Big Prisons, Big Dreams: Crime and the Failure of America's Penal System

Author:   Michael Lynch ,  Raymond J. Michalowski
Publisher:   Rutgers University Press
ISBN:  

9780813541853


Pages:   272
Publication Date:   30 August 2007
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.

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Big Prisons, Big Dreams: Crime and the Failure of America's Penal System


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Overview

The American prison system has grown tenfold since the 1970s, but crime rates in the United States have not decreased. This doesn't surprise Michael J. Lynch, a critical criminologist, who argues that our oversized prison system is a product of our consumer culture, the public's inaccurate beliefs about controlling crime, and the government's criminalization of the poor. While deterrance and incapacitation theories suggest that imprisoning more criminals and punishing them leads to a reduction in crime, case studies, such as one focusing on the New York City jail system between 1993 and 2003, show that a reduction in crime is unrelated to the size of jail populations. Although we are locking away more people, Lynch explains that we are not targeting the worst offenders. Prison populations are comprised of the poor, and many are incarcerated for relatively minor robberies and violence. America's prison expansion focused on this group to the exclusion of corporate and white collar offenders who create hazardous workplace and environmental conditions that lead to deaths and injuries, and enormous economic crimes. If America truly wants to reduce crime, Lynch urges readers to rethink cultural values that equate bigger with better.

Full Product Details

Author:   Michael Lynch ,  Raymond J. Michalowski
Publisher:   Rutgers University Press
Imprint:   Rutgers University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.505kg
ISBN:  

9780813541853


ISBN 10:   0813541859
Pages:   272
Publication Date:   30 August 2007
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Inactive
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.

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Reviews

"Big Prisons, Big Dreams is certain to be a contemporary classic�a volume that will change minds and inspire a fresh vision for correctional policy.--Francis T. Cullen ""University of Cincinnati"" In this book, whose very readable prose renders it accessible also to a non-specialist readership, Lynch puts forward three basic and yet powerful ideas about the ongoing experiment with mass imprisonment: it is useless...it is deeply unjust...it has become unsustainable....""Big Prisons, Big Dreams"" offers an important contribution toward the construction of a materialist criminology for our times.--Alessandro De Giorgi ""Punishment and Society"""


"Big Prisons, Big Dreams is certain to be a contemporary classicùa volume that will change minds and inspire a fresh vision for correctional policy.--Francis T. Cullen ""University of Cincinnati"" In this book, whose very readable prose renders it accessible also to a non-specialist readership, Lynch puts forward three basic and yet powerful ideas about the ongoing experiment with mass imprisonment: it is useless...it is deeply unjust...it has become unsustainable....""Big Prisons, Big Dreams"" offers an important contribution toward the construction of a materialist criminology for our times.--Alessandro De Giorgi ""Punishment and Society"""


Author Information

Michael J. Lynch is a professor in the department of criminology at the University of South Florida.

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