The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: Ideology, Class, and Criminal Justice, Seventh Edition

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In this text, the author argues that actions of well-off people, such as the refusal to make workplaces safer, refusal to curtail deadly pollution, promotion of unnecessary surgery, and prescriptions for unnecessary drugs, cause occupational and environmental hazards to innocent members of the public and produce as much death, destruction, and financial loss as so-called crimes of the poor. However, these crimes of the well-off are rarely treated as severely as those of the poor. Reiman documents the extent of anti-poor bias in arrest, conviction, and sentencing practices and shows that the bias is conjoined with a general refusal to remedy the causes of crime - poverty, lack of education, and discrimination. As a result, the criminal justice system fails to reduce crime. The author uses numerous studies and examples to illustrate his points, and difficult concepts are explained in a non-technical manner. The book provokes thought and discussion, even among people who disagree with its content.

SYNOPSIS

A textbook for a course in criminal justice, updated often since 1979 to incorporate the ever burgeoning examples of legal injustice in the US. An associated website is now available where students, teachers, and others can discuss ways to improve the situation. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Booknews

New edition of a text in which the author, a William Fraser McDowell Professor of Philosophy at American University, maintains that the criminal justice system has failed to protect us, and further, that the poor constitute the majority of those imprisoned for crime. The conclusion sets forth suggestions for revamping the system. At the end of each chapter are study questions and suggestions for further reading. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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