Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration

by Rachel Elise Barkow

A CounterPunch Best Book of the YearA Lone Star Policy Institute Recommended Book“If you care, as I do, about disrupting the perverse politics of criminal justice, there is no better place to start than Prisoners of Politics.”—James Forman, Jr., author of Locking Up Our OwnThe United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. The social consequences of this fact—recycling people who commit crimes through an overwhelmed system and creating a growing class of permanently criminalized citizens—are devastating. A leading criminal justice reformer who has successfully rewritten sentencing guidelines, Rachel Barkow argues that we would be safer, and have fewer people in prison, if we relied more on expertise and evidence and worried less about being “tough on crime.” A groundbreaking work that is transforming our national conversation on crime and punishment, Prisoners of Politics shows how problematic it is to base criminal justice policy on the whims of the electorate and argues for an overdue shift that could upend our prison problem and make America a more equitable society.“A critically important exploration of the political dynamics that have made us one of the most punitive societies in human history. A must-read by one of our most thoughtful scholars of crime and punishment.”—Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy“Barkow’s analysis suggests that it is not enough to slash police budgets if we want to ensure lasting reform. We also need to find ways to insulate the process from political winds.”—David Cole, New York Review of Books“A cogent and provocative argument about how to achieve true institutional reform and fix our broken system.”—Emily Bazelon, author of Charged

Genres: Nonfiction, Law, Politics, Race, Crime, Social Issues, History

292 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 4, 2019

Reviews

[Mehrsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book by an outstanding scholar. The suggestions in here are so eminently reasonable and right that I really hope every policymaker and activist interested in criminal justice reads this book--we need to pay attention to the appointment of judges and DAs and not get swept up in a political fervor to just lock people up after every heinous crime. Criminal justice is a mess and we need to fix a lot of things--this book has an excellent plan that will get us most of the way there.

[Eva Forslund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could have given this 3 or 5 stars, but 4 did not seem appropriate. Let me explain. Barkow has a great approach to the issue of mass incarceration. The way she systematically explains every aspect of the criminal justice system and its flaws is impressive. I also wholeheartedly agree that these institutional problems require institutional solutions. I also found it educational the way she described that the process that brought on the flawed criminal justice system was not deliberate, but that many small reforms have resulted in a systemic problem.

There are some things I object to, however, the overall issue being that the book seems a little... rushed. It seems as though the book really needed to hit the markets, and thus there are things like her overuse of the phrase "To be sure," the fact that her analysis of the problems are 100 % but when she tries to give concrete solutions they don't seem as thought-through (this might also just be due to the fact that this is a difficult problem), and the fact that some very specific phrases are repeated, and quotes appear at different places in the book.

With that said, I very much have to recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the criminal justice system. What is novel about this book is the attempt to describe and analyze the criminal justice system as a whole. In this she succeeds to a large extent, but the claim for a general theory and explanation is also the books flaw.

[Tonstant Weader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration is a welcome addition to the books tackling the carceral state the United States has become. Rachel Elise Barkow has the personal experience that gives her credibility on both sides of the aisle and a clear, concise way of making her case. She organized Prisoners of Politics into three sections, the first explaining the problem and how we got here, the second explaining the forces that drove bad policy, and the third outlining reforms to lead us out of this mess.

The first section explaining how we got in this mess starts at the tendency to define crimes too broadly, an example being the streaker, the public urinator, the rapist, and the child molester all being listed as sex offenders. Then Barkow looks at the use of sentences that are too long. It's the likelihood of getting caught, not the length of the sentence, that is the primary deterrent and long sentences can be counter-productive, causing more crime in the long run. Then she looks at prison and how it fails to do much more than warehouse people, falling down on the job of rehabilitation and reentry. Fourth, she looks at the traditional checks on over-punishment, parole, clemency, and pardons, and how they have been eroded and nearly eliminated mostly by the outrage machine. The last chapter of Part One looks at the collateral damage of the carceral state on families and communities. This includes all the post-incarceration punishments levied on former felons like denying them occupational licensing, affordable housing, and food stamps.

In the second section, Brakow looks at two main forces leading us down the road to having more people locked up than China. The first is populist politics, the impulse to stoke fear and promise protection, the law-and-order tough-on-crime politics that sells. The second are the institutions that benefit from a system geared more toward retribution than crime control, the police, prosecutors, and prison guards, in particular.

In the last section, Barkow suggests important reforms including reining in the power of prosecutors, utilizing experts and objective data in setting policy and dragging the courts back to where they used to be on defendants' rights and cruel and unusual punishment.

Prisoners of Politics is well-organized and well-argued. It is also well-documented with seventy-four pages of endnotes. I love that very small superscript numbers were used for the reference marks so they were not too obtrusive and did not interrupt the flow of a paragraph. This is important when a single paragraph might have seven endnotes. When I wanted to check a note, I needed to pull the page close, but that is so much easier than having the text constantly broken and interrupted by overly obvious reference marks. It seems a small point, but it makes academic reading so much more readable.

I like that Barkow kept herself in the narrative. She served on the U.S. Sentencing Commission and clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia, she has a point of view informed by experience. She also brought a moral spirit to the text as an honest advocate for a more rational and more just system.

I also appreciate her honest assessment of what reforms are more likely and what the impediments are. The outrage industry is not going away and she makes a good case for how to limit its effects.

This is a smart book and I encourage people interested in criminal justice reform and over-incarceration to read it.

I received a copy of Prisoners of Politics from the publisher.

Prisoners of Politics at Harvard University Press
Rachel Elise Barkow faculty pagehttps://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...

[Merel van Berge Henegouwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5) a thorough and well-organized exploration of the american carceral system and how political campaigns and ideological warfare have influenced the length and severity of punishments - with no room for nuance and context. i think this book provides an excellent overview of how incarceration in the u.s. has become so systemically and insidiously unjust. my issue lies mostly with the superficial manner in which barkow addresses the need for structural, societal change. reforming the judicial system will, in the long run, not fix the problem, merely treat the symptoms. although she briefly touches on the need to help ex-convicts with housing, jobs and reintegration, she fails to properly consider how community-based approaches and a taking care of basic needs and rights will mostly prevent the need for incarceration as a whole. (naturally this will require an abolition of law enforcement and punitive state power & control). change here can only truly happen by burning the whole system to the ground and starting over.
that being said — barkow’s analyses and suggestions are reachable and grounded; the reforms she suggests are geared towards positive and effective change, for as much as the system we live in allows.

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️ because although I 100% agree with Barkow and all of the problems with the criminal Justice system, this book could have been condensed. Barkow repeated the same facts and examples too many times and it was really unnecessary to do so. It seemed to me as though she was taking an article and doing whatever she could to stretch it into a book. That being said, I still would highly recommend this book to anyone because this is an important topic and there needs to be changes made.

[Jasmine Boehnke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear, concise, and extremely well researched, this book does not undermine how our past and present lens on crime in the U.S. affects the future of criminal justice and sentencing issues.

Barkow comes from a place of understanding to produce the ultimate insight on how to move from unsatisfactory outcomes and penal populism to improved public safety and rehabilitation for offenders. Incorporating checks on prosecution, legislation, judges, and a new outlook on how to reach public consensus without casting a spotlight on the most egregious cases, there is no blind spot in her analysis. Her framework could not have been more organized or precise.

A necessary read for both those who agree or disagree with our current system.

[Margie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an intriguing discussion of criminal justice reform, including how we ended up where we are and what the possible solutions are. My only complaint is that the author cites social science and advocacy sources without distinguishing them. I think that is problematic for academic work as peer review works are unbiased and held to higher standards for findings. If you just want a discussion of the issues, this is a good read. If you want a rigorous meta-analysis, this is probably not the book for you.

[Nora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not exactly a beach read but there is so much important information in here. It's interesting to see how even someone with truly moderate and middle of the road views on criminal justice can sound like a radical when they get into the data. That's how backward and counterproductive the US system is.

[Damon Garr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Barkow lays out here the case for criminal justice reform that should be common sense. It is hard to believe that we could've gotten ourselves to such a place where we give all the power to prosecutors and politicians, with a total disregard to public safety. The case is well made and the path for reform well mapped out.

[Christopher Hudson Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent overview of the perverse incentives that plague the U.S. criminal justice system. Barkow doesn’t pull any punches or focus on “low hanging fruit” issues, but expertly writes in a way accessible to audiences looking to become more familiar with mass incarceration. Barkow’s remedy of separating criminal justice from populism and placing more trust in experts should be challenging to both anti-elite conservatives and pro-democracy progressives.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible book. I learned so much and it's lit a fire under me to get more involved in advocacy. Anyone interested in criminal law, forensics, reform of the US criminal legal system, or restorative justice should read this!

[Chrissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really good ideas here. The reason for 4 stars is that she uses stigmatizing language throughout - otherwise I would have given it 5 stars.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-researched and -organized, compelling, good points and recommendations.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a topic I had much interest in, but it was incredibly enlightening. And sometimes infuriating.

[Chiraayu Gosrani · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally got around to reading Rachel’s great book. Highly recommend to students or others trying to understand the problems in our sentencing laws.

[Virginia Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

didn't pay as good attention as I wish I had