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dgboskovic's review against another edition
2.0
Overall, I'd say this book is worth reading. I think it provides an important look at the correctional system in the US and, more importantly, still-existing race and class divisions and their effects on American society.
That said, I found there to be a great deal lacking from this book. Mauer's arguments are valid and well reasoned, but I could not help but feel as though there were gaping holes in a lot of his arguments, particularly with regards to his discussion of class and racism. His points seemed to me myopic and far too simplistic for what are extremely complicated issues. In particular, his depiction of America seemed to be impoverished minorities slumming in the big cities and middle-class whites in the suburbs. He associates poverty with African Americans and wealth with whites, which may have a shred of truth, but ignores a number of other issues. What about impoverished whites? What about the upper classes who, not only have access to resources that lower classes do not, but who are able to use their power and influence to cheat the system? In my opinion, the divide between classes is much more complicated than he was able to explore in a mere 10 pages, and much of his discussion was focussed on poor blacks/rich whites, which is a gross oversimplification.
Another issue that I wish could have been explored is the reality of sexual assault. I think there is a lot to be said for not just racism, but also sexism in the criminal justice system (and in a large number of cases, both). While I admit that may derail the issue at hand to a feminist sphere, I think that such a topic could have been explored and coincided nicely with his discussion of the war on drugs. Why do drug-related offenses have harsher penalties than violent offenses? Yes, there is a huge discussion about this topic, but I think Mauer could have done some research into how this relates to rape and sexual assaults.
With regards to the writing itself, the book is packed with statistics. By which I mean that the majority of the text is statistical figures strung together with sentences. While I'm in favour of statistical evidence to make a case, it made for extremely dry and unenjoyable reading. (And may I point out that if he misused 'whom' one more that before the end, I would have chucked the book across the room and given up entirely.)
Ultimately, I think this is an important book and addresses a lot of important issues, but raises a lot more questions than it answers, and it's clear that it was written by someone who has done a great deal of research on the subject and is aware of the problems with the system, but has few valuable contributions to make otherwise. I think this discussion would benefit from some academic voices, particularly economists, sociologists, and lawyers. This would be important to exploring the issues that Mauer has addressed, and delving beyond his simplifications.
That said, I found there to be a great deal lacking from this book. Mauer's arguments are valid and well reasoned, but I could not help but feel as though there were gaping holes in a lot of his arguments, particularly with regards to his discussion of class and racism. His points seemed to me myopic and far too simplistic for what are extremely complicated issues. In particular, his depiction of America seemed to be impoverished minorities slumming in the big cities and middle-class whites in the suburbs. He associates poverty with African Americans and wealth with whites, which may have a shred of truth, but ignores a number of other issues. What about impoverished whites? What about the upper classes who, not only have access to resources that lower classes do not, but who are able to use their power and influence to cheat the system? In my opinion, the divide between classes is much more complicated than he was able to explore in a mere 10 pages, and much of his discussion was focussed on poor blacks/rich whites, which is a gross oversimplification.
Another issue that I wish could have been explored is the reality of sexual assault. I think there is a lot to be said for not just racism, but also sexism in the criminal justice system (and in a large number of cases, both). While I admit that may derail the issue at hand to a feminist sphere, I think that such a topic could have been explored and coincided nicely with his discussion of the war on drugs. Why do drug-related offenses have harsher penalties than violent offenses? Yes, there is a huge discussion about this topic, but I think Mauer could have done some research into how this relates to rape and sexual assaults.
With regards to the writing itself, the book is packed with statistics. By which I mean that the majority of the text is statistical figures strung together with sentences. While I'm in favour of statistical evidence to make a case, it made for extremely dry and unenjoyable reading. (And may I point out that if he misused 'whom' one more that before the end, I would have chucked the book across the room and given up entirely.)
Ultimately, I think this is an important book and addresses a lot of important issues, but raises a lot more questions than it answers, and it's clear that it was written by someone who has done a great deal of research on the subject and is aware of the problems with the system, but has few valuable contributions to make otherwise. I think this discussion would benefit from some academic voices, particularly economists, sociologists, and lawyers. This would be important to exploring the issues that Mauer has addressed, and delving beyond his simplifications.
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