Downsizing Prisons : : How to Reduce Crime and End Mass Incarceration / / Michael Jacobson.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter New York University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Jacobson, Michael,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2005]; ©2005
• Year of Publication: 2005
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

Over two million people are incarcerated in America’s prisons and jails, eight times as many since 1975. Mandatory minimum sentencing, parole agencies intent on sending people back to prison, three-strike laws, for-profit prisons, and other changes in the legal system have contributed to this spectacular rise of the general prison population.After overseeing the largest city jail system in the country, Michael Jacobson knows first-hand the inner workings of the corrections system. In Downsizing Prisons, he convincingly argues that mass incarceration will not, as many have claimed, reduce crime nor create more public safety. Simply put, throwing away the key is not the answer.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Preface -- Introduction: Bloated Prisons -- 1 Mass Incarceration -- 2 Unintended Consequences -- 3 A New Reality for Prison Systems -- 4 Why Prison Growth Does Not Substantially Reduce Crime -- 5 Why Parole and Probation Policies Need to Change -- 6 Success Stories and Works in Progress -- 7 Downsizing Prisons -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author