States of Confinement

Policing, Detention, and Prisons

de Joy James

"Some seventy percent of the nearly 2 million people incarcerated in U.S. prisons, jails, and immigration detention centers are "people of color," and the U.S. has the highest imprisonment and execution rates in the developed world. Statistics like these make an analysis of incarceration especially urgent and timely. States of Confinement uncovers the political, social, and economic biases hardwired into our policing and punishment systems. Using a broad multicultural approach, the distinguished authors of this collection incorporate diversity both through their individual backgrounds and the variety of topics they discuss. These twenty-six essays will appeal equally to students and educators, as well as anyone concerned about the fate of democracy in this era of punishment in which economic and racial bias are deeply entrenched in policing and imprisonment."--BOOK JACKET.