What if our criminal justice system is biased against the poor from start to finish - from the definition of
what constitutes a crime through the process of arrest, trial, and sentencing? The author argues that actions of
well-off people - refusal to make workplaces safe, refusal to curtail deadly pollution, promotion of unnecessary
surgery, prescription of unnecessary drugs, etc. - cause occupational and environmental hazards to innocent members
of the public and produce as much death, destruction, and financial loss as so-called crimes of the poor. However,
these crimes of the well-off are rarely treated as severely as those of the poor. Reiman documents the extent of
anti-poor bias in arrest, conviction, and sentencing practices and shows that the bias is conjoined with a general
refusal to remedy the causes of crime - poverty, poor education, and discrimination. As a result, the criminal
justice system fails to reduce crime. The author uses numerous studies and examples to illustrate his points, and
difficult concepts are explained in a non-technical manner. The book is a useful counter to the uproar about crime.
It provokes thought and discussion, even among people who disagree with its content. For anyone interested in issues
of class, social deviance, ethics, or criminal justice.
Table of Contents
All chapters conclude with �Summary,� �Study Questions,� �Additional Readings,� and �Notes.�
Dedication.
Preface.
About the Author.
Introduction: Criminal Justice through the Looking Glass, or Winning by Losing.
Abbreviations Used in the Notes.
Notes to the Introduction.
1. Crime Control in America: Nothing Succeeds Like Failure.
Designed to Fail.
Four Excuses That Will Not Wash, or How We Could Reduce Crime if We Wanted To.
First Excuse: We're Too Soft!
Second Excuse: A Cost of Modern Life.
Third Excuse: Blame It on the Kids!
Fourth Excuse: We Just Don't Know What to Do.
Known Sources of Crime.
What Works to Reduce Crime.
How Crime Pays: Erikson and Durkheim.
2. A Crime by Any Other Name � .
What's in a Name?
The Carnival Mirror.
Criminal Justice as Creative Art.
A Crime by Any Other Name � .
Work May Be Dangerous to Your Health.
Health Care May Be Dangerous to Your Health.
Waging Chemical Warfare against America.
Poverty Kills.
3. � and the Poor Get Prison.
Weeding Out the Wealthy.
Arrest and Charging.
Conviction.
Sentencing.
� and the Poor Get Prison.
4. To the Vanquished Belong the Spoils: Who Is Winning the Losing War against Crime?
Why Is the Criminal Justice System Failing?
The Poverty of Criminals and the Crime of Poverty.
The Implicit Ideology of Criminal Justice.
The Bonus of Bias.
Ideology, or How to Fool Enough of the People Enough of the Time.
What Is Ideology.
The Need for Ideology.
Conclusion: Criminal Justice or Criminal Justice.
The Crime of Justice.
Rehabilitating Criminal Justice in America.
Protecting Society.
Promoting Justice.
Appendix: The Marxian Critique of Criminal Justice.
Marxism and Capitalism.
Capitalism and Ideology.
Ideology and Law.
Law and Ethics.
