A diverse, critical analysis of racial and ethnic disparities within the American criminal justice system that encourages critical thinking by providing various sides to the issues. Low-income African Americans, Latin Americans, and American Indians bear the statistical brunt of policing, death penalty verdicts, and sentencing disparities in the United States. Why does this long-standing inequity exist in a country where schoolchildren are taught to expect "justice for all"? The original essays in this two-volume set not only examine the deep-rooted issues and lay out theories as to why racism remains a problem in our prison system, but they also provide potential solutions to the problem. The work gives a broad, multicultural overview of the history of overrepresentation of ethnic minorities in our prison system, examining white/black disparities as well as racism and issues of ethnic-based discrimination concerning other ethnic minorities. This up-to-date resource is ideally suited for undergraduate students who are enrolled in criminal justice or racial/ethnic studies classes and general readers interested in the U.S. criminal justice system.

Presents photographs of the Puppies Behind Bars program, in which young puppies are raised by prison inmates who socialize and train them for careers as guide dogs, law enforcement canines, and service dogs for the handicapped.

This book addresses the complex issue of incarceration of Latino/as and offers a comprehensive overview of such topics as deportations in historical context, a case study of latino/a resistance to prisons in the 70s, the issues of youth and and girls prisons, and the post incarceration experience.

While scholarship on the education of youth behind bars has largely focused on boys, more than one in three youth arrests in the USA is female, and Girls Behind Bars sets out to address this imbalance. The book offers autobiographies, life-stories, and counter-stories in order to challenge simplistic generalizations and empirical prescriptions. Girls Behind Bars provides the educational community with critical perspectives that examine empiricist epistemologies and positivist methodologies that label certain groups of girls as delinquent and mark them for punitive and corrective treatment behind bars. Sharma opens up the discussion on girls' gender, desire, and sexuality by offering a language for these issues absent in educational discourse. Finally, the book supports calls for educators and practitioners in their desire to envision and create transformative spaces that enable young girls behind bars to reclaim their education. Including a foreword by William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, this important and powerful book gives voice to a neglected, silenced, and misrepresented population - young girls behind bars.

This book explores how social determinants of health (SDH) impact the health of a variety of marginalized demographic groups in the United States. Chapters focus on the 13 groups that research demonstrates are most disadvantaged by SDH and, consequently, who suffer the most from ongoing health disparities in America. This includes Black and Hispanic individuals, the LGBTQIA+ community, women, the elderly, people with disabilities, veterans, and those living in rural areas, among others. Chapters follow a standardized format that makes it easy for readers to focus in on aspects of the subject that are of greatest interest. Each profile begins with a snapshot of that group's current state of health, including the biggest medical concerns and how other determinants of health may play a role. Next, each chapter takes an in-depth look at the four components of SDH: economic factors, educational access and quality, healthcare access and quality, and living environment and social context. Unique problems and possible solutions are explored within each of these four sections. An end-of-volume bibliography and further readings list points readers who wish to continue their investigation of the topic toward additional information. Relying on an interdisciplinary framework, the book incorporates research from diverse fields including public health, feminist theory, critical studies of race and ethnicity, poverty studies, disability studies, aging studies, cultural competence, legal studies, and global health. In recognition of the reality that health disparities are the result of a complex interplay of forces and structural factors that permeate American culture, analysis extends beyond health and health care to include a broad range of interrelated social, political, economic, and educational components.

Gender, Crime, and Justice is a unique core textbook that introduces key concepts through case studies. Each chapter opens with a compelling case study that illustrates key concepts, followed by a narrative chapter that builds on the case study to introduce essential elements. Each chapter features pedagogical elements—learning objectives, key terms, review and study questions, and suggestions for further learning and exploration. In addition to the unique case study approach, this book is distinctive in its inclusion of LGBTQ experiences in crime, victimization, processing, and punishment. Gender, Crime, and Justice also addresses masculinity and the role it plays in defining offenders and victims, as well as challenges posed by the gender gap in offending.

A leading womanist biblical scholar reads passages from the New Testament in dialogue with modern-day issues of racial justice. The narratives and letters of the New Testament emerged from a particular set of historical contexts that differ from today’s, but they resonate with us because of how the issues they raise “rhyme” with subjects of contemporary relevance. Listening for these echoes of the present in the past, Love Sechrest utilizes her cultural experience and her perspective as a Black woman scholar to reassess passages in the New Testament that deal with intergroup conflict, ethnoracial tension, and power dynamics between dominant and minoritized groups. After providing an overview of womanist biblical interpretation and related terminology, Sechrest utilizes an approach she calls “associative hermeneutics” to place select New Testament texts in dialogue with modern-day issues of racial justice. Topics include: antiracist allyship and Jesus’s interaction with marginalized individuals in the Gospel of Matthew cultural assimilation and Jesus’s teachings about family and acceptance in the Gospel of Luke gendered stereotypes and the story of the Samaritan woman in the Gospel of John the experience of Black women and girls in the American criminal justice system and the woman accused of adultery in the Gospel of John group identity and the incorporation of Gentiles into the early Jesus movement in Acts privilege and Paul’s claims to apostolic authority in 2 Corinthians coalition-building between diverse groups and the discussion of unity in Ephesians government’s role in providing social welfare and early Christians’ relationship to the Roman Empire in Romans and Revelation Through these creative and illuminating connections, Sechrest offers a rich bounty of new insights from Scripture—drawing out matters of justice and human dignity that spoke to early Christians and can speak still to Christians willing to listen today.

Prison Nation is a distant dispatch from a foreign and forbidden place--the world of America's prisons. Written by prisoners, social critics and luminaries of investigative reporting, Prison Nation testifies to the current state of America's prisoners' living conditions and political concerns. These concerns are not normally the concerns of most Americans, but they should be. From substandard medical care the inadequacy of resources for public defenders to the death penalty, the issues covered in this volume grow more urgent every day. Articles by outstanding writers such as Mumia Abu-Jamal, Noam Chomsky, Mark Dow, Judy Green, Tracy Huling and Christian Parenti chronicle the injustices of prison privatization, class and race in the justice system, our quixotic drug war, the rarely discussed prison AIDS crisis and a judicial system that rewards mostly those with significant resources or the desire to name names. Correctional facilities have become a profitable growth industry, for companies like Wackenhut that run them and companies like Boeing that use cheap prison labor. With fascinating narratives, shocking tales and small stories of hope, Prison Nation paints a picture of a world many Americans know little or nothing about.

First Published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Public Health Behind Bars From Prisons to Communities examines the burden of illness in the growing prison population, and analyzes the impact on public health as prisoners are released. This book makes a timely case for correctional health care that is humane for those incarcerated and beneficial to the communities they reenter.