000			02621nam a2200325 i 4500
001			031568
005			20231009192558.0
008			290518s20172017nyua b 001 0 eng
020			_a9780374189976 (hardback)
050	0	0	_aHV9950 _b.F655 2017
082	1		_a364.973 FOR _2
100	1		_aForman, Jr., James _d(1967-)
245	1	0	_aLocking up our own : _bcrime and punishment in black America _c/ James Forman, Jr.
250			_aFirst Edition.
260			_aNew York _b: Farar, Straus and Giroux _c, c2017
300			_a306 pages _b: illustrations _c; 24 cm
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 241-286) and index.
520			_aAn original and consequential argument about race, crime, and the law Today, Americans are debating our criminal justice system with new urgency. Mass incarceration and aggressive police tactics -- and their impact on people of color -- are feeding outrage and a consensus that something must be done. But what if we only know half the story? In Locking Up Our Own, the Yale legal scholar and former public defender James Forman Jr. weighs the tragic role that some African Americans themselves played in escalating the war on crime. As Forman shows, the first substantial cohort of black mayors, judges, and police chiefs took office around the country amid a surge in crime. Many came to believe that tough measures -- such as stringent drug and gun laws and "pretext traffic stops" in poor African American neighborhoods -- were needed to secure a stable future for black communities. Some politicians and activists saw criminals as a "cancer" that had to be cut away from the rest of black America. Others supported harsh measures more reluctantly, believing they had no other choice in the face of a public safety emergency. Drawing on his experience as a public defender and focusing on Washington, D.C., Forman writes with compassion for individuals trapped in terrible dilemmas -- from the young men and women he defended to officials struggling to cope with an impossible situation. The result is an original view of our justice system as well as a moving portrait of the human beings caught in its coils--Provided by publisher.
546			_aEnglish
650			_aCriminal justice, Administration of _z-United States.
650			_aDiscrimination in criminal justice administration
650		0	_aLife and death
650		0	_aAfrican American judges
650		0	_aAfrican American politicians
650		0	_aAfrican American police
650		0	_aSocial justice
651			_aUnited States _x-Race relations
942			_cMO
999			_c243090 _d243090