Unusually Cruel: Prisons, Punishment, and the Real American Exceptionalism - Hardcover

Howard, Marc Morjé

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0190659335 ISBN 13: 9780190659332

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2017

Synopsis

The United States incarcerates far more people than any other country in the world, at rates nearly ten times higher than other liberal democracies. Indeed, while the U.S. is home to 5 percent of the world's population, it contains nearly 25 percent of its prisoners. But the extent of American cruelty goes beyond simply locking people up. At every stage of the criminal justice process - plea bargaining, sentencing, prison conditions, rehabilitation, parole, and societal reentry - the U.S. is harsher and more punitive than other comparable countries. In Unusually Cruel, Marc Morjé Howard argues that the American criminal justice and prison systems are exceptional - in a truly shameful way. Although other scholars have focused on the internal dynamics that have produced this massive carceral system, Howard provides the first sustained comparative analysis that shows just how far the U.S. lies outside the norm of established democracies. And, by highlighting how other countries successfully apply less punitive and more productive policies, he provides plausible solutions to addressing America's criminal justice quagmire.

About this title

About the Author:

Marc Morjé Howard is Professor of Government and Law at Georgetown University, where he also directs the Prisons and Justice Initiative. He is the author of two previous award-winning books.

Review:

"an ambitious and important study that provides detailed comparative evidence of the extent and characteristics of that 'American exceptionalism.' ... Unusually Cruel meticulously brings together existing research to document comprehensively precisely how the US diverges from these ostensibly comparable countries." Robert Heynen, Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books

"Howard's brilliant analysis points to four enduring factors: persistent racism, evangelical religion, the politics of reelection, and profit-making from the incarcerated... Essential."

--CHOICE

"Outstanding and timely. Howard presents a breathtaking account of American 'exceptionalism' in the most revealing and negative connotation of that term."

--Mary Fainsod Katzenstein, Stephen and Evalyn Professor of American Studies, Emerita, Cornell University

"In the recent flurry of writing about the United States' extraordinary level of incarceration, this book stands out: it brings together the expertise of a lawyer, the analytic skills of a political scientist, and the passion of a person with a 'new calling and vocation' - all combined in one author. The result is simultaneously salutary, depressing, and encouraging."

--Jennifer Hochschild, Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government, Harvard University

"Howard makes a convincing case that we have much to learn from other nations about our criminal justice system, and he provides a practical approach for recalibrating it to one that is both effective and fair."

--Marc Mauer, Executive Director of The Sentencing Project

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0190659335
• ISBN 13: 9780190659332
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 298