A stunning examination of how the United States became the incarceration capital of the world, from one of the country's leading experts on sentencing policy, race, and the criminal justice system
In this revised edition of his seminal book on race, class, and the criminal justice system, Marc Mauer, former executive director of one of the United States' leading criminal justice reform organizations, offers the most up-to-date

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Marc Mauer and Ashley Nellis of The Sentencing Project argue that there is no practical or moral justification for a sentence longer than twenty years. Harsher sentences have been shown to have little effect on crime rates, since people "age out" of crime--meaning that we're spending a fortune on geriatric care for older prisoners who pose little threat to public safety. Extreme punishment for serious crime also has an inflationary effect on sentences...