Understanding Mass Incarceration

A People’s Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time

A brilliant overview of America’s defining human rights crisis and a “much-needed introduction to the racial, political, and economic dimensions of mass incarceration” (Michelle Alexander)

“An excellent, much-needed introduction to the racial, political, and economic dimensions of mass incarceration.” —Michelle Alexander

Understanding Mass Incarceration offers the first comprehensive overview of the incarceration apparatus put in place by the world’s largest jailer: the United States.

Drawing on a growing body of academic and professional work, Understanding Mass Incarceration describes in plain English the many competing theories of criminal justice—from rehabilitation to retribution, from restorative justice to justice reinvestment. In a lively and accessible style, author James Kilgore illuminates the difference between prisons and jails, probation and parole, laying out key concepts and policies such as the War on Drugs, broken windows policing, three-strikes sentencing, the school-to-prison pipeline, recidivism, and prison privatization. Informed by the crucial lenses of race and gender, he addresses issues typically omitted from the discussion: the rapidly increasing incarceration of women, Latinos, and transgender people; the growing imprisonment of immigrants; and the devastating impact of mass incarceration on communities.

Both field guide and primer, Understanding Mass Incarceration is an essential resource for those engaged in criminal justice activism as well as those new to the subject.

News and Reviews

Truthout

Truthout interviews author James Kilgore about the rise of mass incarceration, examining the social and political landscape as well as key policies.

Truthout

Read an excerpt from Understanding Mass Incarceration on Truthout.

WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show

Author James Kilgore discusses the fundamental debates over rehab vs. punishment, privatization, 3-strikes, and more in an interview with Brian Lehrer.

Publishers Weekly

PW says that Kilgore "...makes a powerful call to reverse a cycle in which more people serve longer sentences with fewer opportunities to return to society."

Pages

Books by James Kilgore

Understanding E-Carceration
Electronic Monitoring, the Surveillance State, and the Future of Mass Incarceration

James Kilgore

Goodreads Reviews