Description
Book SynopsisThis book examines the national criminal justice system's and the state of Tennessee criminal justice system's policies in terms of how they balance the citizens' need for prisons with the private sector''s desire for profits and the policies' effects on the incarceration rate of African American males in the state of Tennessee. There are important, often neglected, connections among prison sentencing, felony disenfranchisement, voting, and the continuing problematic issues of race in America, particularly in Tennessee. This state serves as a representative case study from which to examine local, state, and national criminal justice systems, disparate outcomes, and social inequality. The book therefore investigates ethically questionable public-private business relationships and arrangements that contribute to socially-constructed economic policy instruments used to fulfill conservatives and white supremacists' objectives for white domination in Tennessee. Through mass incarceration an
Trade ReviewComing on the heels of the Charlottesville white supremacist violence, Social Inequality, Criminal Justice, and Race in Tennessee, 1960–2014 is timely. Additionally, the theoretical and methodological grounding of the empirical evidence presented in the book is scholarship at its effulgence. -- Abdul Karim Bangura, American University Center for Global Peace
The book is well-researched, with updated and comprehensive bibliography on the subject, and certainly will add to scholarship in the field of race/racism and the U.S. criminal justice system. It is a must read by scholars, policy makers, and concerned political leaders interested in addressing institutional racism and how best to improve the ‘perverted’ criminal justice that leads to black inequality, political exclusion, and economic disenfranchisement. -- Benjamin Arah, Bowie State University
Table of Contents1. The Criminal Justice System as Social Policy 2. Historical Context of African American Inequality in Tennessee 3. Competing Perspectives on Social Inequality, Criminal Justice, and Race in the United States 4. African American Disenfranchisement in Tennessee 5. Profit-Seeking Motives and Racist Policy in Tennessee 6. Summary, Conclusions, and Policy Recommendations
