Ending Overcriminalization and Mass Incarceration: Hope from Civil Society

by Anthony B. Bradley

Mass incarceration is an overwhelming problem and reforms are often difficult, leading to confusion about what to do and where to start. Ending Overcriminalization and Mass Hope from Civil Society introduces the key issues that need immediate attention and provides concrete direction about effective solutions systemically and relationally. In this work Anthony B. Bradley recognizes that offenders are persons with inherent dignity. Mass incarceration results from the systemic breakdown of criminal law procedure and broken communities. Using the principle of personalism, attention is drawn to those areas that directly contact the lives of offenders and determine their fate. Bradley explains how reform must be built from the person up, and once these areas are reformed our law enforcement culture will change for the better. Taking an innovative approach, Anthony B. Bradley explores what civic institutions need to do to prevent people from falling into the criminal justice system and recidivism for those released from prison.

Genres: Race, Nonfiction, Justice

221 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 16, 2018

About the author

Dr. Anthony Bradley (PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary) is a professor of religious studies, chair of the program in Religious and Theological Studies, and director of the Center for the Study of Human Flourishing at The King’s College.

Dr. Bradley lectures at colleges, universities, business organizations, conferences, and churches throughout the U.S. and abroad. His writings on religious and cultural issues have been published in a variety of journals, including: the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Washington Examiner, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Detroit News, Christianity Today, and World Magazine.

Reviews

[JD Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A serious look at a devastating problem. Bradley takes the realities of over-criminalization and mass incarceration head on, analyzing it from a personality and (refreshingly) conservative perspective. This book is a deep dive into problems fueling these issues including recidivism, indigent defense, prosecutorial powers, plea-bargaining, the school-to-prison-pipeline, and much more. Bradley offers serious critique along with holistic solutions. Be re-framing the criminal justice system around persons and by strange thing the role of families, civic institutions, and education along with policy changes, a constructive way forward is presented.

[Joshua Hedlund · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had a decent premise and some good content but was unfortunately marred by a severe lack of editing, with cringey grammatical errors on nearly every page. Professor Bradley is well-read and more or less presents a comprehensive series of summaries of other works on the important topic of criminal justice reform, packaged around his central idea of a two-faceted solution involving policy corrections but also civil involvement:

"Government policy does not have the capacity to create a society of more virtuous citizens whose lives are characterized by reciprocating each other's flourishing. Cultivating a culture where people desire and seek the flourishing of one's neighbor is what civil society institutions [charities, community groups, faith-based organizations, professional associations, trade unions, self-help groups, business associations, etc] do best."

The introduction paints a concise summary of recent popular literature on criminal justice reform, from The New Jim Crow to important details that are left out by its slant and brought out by books like Locking Up Our Own. The book takes a tour through counterproductive government policies and practices, including having "too many laws," excesses of "misdemeanors being charged as felonies," abuses of plea deals and prosecutorial overreach, inadequacies and inequalities of the public defender system, as well as the disdain society has for offenders, the effect of incarcerated parents on children, and more. Some of this material will be familiar to those who are well-read on these issues, but it's nice to have concise, footnoted information (even if the grammatical errors are maddeningly distracting). The book also contains a lot of interesting and even shocking statistics:

"80-85 percent of prisoners leave prison with debt" from costs charged for being in prison.

"one in eight men is an ex-offender"

"Forty-three states now require defendants to pay for a public defender, even though the only reason they have a public defender in the first place is because they cannot afford a lawyer."

Having highlighted the important role of local systems in building up mass incarceration over previous decades, Bradley circles back in the last section of the book to highlight a plethora of policy changes and civil society programs at the state and local level that are working (and many succeeding) at reducing recidivism for offenders, helping with society reintegration, or endeavoring to prevent criminal behavior in the first place.

Overall, the book felt a bit unfinished and could use some polishing. Nevertheless it was a short reminder of the issues faced by our present criminal justice system as well as providing an injection of hope and optimism that things are improving and can improve further.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't an easy book to read and was riddled with strange editing errors. Nevertheless, it was an illuminating presentation of problems with the American criminal justice systems. It is very clearly organized, first addressing what the problems are, and then showing how some states and civil institutions are addressing them. In the last pages, Bradley questions punitive nature of our criminal justice system, which comes at the expense of restoration/rehabilitation and the dignity and personhood of offenders. I do wish this topic had been addressed more completely, but perhaps it is its own book.

[Cbarrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of data to work through; thoroughly researched. Bradley summarizes the problems, addresses the difficulty of the long road of reform, yet offers substantive solutions. A significant section of the book that was encouraging was to read through was the chapter on efforts to reform at the State level. This is a great resource to understand a little better a complicated problem. Bradley excels at applying the imago Dei and its ramifications to all people, criminals included. Without making excuses for crime, Bradley provides insight into the complex social circumstances that surround many criminals. As always, few things are as simple as what is seen.

[Kevin Fulton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first foray into the literature around reforming the justice system, and my eyes were opened. I knew there was a lot to fix, but I didn't know any of the specifics. Now I know that the problems are legion. Thankfully, this book doesn't just talk about the problems, it provides research backed solutions by looking at states and programs that are finding ways to improve the system.
The book revolves around the philosophy of personalism. What Bradley means by personalism is "this book argues in favor of decentralizing the dominant political and economic institutions of criminal justice and reorganizing criminal justice reform with the person as the center of focus. Criminal justice reform should be centered o what is good for the person as the integrating principle of the common good and the entire social order."

[Tyler Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had a lot of helpful insights. I love Bradley’s insights on personhood and how it shapes holistic reform to the criminal justice system. Very academic and a labor to read.