“Copaganda,” as defined by Alec Karakatsanis, describes a special kind of propaganda, employed by police and news media, that shapes our fears and influences the social investments we make to address those fears. In a country that incarcerates five times more people per capita than it used to, and far more than other countries, the sprawling punishment bureaucracy spends a lot of time and money to manipulate public perception. This results in a distorted version of threat, crime, punishment, and safety in the news, which, for example, highlights crimes committed by marginalized people while ignoring more significant harms like wage theft, environmental crime, and deaths that result from harmful behavior like corporate fraud or cigarette smoke (which make the number of violent crimes pale in comparison).

The news also suggests to us that increased government repression through police, prosecution, probation, parole, and prisons is the best response, as opposed to addressing the root causes of harm. In the spirit of Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent, Copaganda includes chapters on “What Is News?,” “Public Relations Spending by the Police,” “Whose Perspective? How Sources Shape News,” “How the News Uses Experts,” “How to Smuggle Ideology into the News,” and “Academic Copaganda.“

Recognized by Teen Vogue as “one of the most prominent voices” in contemporary discourse about the criminal legal system and featured on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and The Breakfast Club, Karakatsanis brings his legal expertise, humor, personal stories, and analytical skills to delve into one of the most critical topics in our society today.