This strong indictment of the current prison system, undertaken by two respected experts on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee, traces the history and features of our penal system, offers strong ethical and moral assessments of it, and lays out a whole new paradigm of criminal justice based on restorative justice and reconciliation. The book puts forward a 12-point plan for immediate changes. "Beyond Prisons" opens a long-needed national dialogue on our responsibilities as citizens and as a nation to provide remediation rather than mere retributive incarceration, answerable to the common good and the justice of God.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Introduction: A new Morality
Confession and Healing Justice
Definitions: More than Mere Words
Outline of the Book
History of a Failed System
The Philadelphia Experiment
The Penitentiary System-Religious Roots
The Penitentiary System-Philosophical Roots
The Panopticon
The Development of the Penitentiary System
The dynamics of Crime And Punishment in America
The Problem
The Intersection of Race and Class
Practicing White Supremacy
The Legacy of Economic Dominance: Class
In our Backyards: The Penal System at the Local level
Policing
In the Courthouse: The U.S. Adversarial Legal System
The Pre-trial Process
County Jails
Probation and Community Corrections
Taking Local Communities Seriously
Sentencing: The Cold Heart of tHe Penal System
The California Example
Federal Sentencing Policy
Carrying Out the Drug War
Three Strikes
The Death Penalty
Throwing Away the Key: Life without Mercy
Parole: The Terminating Program in the Rehabilitative Model
Extra Punishment for Sex Offenders
Criminal Records: The Permanent Punishment
Cages: State and Federal Prisons Today
The Corporatization of Punishment
Private Prisons and Accountability
Prison Guards
The Super-max and Other Forms of Torture
Manufacturing Madness
Prison Gang Policies: A Threat to Our Security
Political Prisoners
Immigrants in the Criminal Justice System
Sexism
Women
Sexual Relations and Prison Rape
Transgender Prisoners
Prison and Disability
The Mentally Ill
Health Care
Spanning Generations: Impact of Prisons on Families
Prison Ministry
Youth, Poverty, and Delinquency
History of the Juvenile Justice System
The Language of Demonization
Criminalization of Youth
Creating Gangs
Zero Tolerance
An Alternative Vision of Justice
Survivors
Punishment
Forgiveness
Breaking the Cycle
Searching for a new Justice Paradigm
Can Prisons Rehabilitate?
From Prison Abolition to a New Paradigm
Reform vs. Abolition
Alternatives
Restorative/Peace-building Justice
Problems with Restorative Justice
Examples of Peace-building Justice
AFSC's Twelve-point Plan
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author :
Laura Magnani is Assistant Regional Director for Justice and Youth, American Friends Service Committee, Berkley, USA. Jamie Bissonnette is Criminal Justice Coordinator for the AFSC's New England office and serves on the boards of the Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services. Harmon L Wray is Executive Director of the National Association of Sentencing Advocates.
