Help with books/essays on criminal justice system?

July 9, 2013 6:53 AM

I'm interested in reading works on the criminal justice system, race, and political/economic inequality.

After watching the documentary on the drug war, The House I Live In, and reading some grar-inducing links about criminal injustice on MeFi, I've been becoming more interested in how the criminal justice system intersects with race and inequality in the US. I'm familiar with books like The New Jim Crow, and also some of the political science (academic) literature on mass incarceration.

I was hoping MeFi could point me in the right direction. Thanks!

posted by MisantropicPainforest to Media & Arts (14 answers total)

Courtroom 302: A Year Behind the Scenes in an American Criminal Courthouse
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (led to the TV show)
Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor
Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets
posted by djb at 7:17 AM on July 9, 2013

A New Role for Parole and the related book, When Brute Force Fails.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 7:30 AM on July 9, 2013

I found Newjack, by Ted Conover, very informative and interesting. Conover's request to shadow a trainee prison guard was denied so he applied for the job himself, got it, and the book details his experiences. It came out in 2001 so might be getting slightly dated now, but an excellent read. He spends a lot of time talking about the prisoner-guard dynamics and how the system, in its effort to control prisoners, can engender violence and problematic bahavior because of how it infantilizes prisoners and robs them of agency.

I've heard good things about Inside: Life Behind Bars in America by Michael Santos, but have not read it. Santos is an inmate serving a long drug sentence, but has since earned a couple degrees and apparently is a very good writer.

The references from the Prison-Industrial Complex Wikipedia page might also be a worthwhile place to look.
posted by Wretch729 at 7:34 AM on July 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

The excellent Gideon's Trumpet, by the recently passed Anthony Lewis. More inspiring than grar-inducing, on the whole, though.
posted by seemoreglass at 7:50 AM on July 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

I don't have any specific recommendations, but I think you'll find a lot of information in the various race-focused law reviews across the country. I googled law review race and found a few that have some archives online - Rutgers Race & The Law; Columbia Journal of Race & Law; Michigan Journal of Race & Law.

Actually, the best way to find good law review articles on the intersection of race, economic inequality, and the criminal justice system would be to use Westlaw or Lexis to run a search and find them, but they are paid services you [probably] don't have access to at home. Your local public library or law library might - I'd give them a call and ask. You might need a librarian's help to get start searching if you haven't used either before.
posted by insectosaurus at 8:02 AM on July 9, 2013

Laura Caldwell's Long Way Home is a narrative about a case but like Courtroom 302 (also excellent) it illustrates a lot of the problems of being poor, black and in the criminal justice system.

I love Gideon's Army, currently on HBO. It's about public defenders.
posted by BibiRose at 8:08 AM on July 9, 2013

Best answer: William Stuntz's The Collapse of American Criminal Justice is masterful.

Courtroom 302 and Homicide are both excellent.
posted by ewiar at 8:47 AM on July 9, 2013 [3 favorites]

NewJack is excellent as both a piece of participatory journalism as well as getting at some of the real issues in our criminal justice system.
posted by mmascolino at 8:49 AM on July 9, 2013

Best answer: I still have my copy of The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison from when I had to read it in an undergrad Criminology class. Sounds right up your interest alley.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 8:53 AM on July 9, 2013

Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc covers the intersection of systemic poverty, the drug trade, and chronic incarceration (among other things). It's also probably the best book I've ever read.
posted by Charity Garfein at 12:40 PM on July 9, 2013

Exile Nation is a pretty spectacular read for a first person account. Narrator is slightly unreliable (as are we all), but the signal:noise ratio is pretty damn high nonetheless.
posted by lalochezia at 1:13 PM on July 9, 2013

I haven't yet read his book, but a couple of years ago I attended a fantastic talk by Paul Butler on "progressive prosecutors" and their role in the criminal justice system. He is a law professor and a former prosecutor, and as part of his talk he described the racial dynamics that were at play while he was trying cases in DC. He was an extremely compelling speaker, so the book may be a worthwhile read.

I would also nth the aforementioned Bill Stuntz book.
posted by Carmelita Spats at 7:31 PM on July 9, 2013

Nthing Newjack. It's one of my favorite books of all time.
posted by theuninvitedguest at 8:41 PM on July 9, 2013

I have read Paul Butler's book, and I recommend it.

I also recommend everything by Angela Davis.
posted by gingerbeer at 2:03 PM on July 10, 2013