‘Mass Incarceration Nation’ by Jeffrey Bellin

Jeffrey Bellin of William & Mary Law School has authored Mass Incarceration Nation: How the United States Became Addicted to Prisons and Jails and How It Can Recover, a book discussing mass imprisonment and its impact in the United States.

From the book description:

The United States imprisons a higher proportion of its population than any other nation. Mass Incarceration Nation offers a novel, in-the-trenches perspective to explain the factors – historical, political, and institutional – that led to the current system of mass imprisonment. The book examines the causes and impacts of mass incarceration on both the political and criminal justice systems. With accessible language and straightforward statistical analysis, former prosecutor turned law professor Jeffrey Bellin provides a formula for reform to return to the low incarceration rates that characterized the United States prior to the 1970s.

• Uses accessible language and straightforward statistical analysis to explain the rise of mass incarceration
• Illustrates the roles of individual actors (police, prosecutors, judges and others) in generating mass incarceration
• Offers a durable blueprint for dramatically decreasing the number of people incarcerated in the United States of America

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