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A review by smtenaglia
Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America by James Forman Jr.
5.0
Forman deftly uses D.C. as a microcosm of the various policies- The War on Drugs, the War on Crime, warrior policing, stop and search, mandatory minimums, to name a few- that have transformed and defined our criminal justice system over the past 4 decades. It’s the accumulation of these individual policy decisions that has contributed to the rapid development of mass incarceration for our nation’s black Americans. He leaves us with some important questions to consider:
“What if we came to see that justice requires accountability, but not vengeance? What if we came to understand that equal protection under the law, including equal protection for black victims too long denied it, doesn’t have to mean the harshest available punishment? What if we strive for compassion, for mercy, for forgiveness?”
“What if we came to see that justice requires accountability, but not vengeance? What if we came to understand that equal protection under the law, including equal protection for black victims too long denied it, doesn’t have to mean the harshest available punishment? What if we strive for compassion, for mercy, for forgiveness?”