| Edition |
First edition |
| ISBN |
9780374189976 hardcover |
|
0374189978 hardcover |
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9780374712907 electronic book |
| NUMBER |
Farrar Straus & Giroux, C/O Mps 16365 James Madison Hwy, Gordonsville, VA, USA, 22942, (540)6727600 SAN 631-5011 |
| Descript |
306 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Content |
Part I: Origins. Gateway to the war on drugs : marijuana, 1975 ; Black lives matter : gun control, 1975 ; Representatives of their race : the rise of African American police, 1948-78 -- Part II: Consequences. "Locking up thugs is not vindictive" : sentencing, 1981-82 ; "The worst thing to hit us since slavery" : crack and the advent of warrior policing, 1988-92 ; What would Martin Luther King, Jr., say? : stop and search, 1995 -- Epilogue: The reach of our mercy, 2014-16 |
| Summary |
"In recent years, America's criminal justice system has become the subject of an increasingly urgent debate. Critics have assailed the rise of mass incarceration, emphasizing its disproportionate impact on people of color. As [law professor] James Forman Jr. points out, however, the war on crime that began in the 1970s was supported by many African Americans in the nation's urban centers. In Locking Up Our Own, he seeks to understand why. Forman shows us that the first substantial cohort of black mayors, judges, and police chiefs took office amid a surge in crime and drug addiction. Many prominent black officials, including Washington, D.C., mayor Marion Barry and federal prosecutor Eric Holder, feared that the gains of the civil rights movement were being undermined by lawlessness--and thus embraced tough-on-crime measures, including longer sentences and aggressive police tactics. In the face of skyrocketing murder rates and the proliferation of open-air drug markets, they believed they had no choice. But the policies they adopted would have devastating consequences for residents of poor black neighborhoods. A former D.C. public defender, Forman tells riveting stories of politicians, community activists, police officers, defendants, and crime victims. He writes with compassion about individuals trapped in terrible dilemmas--from the men and women he represented in court to officials struggling to respond to a public safety emergency. Locking Up Our Own enriches our understanding of why our society became so punitive and offers important lessons to anyone concerned about the future of race and the criminal justice system in this country."--Jacket |
|
"Recounts the tragic role that some African Americans--as judges, prosecutors, politicians, police officers, and voters--played in escalating the war on crime"-- Provided by publisher |
| Note |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Subject |
Criminal justice, Administration of -- United States
|
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Discrimination in criminal justice administration -- United States
|
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Life and death, Power over
|
|
African American judges
|
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African American politicians
|
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African American police
|
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United States -- Race relations
|
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Social justice -- United States
|
| Alt Title |
Crime and punishment in Black America |
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