The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: Ideology, Class, and Criminal Justice, Seventh Edition
Author: Jeffrey Reiman
List Price: $32.40
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ISBN: 0205386644
Publisher: Pearson Allyn & Bacon (18 July, 2003)
Sales Rank: 592,363
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
More Complex than Poverty = Crime
Professor Reiman's book goes beyond what is perceived as the usual worn out academic argument of blaming crime on poverty. The book is very clear that the problem of crime is much more complex than a simple correlation of "poverty causes crime." The main point of the book is that capitalism causes crime. Capitalism also causes poverty, but further, capitalism causes greed and power. Reiman makes an important move (though not the first one to do so) by looking into white-collar crime and how the rich are getting richer by breaking serious laws that have a huge impact on our economy and our society's general quality of life; while the poor are getting prison for committing crimes with far less macro ramifications for society. White-collar crime is linked to poverty only in the since that without poverty, white-collar crime would not be possible. This takes us back to the position that capitalism causes crime. However, Reiman is careful not to be a believer in utopian ideals. There is no suggestion in his book that crime would disappear if our society were to move toward, or become, a just society. The point is that crime would be less necessary if poverty and greed were not social norms.Professor Reiman constructs a well researched argument to show why our prisons are overflowing with people who were under-represented (if at all) in court because their economic status caused them to have an incompetent or over-worked court appointed attorney; while people like Kenneth Lay are still free and endangering our society. This book is an important tool for understanding current social relations and what we have to do before we can be safe and free.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Gnius
I found Reiman's work to be of high scholarly value to any critical thinker regardless of field. He willingly unravels myths that have long banded our eyes to the deeper anomalies and injustices of this 'criminal' 'justice' SYSTEM. Hopefully, others in related fields will follow his example, not readily accepting the obvious impression as a true impression, but to test what is a real image and what is distorted.
Rating: 1 out of 5
Here we go again.
This book contains the usual worn out far left liberal drivel that college profesors have been trying to shove down the throats of uninformed students since the 60's. In particular, the author's attempt to blame crime on poverty, etc. etc. leaves me nauseous. Has he ever considered that our culture's failure to teach its young about moral absolutes might be a contributing factor? He is entitled to his opinions, however misinformed they may be, but the book should come jacketed with a warning label.
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