PDF Ellis Island to Ebbets Field: Sport and the American Jewish Experience by Peter Levine in History

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Despite the perennial claims of politicians that our courts are coddling hardened criminals; the fact is that America already sends a higher proportion of its citizens to prison--and for longer terms--than any other western nation. To quote the Canadian House of Commons's Committee on Justice; "If locking up those who violate the law contributed to safer societies; then the United States should be the safest country in the world." Yet despite well-documented and mounting evidence that increased penalties alone cannot reduce crime; the Reagan and Bush administrations repeatedly lobbied for tougher mandatory sentences and more prisons. Although black crime rates have been stable for twenty years; the number and percentages of blacks in jail and prison have skyrocketed since Ronald Reagan took office. The trend continues with President Clinton; who recently called for "three strikes you're out" legislation dictating mandatory life sentences for third felony convictions. In Malign Neglect; Michael Tonry addresses these paradoxes with passion and lucidity. Drawing on a vast compendium of the latest statistical; legal and social science research; he takes on the explosive issues of race; crime and punishment. As unconventional as he is committed; Tonry confronts uncomfortable truths head-on. On the one hand; he is outraged by politicians' talk of Willy Horton and Welfare Queens. The texts may be crime and welfare; Tonry writes; but the subtext is race. While he recognizes that the disadvantaged have no license to attack; rape or steal; and that the absolution of disadvantaged offenders would require a cynical acceptance of the suffering of victims; he argues powerfully that crime control policies can be recast so that; without diminishing public safety; they do less harm to disadvantaged black Americans. Tonry presents devastating evidence that our current policies are decimating black communities; and impeding the movement of disadvantaged black Americans into the social and economic mainstream of modern America. A blistering attack on worn-out misconceptions about race; poverty; crime and punishment and a fearless prescription for change; Malign Neglect is an indispensable briefing paper on a topic which goes to the heart and soul of the nation.