Randall Shelden has “reached the conclusion that you cannot possibly discuss in any honest way the subject of crime and punishment in the United States without reference to class, race, and gender inequality.”
In Our Punitive Society: Race, Class, Gender and Punishment in America, Shelden reviews trends in incarceration, including the phenomenal rise in female incarceration and the punishment of young offenders, the Prison Industrial Complex, the role of the penal system as a new form of slavery, and the ultimate form of punishment — the death penalty. This text identifies the macroeconomic forces relevant to imprisonment — poverty and political powerlessness — and explores viable and humane alternatives to our current incarceration binge.