Addicted to Incarceration: Corrections Policy and the Politics of Misinformation in the United States

Selected as an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice Magazine, January 2010 The broad purposes of this book would be to outline the ′scope of the problem′ in terms of incarceration, to highlight the nature of the political discussions surrounding criminal justice policy in general and corrections policy in particular, and to explicitly discuss the role of misinformation on how the U.S. has ended up with its current state of incarceration (i.e., how we got to this state of affairs). Specifically, the primary thesis of the book will be that the U.S. has become ′addicted to incarceration,′ and that this addiction has been fueled by policies legitimized by faulty information about the crime problem in the U.S., American citizens′ opinions about crime and punishment, and the efficacy of incarceration as a means of social control. The book will also contain a detailed discussion regarding the consequences of the U.S.′s addiction to incarceration. Features and Benefits:An analysis of crime policies as they relate to the crime rates and U.S. society′s ability to both lower the crime rate and address the role of incarceration in preventing future crime by ex-offenders and future potential offenders. Gives students a view as to how effective our rush to incarcerate has been in the last decade.Race, ethnicity, and gender issues underlie all discussions and address key aspects of incarceration rates and crime trends.The final chapter contains conclusions and recommendations for future policy makers.Written for a sophomore level audience in an informal and accessible style.An evidence-based approach - long on facts short on philosophy which makes it more appropriate for a lower division undergraduate student.Each chapter will begin with a case study to motivate the discussions that follow. Gives students a ′human face′ to help give perspective on the issues.Chapters will end with questions designed to help focus students on the key points.

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Michael D. Reisig SECTION ONE: 1. Introduction 2. The Politics of Punishment in the United States SECTION TWO: 3. Misinformation About the Crime Problem 4. Misinformation About Public Opinion 5. Misinformation About Prisons and Crime Control SECTION THREE: 6. The Social Costs of Incarceration 7. Conclusions and Recommendations References

About the Author :
Travis C. Pratt received his degrees from Clark College, Washington State University (BA, Political Science; MA, Criminal Justice), and the University of Cincinnati (PhD, Criminal Justice). He has served on the faculty of the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University-Newark, was the Director of the Program in Criminal Justice at Washington State University, and a Professor the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. He is currently a Fellow with the University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute. His research and publications focus primarily on structural and integrated theories of crime and delinquency (including macro-level, multilevel, and individual-level approaches to the study of criminal/deviant behavior) and correctional policy (both institutional and community corrections). He has published over 100 articles that have appeared in the leading peer-reviewed journals in the field, including: Crime and Justice: A Review of Research; Criminology; Journal of Youth and Adolescence; Journal of Pediatrics; Journal of Quantitative Criminology; Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency; and, Justice Quarterly. He received the 2006 Ruth Shonle Cavan Outstanding Young Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology for his research and scholarship.

Review :
"Excellent supplemental text for my course! Examples are great- very accessible, readable book." In Addicted to Incarceration, Pratt (2009) skillfully highlights the sources of propaganda that result in the continued overuse of incarceration as the main source of punishment in the United States.