Reddit mentions of Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration-and How to Achieve Real Reform

They want him to plead guilty to a felony drug charge? What in the fuck?! If your brother-in-law hasn't already done so, he needs to talk to a lawyer. They are very clearly trying to railroad him into a decision that is detrimental to his future and it seems likely they'll keep the pressure on him until he either has proper legal representation or pleads guilty to a felony drug charge that he is not guilty of. In John Pfaff's book, "Locked In: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration and How to Achieve Real Reform" he states that "Nearly 95 percent of the cases that prosecutors decide to prosecute end up with the defendant pleading guilty".

Hate him or love him, you should check out this video from John Oliver, who talks about prosecutors and the insane game they play with people's liberty and rights.

https://www.amazon.ca/Locked-Causes-Incarceration-Achieve-Reform/dp/0465096913

The U.S. should really stop electing its district attorneys.

> I would also suggest the work of Norwegian criminologist Nils Christie. I studied with him at the University of Oslo about this.

Have you heard of Locked In?

It's a critique of Michelle Alexander's book on the causes of mass incarceration.

I haven't read it yet, so I don't really know if the critique is valid or not.

here are some links of the thesis if you are interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U8ciuHms_g

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/02/09/everything-you-think-you-know-about-mass-incarceration-is-wrong

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/10/how-we-misunderstand-mass-incarceration

I personally, don't. And don't have much for you, I'm not deep into it.

But I asked a lawyer friend of mine who teaches a course on this subject and she came back with a couple items. She teaches with these texts:

https://www.amazon.com/American-Corrections-Todd-R-Clear/dp/133755765X
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Jim_Crow

And referred me to this syllabus:
https://www.aaihs.org/prison-abolition-syllabus-2-0/

I'm sure you and I both were hoping for something more succinct.

I was reading the New Jim Crow wikipedia page and among its critics is this guy, Plaff, who while contending TNJC's focus on the drug war makes a point you've brought up before: That non-violent drug offenders are not the majority of prisoners. His book https://www.amazon.com/Locked-Causes-Incarceration-Achieve-Reform/dp/0465096913 focuses on the shift in the 80's towards mandatory minimums and prosecutor behavior. The ever ratcheting prison term lengths since that time have left American prisoners with long sentences compared to other countries and I doubt that acts as a deterrent. I've heard the argument made that violence towards arresting police may be increased in the USA because the arrestee has so much to lose compared to other systems.

Probably "Against Elections", which made a surprisingly compelling case against representative democracy (as we practice it).

More recently, "Locked In", which I thought did a good job of debunking many of the commonly-held beliefs about the causes of mass incarceration.