Presidents and Mass Incarceration: Choices at the Top, Repercussions at the Bottom
Praeger | English | 2018 | ISBN-10: 1440859469 | 216 pages | PDF | 10.06 mb
by Linda K. Mancillas Ph.D. (Author)

Taking a new and innovative approach to the subject, this book looks at how U.S. presidents and their administrations' policies from the late 1960s to 2017 have led to rampant over-imprisonment and a public policy catastrophe in the United States.


* Explains how presidential "tough-on-crime" rhetoric fueled by the public's fear of crime led to the war on crime, the war on drugs, and the war on gangs, resulting in the nation becoming known as "Prison America"

* Presents undeniable evidence that U.S. presidents have played a major role in America's imprisonment tragedy

* Provides a careful analysis of mass incarceration through presidential leadership to document how seemingly well-intentioned choices made at the top have had devastating repercussions on the bottom realm of our society

Review
"Mass incarceration is a moral, practical, and political problem that affects us all. It is the expression of decisions made at all key levels of government, with the buck stopping at the president's desk. How mass incarceration has worked its way into the body politic is a complex, engaging, and deeply troubling story that is artfully told by Linda Mancillas in Presidents and Mass Incarceration." (Robert Johnson, Professor of Justice, Law and Criminology, American University)

About the Author
Linda K. Mancillas, PhD, is associate professor of political science at Georgia Gwinnett College.