Flawed discussion of class and criminal justice

books:


	• Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get Prison, The (8th Edition) Jeffrey Reiman Allyn & Bacon, 2006 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

Received what was advertised!

The book I received was just as advertised. It came in the specified time frame. No problems. I would order from seller again.

Flawed discussion of class and criminal justice

First off, I do not know how much the content of this book changes from edition to edition. I have read two subsequent editions of this book and there was some updating of analysis but mostly updating of statistics. I am unsure how much this applies to changes between other editions.

In this book, Reiman shows how the criminal justice system discriminates against the poor at every turn. The anti-social acts most likely to be committed by poor people are crimes, while those most likely to be committed by rich people are not. Of people who commit the acts which are considered criminal, the poor are more likely to be caught. Of these people, the poor are most likely to be convicted. Of those convicted, the poor get harsher sentences. Reiman presents lots of interesting and convincing evidence to demonstrate these points.

However, he goes further and attempts to show how this helps to reproduce the capitalist system, and that this is why these inequities persist. Unfortunately, his analysis in this regard is very much wanting. Some of his arguments that these inequities help reproduce the system are good, some aren't. At the beginning of the book, Reiman promises to demonstrate how the benefits to capital of this irrational system of "justice" keep us from fixing the criminal justice system without resorting to conspiracy theory. His starting point is basically that we have this system because of historical inertia. Those who benefit from it didn't create it, but they keep us from fixing it. However, it seems as if all of his criticisms of the idea of a conspiracy to create it would apply equally to his idea of the powerful preventing the system from getting fixed, or even their inactivity with regards to reform (his main criticism of conspiracy theory is that people usually don't do things they know are this socially harmful in order to benefit themselves, so why do they allow this system to keep going in order to benefit themselves?)

In some editions of this book, there is a supplementart chapter in which he tries to sketch an alternative to his "historical inertia" theory. However, it is based on the outdated writings of certain Marxian legal theorists, without any mention of more current Marxian legal theory. This chapter is totally useless, although I think that some application of Marxian legal theory (but not the way Reiman does it!) would be the key to understanding the origins and reproduction of htis inequitable system of criminal justice.

for more information click here

Everyone Needs to Know

Some criticisms of this book have been that the theoretical positions are not sound. However, the statistics presented are what they are and they are IMPORTANT! This book is, at the least, a fantastic source for viewing statistics on crime from all of the important sociological sources in one, comprehensive source.

Theoretical positions in sociology are never 100% accurate. They can't be. The author is putting his theories out there to get you to THINK. The responsibility of any reader of sociological issues, such as crime, is to read multiple sources and develop their own theories, based on the research. This book is an excellent place to start. It points out that our criminal justice system is not only failing to prevent, or even improve, crime - it is actually set up to functionally encourage or perpetuate crime! And, all the facts and statistics are there to prove it. Judge for yourself whether the author's theories as to why and how this problem persists are of value or not. I think he's on to something.

for more information click here