Smart decarceration : achieving criminal justice transformation in the 21st century

Description

Smart Decarceration is a forward-thinking, practical volume that provides innovative concepts and concrete strategies for ushering in an era of decarceration -- a proactive and effective undoing of the era of mass incarceration. The text grapples with tough questions and takes up the challenge of transforming America's approach to criminal justice in the 21st century. This timely work consists of chapters written from multiple perspectives and disciplines including advocates, researchers, academics, practitioners, and persons with incarceration histories who are now leaders in the movement. The primary purpose of this book is to inform both academic and public understanding -- to place the challenge of smart decarceration at the center of the current national discourse, taking into account the realities of the current sociopolitical context -- and to propose beginning action steps. This is achieved by first outlining and addressing questions such as: What if incarceration were not an option for most?; Whose voices are essential in this era of decarceration?; What is the state of evidence for solutions?; How do we generate and adopt empirically driven reforms?; How do we redefine and rethink justice in the United States? Smart Decarceration offers a way forward in building a field for decarceration through provocative but reasoned challenges to existing approaches to criminal justice reforms, lively focus on potential solutions, and action steps for reform. Content: Cover Hafe title page Smart Decarceration Copyright Contents Foreword Contributors Introduction Part I Setting the Context for Decarceration 1. Smart Decarceration: Guiding Concepts for an Era of Criminal Justice Transformation 2. Reflections on a Locked Door: Lessons from History and the Failed Promise of Penal Incarceration 3. From Moment to Movement: The Urgency for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals to Lead Decarceration Efforts Part II Advancing Justice and Community Reforms 4. From the Inside Out: A Perspective on Decarceration from a Formerly Incarcerated Individual 5. The Prosecutor's Role in Promoting Decarceration: Lessons Learned from Milwaukee County6. Learning to Lead in the Decarceration Movement 7. Prisoner Reentry in an Era of Smart Decarceration 8. Community and Decarceration: Developing Localized Solutions Part III Rethinking Policy and Practice 9. Minimizing the Maximum: The Case for Shortening All Prison Sentences 10. Reforming Civil Disability Policy to Facilitate Effective and Sustainable Decarceration 11. A Public Health Approach to Decarceration: Strategies to Reduce the Prison and Jail Population and Support Reentry 12. Community Interventions for Justice-​Involved Individuals: Assessing Gaps in Programming to Promote Decarceration13. Empirical Means to Decarcerative Ends? Advancing the Science and Practice of Risk Assessment Part IV Moving from Concepts to Strategies 14. Imagining the Future of Justice: Advancing Decarceration through Multisector Social Innovations 15.Guideposts for the Smart Decarceration Era: Recommended Strategies from Researchers, Practitioners, and Formerly Incarcerated Leaders Index