
Publisher: Pearson Higher Ed
ISBN: 0205924492
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 298

Get Book Here

Book Description
Illustrates the issue of economic inequality within the American justice system.¿ ¿ The best-selling text, The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison contends that the criminal justice system is biased against the poor from start to finish.¿ The authors argue that even before the process of arrest, trial, and sentencing, the system is biased against the poor in what it chooses to treat as crime.¿ ¿ The authors show that numerous acts of the well-off--such as their refusal to make workplaces safe, refusal to curtail deadly pollution, promotion of unnecessary surgery, and prescriptions for unnecessary drugs--cause as much harm as the acts of the poor that are treated as crimes. However, the dangerous acts of the well-off are almost never treated as crimes, and when they are, they are almost never treated as severely as the crimes of the poor. ¿Not only does the criminal justice system fail to protect against the harmful acts of well-off people, it also fails to remedy the causes of crime, such as poverty. This results in a large population of poor criminals in our prisons and in our media. The authors contend that the idea of crime as a work of the poor serves the interests of the rich and powerful while conveying a misleading notion that the real threat to Americans comes from the bottom of society rather than the top. ¿ Learning Goals Upon completing this book, readers will be able to: Examine the criminal justice system through the lens of the poor. Understand that much of what goes on in the criminal justice system violates one’s own sense of fairness. Morally evaluate the criminal justice system’s failures. Identify the type of legislature that is biased against the poor. ¿ Note:¿ MySearchLab with eText does not come automatically packed with this text. To purchase MySearchLab with eText, please visit www.mysearchlab.com or you can purchase a ValuePack of the text + MySearchLab with eText (at no additional cost):¿ ValuePack ISBN-10: 0205896103 ¿/ ValuePack ISBN-13: 9780205896103. ¿

The Crime of Poverty

The Crime of Poverty PDF Author: Henry 1839-1897 George
Publisher: Legare Street Press
ISBN: 9781017860306
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Rich Crime, Poor Crime

Rich Crime, Poor Crime PDF Author: Colin Webster
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 1839098244
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

Get Book Here

Book Description
An important and challenging book comprehensively spanning across the establishment of power systems, Rich Crime, Poor Crime is a vital read for academics, professionals and those interested in the fields of history, sociology, criminology, and politics.

So Rich, So Poor

So Rich, So Poor PDF Author: Peter Edelman
Publisher: New Press, The
ISBN: 1595589570
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Get Book Here

Book Description
“A competent, thorough assessment from a veteran expert in the field.” —Kirkus Reviews Income disparities in our wealthy nation are wider than at any point since the Great Depression. The structure of today’s economy has stultified wage growth for half of America’s workers—with even worse results at the bottom and for people of color—while bestowing billions on the few at the very top. In this “accessible and inspiring analysis”, lifelong anti-poverty advocate Peter Edelman assesses how the United States can have such an outsized number of unemployed and working poor despite important policy gains. He delves into what is happening to the people behind the statistics and takes a particular look at young people of color, for whom the possibility of productive lives is too often lost on the way to adulthood (Angela Glover Blackwell). For anyone who wants to understand one of the critical issues of twenty-first century America, So Rich, So Poor is “engaging and informative” (William Julius Wilson) and “powerful and eloquent” (Wade Henderson).

Rich Crime, Poor Crime

Rich Crime, Poor Crime PDF Author: Colin Webster
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
ISBN: 9781839098253
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
An important and challenging book comprehensively spanning across the establishment of power systems, Rich Crime, Poor Crime is a vital read for academics, professionals and those interested in the fields of history, sociology, criminology, and politics.

The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison

The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison PDF Author: Jeffrey Reiman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000063348
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 301

Get Book Here

Book Description
For 40 years, this classic text has taken the issue of economic inequality seriously and asked: Why are our prisons filled with the poor? Why aren’t 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? This new edition continues to engage readers in important exercises of critical thinking: Why has the U.S. relied so heavily on tough crime policies despite evidence of their limited effectiveness, and how much of the decline in crime rates can be attributed to them? Why does the U.S. have such a high crime rate compared to other developed nations, and what could we do about it? Are the morally blameworthy harms of the rich and poor equally translated into criminal laws that protect the public from harms on the streets and harms from the suites? How much class bias is present in the criminal justice system – both when the rich and poor engage in the same act, and when the rich use their leadership of corporations to perpetrate mass victimization? The Rich Get Richer shows readers that much of what 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 text written in plain language. Readers who are not convinced about the larger theoretical perspective will still have engaged in extensive critical thinking to identify their own taken-for-granted assumptions about crime and criminal justice, as well as uncover the effects of power on social practices. This engagement helps readers develop their own worldview. New to this edition: Presents recent data comparing the harms due to criminal activity with the harms of dangerous—but not criminal—corporate actions Updates statistics on crime, victimization, incarceration, wealth, and discrimination Increased material for thinking critically about criminal justice and criminology Increased discussion of the criminality of middle- and upper-class youth Increased coverage of role of criminal justice fines and fees in generating revenue for government, and how algorithms reproduce class bias while seeming objective Streamlined and condensed prose for greater clarity

The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison

The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison PDF Author: Jeffrey Reiman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317344332
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book shows students that much that goes on in the criminal justice system violates their own sense of basic fairness, presents evidence that the system malfunctions, and sketches a whole theoretical perspective from which they might understand the failures and evaluate them morally.

Big Dirty Money

Big Dirty Money PDF Author: Jennifer Taub
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1984879979
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 338

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Taub explicitly and persuasively places the breakdown of enforcement and accountability in the context of money and class."--The New York Times How ordinary Americans suffer when the rich and powerful use tax dodges or break the law to get richer and more powerful--and how we can stop it. There is an elite crime spree happening in America, and the privileged perps are getting away with it. Selling loose cigarettes on a city sidewalk can lead to a choke-hold arrest, and death, if you are not among the top 1%. But if you're rich and commit mail, wire, or bank fraud, embezzle pension funds, lie in court, obstruct justice, bribe a public official, launder money, or cheat on your taxes, you're likely to get off scot-free (or even win an election). When caught and convicted, such as for bribing their kids' way into college, high-class criminals make brief stops in minimum security "Club Fed" camps. Operate the scam from the executive suite of a giant corporation, and you can prosper with impunity. Consider Wells Fargo & Co. Pressured by management, employees at the bank opened more than three million bank and credit card accounts without customer consent, and charged late fees and penalties to account holders. When CEO John Stumpf resigned in "shame," the board of directors granted him a $134 million golden parachute. This is not victimless crime. Big Dirty Money details the scandalously common and concrete ways that ordinary Americans suffer when the well-heeled use white collar crime to gain and sustain wealth, social status, and political influence. Profiteers caused the mortgage meltdown and the prescription opioid crisis, they've evaded taxes and deprived communities of public funds for education, public health, and infrastructure. Taub goes beyond the headlines (of which there is no shortage) to track how we got here (essentially a post-Enron failure of prosecutorial muscle, the growth of "too big to jail" syndrome, and a developing implicit immunity of the upper class) and pose solutions that can help catch and convict offenders.

Crimes of Punishment

Crimes of Punishment PDF Author: Theodore L. Dorpat
Publisher: Algora Publishing
ISBN: 0875865658
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Get Book Here

Book Description
This groundbreaking book by an award-winning psychoanalyst and forensic psychiatrist presents a comprehensive exploration of a timely but often taboo topic: the failure of punishment to deter crime and violence, an issue that affects us both individually and as a culture. Written at the culmination of the author s fifty-year career as a psychoanalyst, forensic psychologist and scholar, this wide-ranging work identifies the origins of violence and investigates the surprising consequences of punishment from a multitude of perspectives. In his treatment of the topic, Dr. Dorpat utilizes scientific research; ethical reasoning, and his vast clinical experience and insight. He also suggests the benefits of new and emerging humane alternatives to the revenge/punishment model currently entrenched in our society, such as restorative justice. In contrast to most contemporary measures, these new approaches while still imprisoning dangerous individuals effectively stress reparation and forms of sanctioning other than incarceration. When restitution replaces revenge, everyone benefits. Crimes of Punishment examines four key, interrelated social methods of punishment. These are (1) the corporal punishment of children, (2) the incarceration of adults in prisons, (3) capital punishment the death penalty, and (4) emotional (verbal) abuse. As he elucidates and analyzes each of these forms of punishment, Dr. Dorpat clearly and logically makes the case that punishment is not only ineffectual but that it also engenders more of what it ostensibly aims to stop: violence and misbehavior. Both children and adults who are subjected to punishment tend to become more violent individuals. In covering the full scope of our contemporary justice system Dr. Dorpat brings to the forefront those who are often overlooked or dismissed: the victims of crime. His concluding chapters present and clarify the psychological wounds and needs of these individuals, and demonstrate how restorative justice is effective in attending to victims in an ethical and healing manner. In a humane and ethically evolved society restitution replaces punishment. Market Comparison-- Crimes of Punishment is unique in that it covers not just one but four different types of punishment (the corporal punishment of children, the incarceration of adults, the death penalty, and verbal emotional] abuse). Two earlier books written by psychiatrists expose the terrible conditions in America s prisons. They are The Crime of Punishment (New York: Viking, 1968) by Karl Menninger, and Prison Madness by Terry Kupers (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1999). This book differs in two important ways from the books written by Menninger and Kupers. First, The Crimes of Punishment covers other kinds of punishment, while those authors deal only with the punishment of incarceration. Secondly, the reforms they recommend are merely piecemeal modifications of the present criminal justice systems, whereas Dr. Dorpat argues for a radical change that includes the abolition of today s punitive prison (Retributive Justice) system and the establishment of a new and different system, namely Restorative justice, a system that has been developed over the past decade in Australia and New Zealand. The Crimes of Punishment differs from Menninger s book in covering the many changes that have occurred in prisons since 1968. In several short chapters on restorative justice, the book also explores this exciting new approach and serves as an informed introduction to a new, important, and effective moral approach to the treatment of criminals.