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The Politics of Injustice : Crime and Punishment in America
The Politics of Injustice Crime and Punishment in America Author:Katherine Beckett, Theodore Sasson "I like this book a great deal. It places the development of criminal justice policy into an historical context and dispels the premise that such policy stems from 'crime in society.' There is a great teaching need for this book, and I will adopt it." --Ray Surette, University of Central Florida "There are many myths about crime in the U.S. ... more »that need to be debunked, and this text does a fine job of showing us how to understand and challenge anti-crime policies. I look forward to using it in my teaching." --David Forde, University of Illinois-Chicago A growing number of scholars are examining the role of crime in U.S. politics and culture, and the ways in which the politicization of this issue has affected policy-making. Very little of this work has become available to undergraduate students and to the general public -- until now. The Politics of Injustice examines the U.S. crime problem and the resulting policies as a political and cultural issue, drawing on a wide range of scholarship, including the representation of crime in political discourse, the mass media, and public opinion. The book proposes that the punitive turn in crime policy is not just the result of a worsening crime problem or an increasingly fearful and vengeful public, but reflects efforts by national politicians to shift public policy on a variety of social problems toward harsher, more repressive solutions.« less