Description
Book SynopsisBringing together a collection of essays by writers with diverse knowledge of the US criminal justice system, from those with personal experience in prison and on patrol to scholarly researchers,
What Is a Criminal? explores the category of criminal through the human stories of those who bear and administer that label.
This book performs a rare feat in bringing together the perspectives of justice-impacted people, those who work in law enforcement and social services, and scholarly researchers. Each chapter is a compelling narrative sharing the experience and perspective of a unique person with knowledge of the justice system. The first section, Incarceration, Reentry, and Rebuilding, gives a glimpse into the black box of prison, with firsthand accounts of daily life on the inside and the struggle to begin a new life after prison. Section 2, Journeys in Law Enforcement, presents perspectives from police officers, school resource officers, and corrections officers who are
Trade Review
"The best way to improve the criminal justice system and reduce incarceration is to keep people out of the justice system in the first place. Having worked as a career police officer and as a voice for reform, I believe What Is a Criminal? provides critical perspectives from those with lived experience on both sides of the law, academics, and reformers in understanding how to do so."
Lieutenant Diane M. Goldstein (Ret.), Executive Director, Law Enforcement Action Partnership
"Such a powerful combination of stories, narratives, and perspectives from scholars studying these issues. It was incredible to read the definition of what a criminal is before they walked us through their compelling story. Sharing the journeys of those in Law Enforcement is a great way to help change the narrative and humanize the work that is done in these fields. To end the book with the scholars is so wonderful. In legislative work, I tell people the only way we will ever get anything done is by combining the personal stories with the data. This book does that masterfully, and I can’t wait for others to read this and then have a desire to get involved in criminal justice reform work."
David Garlock, Criminal Justice Reform Leader
Table of ContentsIntroduction
I: Incarceration, Reentry, and Rebuilding
1 Living Through a Life Sentence: An Insider’s View of Crime, Punishment, and How to End Mass
Incarceration
2 Three Former "Criminals"
3 Life Support: Organizing for Justice Inside and Outside of Prison
4 Racism, Abuse, and Restorative Justice: What’s Wrong with Our Criminal Justice System, and How to Change It
II: Journeys in Law Enforcement
5 Not an Easy Job: A Police Officer Works to Better His Community in a Difficult Time
6 From Corrections Officer to Mental Health Court: New Approaches to People Who Commit Crimes
7 Labeling, Youth Culture, and Trust: Lessons Learned by a School Resource Officer
8 A Police Chief ’s Journey to Harm Reduction
III: Ripple Effects
9 Children of Criminals: The Hidden Victims of the Justice System
10 Living Undocumented
11 They See Me as a Criminal: The Unrelenting Policing of Black Bodies
12 From the Hole to the Whole: A Filmmaker Learns to Look for Joy
IV: Scholarly Perspectives
13 What Causes Criminality? Sociological, Biological, and Psychological Theories
14 No "Criminal" Here: A Conviction Where There Was No Crime
15 Vera’s Family: The Community Context of Criminalization
16 Wrongful Convictions of Queer People: Where Bias Meets Faulty Forensic Evidence
17 Disability, Aesthetics, and the Making of a "Criminal"
