In the United States today; one in every thirty-one adults is under some form of penal control; including one in eleven African American men. How did the “land of the free†become the home of the world’s largest prison system? Challenging the belief that America’s prison problem originated with the Reagan administration’s War on Drugs; Elizabeth Hinton traces the rise of mass incarceration to an ironic source: the social welfare programs of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society at the height of the civil rights era.Johnson’s War on Poverty policies sought to foster equality and economic opportunity. But these initiatives were also rooted in widely shared assumptions about African Americans’ role in urban disorder; which prompted Johnson to call for a simultaneous War on Crime. The 1965 Law Enforcement Assistance Act empowered the national government to take a direct role in militarizing local police. Federal anticrime funding soon incentivized social service providers to ally with police departments; courts; and prisons. Under Richard Nixon and his successors; welfare programs fell by the wayside while investment in policing and punishment expanded. Anticipating future crime; policymakers urged states to build new prisons and introduced law enforcement measures into urban schools and public housing; turning neighborhoods into targets of police surveillance.By the 1980s; crime control and incarceration dominated national responses to poverty and inequality. The initiatives of that decade were less a sharp departure than the full realization of the punitive transformation of urban policy implemented by Republicans and Democrats alike since the 1960s.
#46223 in Books Harvard University Press 2016-04-04Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.20 x .70 x 5.50l; .0 #File Name: 0674545036288 pagesHarvard University Press
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Biased Reportage in a Subject Area Where Scientific Veracity and Comprehensiveness Is ParamountBy Sandy SantraOil companies are the bad guys—that is one of the basic premises of the argument for calling our epoch the "Anthropocene" epoch. So then why are authors McNeill and Engelke using reference data from the British Petroleum Review of World Energy; June 2014; in the very first table used in the book on page 10? That's like using an enemy's propaganda in the new encyclopedia of history you're publishing; there's no confidence in the factual veracity of BP's findings in the least (because of the context and the fact that BP is one of the major players in the unfolding of the Anthropocene epoch). Only a few pages later; the authors briefly recount the Deepwater Horizon disaster; an oil platform leak that spewed five million barrels into the Gulf of Mexico—another instance where BP was involved. The authors merely recite the facts; setting aside where true culpability for the incident lay with a flippant remark about lawyers being busy for decades settling the score as to who did what. In their insistence on presenting "only the facts;" they tend to gloss over and/or omit the political weight of large companies' direct responsibility for the massive anthropogenic effects that have impacted the planet over the last 100 years.I wanted to like this book; to have confidence in its reportage; but the authors' approach seems sloppy and disingenuous.4 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Recommended readingBy CustomerJ.R. McNeill's earlier book; "Something New Under the Sun"; was an historian's refreshing outlook on aspects of the environment we live in. This time around; McNeill and Peter Engelke have coauthored "The Great Acceleration; An Environmental History of the Anthropocene since 1945". Once again; the authors address different aspects of the environment from an historical perspective. In this style; they have made important science accessible for lay readers like myself. Well done!3 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Kalliat T. ValsarajOnce again a remarkable book from my favorite author; McNeill.
