What is Mass Incarceration?
The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population and nearly one-quarter of its prisoners, and the criminal justice system profoundly discriminates against people of color at every juncture. - Brennan Center for Justice
- Mass Incarceration: An Annotated Bibliography The term “mass incarceration” has been used to describe America's contemporary hyper-incarceration or over-incarceration phenomenon. Those readers who were fortunate enough to attend the 2015 Roger Williams University School of Law Symposium, Sounding the Alarm on Mass Incarceration: Moving Beyond the Problem and Toward Solutions, had the opportunity to hear a variety of speakers discuss the breadth and depth of this phenomenon. In concert with the symposium speakers, this annotated bibliography reflects a multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary approach to the topic.
Important Works at the Law Library
- The Social and Moral Cost of Mass Incarceration in African American Communities "[Describes] the distinctive features of both African American mass incarceration and the new direction in prison research examining this phenomenon. I also discuss how these empirical studies reframe the issue of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. Part I identifies three theories that explain the social mechanisms through which mass incarceration inflicts community-level harms. Part II argues that mounting evidence of mass imprisonment's damage to African American communities should change the outcome of dominant deliberations about the moral justifications for current penal approaches to punishment. This evidence demolishes utilitarian claims that high incarceration rates uniformly benefit black communities and reveals, to the contrary, how they entrench black communities' political subordination. I conclude, therefore, that the mass incarceration of African Americans is not only morally unjustifiable, but morally repugnant.
- Symposium, Mass Incarceration: Causes, Consequences, and Exit Strategies n addressing the phenomenon of what many now call “mass incarceration,” three central questions present themselves: 1) Why did this change occur? Can we identify the causes of this massive shift in our criminal punishment practices? 2) What has this change wrought? What are the consequences of mass incarceration for American society? 3) How can we reverse course? Are there plausible exit strategies and alternatives? To answer these questions, I have assembled an erudite and diverse group of scholars who offer a variety of perspectives. Though their analyses sometimes diverge or conflict, all of the contributors agree that mass incarceration represents both a momentous change and an unfortunate or even disastrous one. In what follows, I will briefly sketch their arguments and highlight points of convergence and divergence.
- The Jim Crow Effect: Denial, Dignity, Human Rights, and Racialized Mass Incarceration "this examination [starts] in section I, with a brief review of the many shades of meaning and consequence which is at the heart of America's historical obsession with Jim Crow. In Section II, I examine the subtle but significant interplay between social denial and racialized mass incarceration. In Section III, I focus my attention on explicating the phenomenon of racialized mass incarceration. In Section IV, I discuss the “Drivers of Mass Incarceration,” and in Section V, I conclude with a warning."
- The Consensus Myth in Criminal Justice Reform The Article maps two prevailing, but fundamentally distinct, critiques of criminal law: (1) the quantitative approach (what I call the “over” frame); and (2) the qualitative approach (what I call the “mass” frame). The “over” frame grows from a belief that criminal law has an important and legitimate function, but that the law's operations have exceeded that function. This critique assumes that there are optimal rates of incarceration and criminalization, but the current criminal system is suboptimal in that it has criminalized too much and incarcerated too many. In contrast, the “mass” frame focuses on criminal law as a sociocultural phenomenon. This reformist frame indicates that the issue is not a mere miscalculation; rather, reforms should address how the system marginalizes populations and exacerbates both power imbalances and distributional inequities.
- Symposium, Mass Incarceration as Chronic Condition: Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Treatment "The American phenomenon that is mass incarceration exploded in the last quarter of the twentieth century, giving rise to an imprisonment rate greater than any other nation's today.1 Mass incarceration exacts an undeniable human toll on those locked up, and on their families, communities, and society.2 As a result, mass incarceration is a keystone of the criminal justice movement, and legal and policy strategies to reduce mass incarceration have culminated in a charged debate about the value of human liberty, public safety, and equity, one which encompasses moral, economic, political, and legal spheres.3 The 2019 Minnesota Law Review Symposium brought leading legal minds together to address the future of mass incarceration"
The New Jim Crow by
In a bold and innovative argument, a rising legal star shows readers how the mass incarceration of a disproportionate number of black men amounts to a devastating system of racial control. This is a terrifying reality that exists in the UK as much as in the US. Despite the triumphant dismantling of the Jim Crow laws, the system that once forced African-Americans into a segregated second-class citizenship still haunts and the criminal justice system still unfairly targets black men and deprives an entire segment of the population of their basic rights.
Call Number: HV 9950 .A437 2010ISBN: 9781595586438Publication Date: 2012-01-16- State and Federal Postconviction Remedies: Last Hopes byCall Number: KF 9690 .B46 2014Publication Date: 2014
- Prisoners' Rights: a Legal Research Guide by "The area of prisoners' rights law is an ever-evolving and changing landscape. This legal research guide will cover the rights of inmates, whether imprisoned in a federal or state facility, and will also touch on the rights of particular inmates, such as women and juveniles. In addition to primary resources, encompassing the U.S. Constitution, statutes, regulations and cases, secondary resources will be listed for the benefit of lawyers and laypeopleCall Number: KF 9731 .A1 F53 2017Publication Date: 2017
Resources on the Death Penalty
Imprisoned by the Past by
In 1987, the United States Supreme Court decided a case that could have ended the death penalty in the United States. Imprisoned by the Past: Warren McCleskey and the American Death Penalty examines the long history of the American death penalty and its connection to the case of WarrenMcCleskey, revealing how that case marked a turning point for the history of the death penalty. In this book, Jeffrey L. Kirchmeier explores one of the most important Supreme Court cases in history, a case that raised important questions about race and punishment, and ultimately changed the way weunderstand the death penalty today.McCleskey's case resulted in one of the most important Supreme Court decisions in U.S. history, where the Court confronted evidence of racial discrimination in the administration of capital punishment. The case currently marks the last time that the Supreme Court had a realistic chance of completelystriking down capital punishment. As such, the case also marked a turning point in the death penalty debate in the country.Going back nearly four centuries, this book connects McCleskey's life and crime to the issues that have haunted the American death penalty debate since the first executions by early settlers through the modern twenty-first century death penalty. Imprisoned by the Past ties together three uniqueAmerican stories. First, the book considers the changing American death penalty across centuries where drastic changes have occurred in the last fifty years. Second, the book discusses the role that race played in that history. And third, the book tells the story of Warren McCleskey and how his lifeand legal case brought together the other two narratives.
Call Number: KF 9227 .C2 K57 2015ISBN: 9780199967933Publication Date: 2015
- Whom the State Kills Through original quantitative research we show that persons convicted of killing a white victim and sentenced to death are more likely to be executed than persons convicted and sentenced to death for killing a black victim. Previous research documents numerous forms of arbitrariness and racial disparity in the administration of the modern death penalty, but focuses exclusively on the charging and sentencing patterns of prosecutors and juries. Previous research also reveals that implicit bias operates within the institutions tasked with seeking and obtaining sentences of death. Our original research shows that the problem of disparate racial outcomes is actually exacerbated through the work of our most trusted check on the death penalty, appellate courts. Building on David Baldus’s storied dataset from Georgia, we demonstrate that the racial disparities he discovered in the penultimate stage of the case – death sentences – were amplified in the ultimate stage of the case – executions. Combining both phases reveals a stunning pattern: the execution rate is roughly 17 times greater in white victim cases than black victim cases. Although Baldus could not have known how the cases would unfold post-sentencing, our findings indicate that the racial disparities described in McCleskey v Kemp (1987) underestimated the extent of the death penalty’s arbitrariness problem.
The Death Penalty by
This book addresses one of the most controversial issues in the criminal justice system today--the death penalty. Paternoster et al. present a balanced perspective that focuses on both the arguments for and against capital punishment. Coverage draws on legal, historical, philosophical, economic, sociological, and religious points of view. Topics include: * The history of the death penalty in the United States, from the 1600s to today * The changing nature of the death penalty--changes in the types of crimes that warranted the penalty, the procedures employed to put capital offenders on trial, and the methods used to impose death * Constitutional/legal issues surrounding the death penalty * The influence of race on the administration of the death penalty, both in the past and in the present * Justifications for and against the death penalty (retribution, cost, public safety, and religious arguments) * Questions about the execution of innocents, exonerated capital offenders, and flaws in the operation of the death penalty * Public opinion and the death penalty * The death penalty and international law and practice * The future of the death penalty in America
Call Number: HV 8699 .U5 P373 2008ISBN: 9780195332421Publication Date: 2007
Bryan Stevenson and EJI
The Equal Justice Initiative is committed to ending mass incarceration and excessive punishment in the United States, to challenging racial and economic injustice, and to protecting basic human rights for the most vulnerable people in American society.
Bryan Stevenson is the founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a human rights organization in Montgomery, Alabama. Under his leadership, EJI has won major legal challenges eliminating excessive and unfair sentencing, exonerating innocent death row prisoners, confronting abuse of the incarcerated and the mentally ill, and aiding children prosecuted as adults.
Just Mercy by
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING MICHAEL B. JORDAN AND JAMIE FOXX * A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice--from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time. "[Bryan Stevenson's] dedication to fighting for justice and equality has inspired me and many others and made a lasting impact on our country."--John Legend NAMED ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY CNN * Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times * The Washington Post * The Boston Globe * The Seattle Times * Esquire * Time Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn't commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship--and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever. Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer's coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice. Winner of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction * Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Nonfiction * Winner of a Books for a Better Life Award * Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize * Finalist for the Kirkus Reviews Prize * An American Library Association Notable Book "Every bit as moving as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so . . . a searing indictment of American criminal justice and a stirring testament to the salvation that fighting for the vulnerable sometimes yields."--David Cole, The New York Review of Books "Searing, moving . . . Bryan Stevenson may, indeed, be America's Mandela."--Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times "You don't have to read too long to start cheering for this man. . . . The message of this book . . . is that evil can be overcome, a difference can be made. Just Mercy will make you upset and it will make you hopeful."--Ted Conover, The New York Times Book Review "Inspiring . . . a work of style, substance and clarity . . . Stevenson is not only a great lawyer, he's also a gifted writer and storyteller."--The Washington Post "As deeply moving, poignant and powerful a book as has been, and maybe ever can be, written about the death penalty."--The Financial Times "Brilliant."--The Philadelphia Inquirer
Call Number: KF 373 .S74 3 2015ISBN: 9780812994520Publication Date: 2014-10-21
TRUE JUSTICE
This HBO documentary follows Bryan Stevenson and EJI's struggle to create greater fairness in the criminal justice system. Watch Online.