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Summary:

"Former public defender James Forman, Jr. is a leading critic of mass incarceration and its disproportionate impact on people of color. In Locking Up Our Own, he seeks to understand the war on crime that began in the 1970s and why it was supported by many African American leaders in the nation's urban centers. Forman shows us that the first substantial cohort of black mayors, judges, and police chiefs took office amid a surge in crime and drug addiction. Many prominent black officials, including Washington, D.C. mayor Marion Barry and federal prosecutor Eric Holder, feared that the gains of the civil rights movement were being undermined by lawlessness - and thus embraced tough-on-crime measures, including longer sentences and aggressive police tactics. In the face of skyrocketing murder rates and the proliferation of open-air drug markets, they believed they had no choice. But the policies they adopted would have devastating consequences for residents of poor black neighborhoods. A former D.C. public defender, Forman tells riveting stories of politicians, community activists, police officers, defendants, and crime victims. He writes with compassion about individuals trapped in terrible dilemmas - from the men and women he represented in court to officials struggling to respond to a public safety emergency. Locking Up Our Own enriches our understanding of why our society became so punitive and offers important lessons to anyone concerned about the future of race and the criminal justice system in this country"-- [Provided by publisher]

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Part I: Origins. Gateway to the war on drugs : marijuana, 1975 ; Black lives matter : gun control, 1975 ; Representatives of their race : the rise of African American police, 1948-78
• Part II: Consequences. "Locking up thugs is not vindictive" : sentencing, 1981-82 ; "The worst thing to hit us since slavery" : crack and the advent of warrior policing, 1988-92 ; What would Martin Luther King, Jr., say? : stop and search, 1995
• Epilogue: The reach of our mercy, 2014-16.

Author/Creator:

Forman, James, 1967- , author

Languages:

English

Language Notes:

Item content: English

Main Work:

Locking up our own: crime and punishment in black America [by Forman, J.]

Subjects:

Criminal justice, Administration of — United States

Discrimination in criminal justice administration — United States

Life and death, Power over

African American judges

African American politicians

African American police

United States — Race relations

Social justice — United States

Criminal justice, Administration of

Discrimination in criminal justice administration

Race relations

Social justice

United States

General Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-286) and index.
Pulitzer Prize Winner, General Nonfiction, 2018

Physical Description:

306 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm

Call Numbers:

HV9950 .F655 2018

ISBNs:

9780374537449 (paperback)
0374537445 (paperback)

OCLC Numbers:

1021856753