Locking up our own : : Crime and Punishment in Black America

Locations
Call Number: 364.973 Fo, Adult Book / Nonfiction / Social Science / Race & Ethnicity / Forman, James, Black Studies 364.973 Fo
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Pittsfield Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	364.973 Fo	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Social Science / Race & Ethnicity / Forman, James	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	Black Studies 364.973 Fo	4-week checkout	Due 05-22-2024

Includes index.
"An original and consequential argument about race, crime, and the law Today, Americans are debating our criminal justice system with new urgency. Mass incarceration and aggressive police tactics -- and their impact on people of color -- are feeding outrage and a consensus that something must be done. But what if we only know half the story? In Locking Up Our Own, the Yale legal scholar and former public defender James Forman Jr. weighs the tragic role that some African Americans themselves played in escalating the war on crime. As Forman shows, the first substantial cohort of black mayors, judges, and police chiefs took office around the country amid a surge in crime. Many came to believe that tough measures -- such as stringent drug and gun laws and "pretext traffic stops" in poor African American neighborhoods -- were needed to secure a stable future for black communities. Some politicians and activists saw criminals as a "cancer" that had to be cut away from the rest of black America. Others supported harsh measures more reluctantly, believing they had no other choice in the face of a public safety emergency. Drawing on his experience as a public defender and focusing on Washington, D.C., Forman writes with compassion for individuals trapped in terrible dilemmas -- from the young men and women he defended to officials struggling to cope with an impossible situation. The result is an original view of our justice system as well as a moving portrait of the human beings caught in its coils. "-- Provided by publisher.
"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.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Highly recommended submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on August 19, 2017, 11:00pm If you ever read _The New Jim Crow_, this would be a great one to pair with it. If you didn't, but you care about the state of race relations in this country, still read it.

_Locking Up Our Own_ is a well researched reflection on how the Black community played a role in the disproportionate impact of the criminal justice system on POC, going back to how drugs were affecting Black communities, how Black politicians and activists responded, and how incremental changes added up to something that no one could imagine. It helps readers understand how our country became so punitive... and how we might work to shift to a different paradigm that solves the country's problems in a different way. Highly recommended.