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elizabethlk's review
4.0
4.5 stars
This comic adaptation of Marc Mauer's Race to Incarcerate is a must-read for anyone looking to gain a better understanding of the issues with the US prison system. It covers a lot of the basic information, important statistics, political and historical facts, and more. This is an ideal read for the layperson who isn't sure where to start reading.
This comic adaptation of Marc Mauer's Race to Incarcerate is a must-read for anyone looking to gain a better understanding of the issues with the US prison system. It covers a lot of the basic information, important statistics, political and historical facts, and more. This is an ideal read for the layperson who isn't sure where to start reading.
zachkuhn's review
5.0
An easy-to-read but thoroughly researched argument for a complete overhaul of our prison system. Soup to nuts. Blames liberals and conservatives, so don't get yourself all worked up.
audreyintheheadphones's review
3.0
I'm a huge proponent of graphic novels that help to explain history or socioeconomic ideas, because not matter how you get intrigued by a subject, you can always read more, delve deeper or just ask better questions, and I know a lot of people are attracted to the graphic novel format, especially middle- and high-school students.
This is a great introduction to Amercia's addiction to incarceration, especially incarceration based on racism and classism. Super heavy subject, great for a graphic novel. Side effects may include discovering that Reagan, Ashcroft, Tip O'Neill and other powerful politicians were even bigger shitbags than you'd originally believed.
There are a couple places where I raised my eyebrows:
--"Prison reformers hoped to follow the example of mental health 'deinstitutionalization' (except deinstitutionalization hasn't gone so well, say the legions of people without access to mental health care)
--"San Diego and Boston got [positive] results with 'community policing'" (I would like to hear from Black and other people of color, Bob)
--"By pitting 'victims rights' against 'prisoners rights' we are denying the need to heal for all"(That...is one hell of an oversimplification there. I had to sit down for a moment with that one)
And the last ten pages of the book, where it finally turns its hand to suggestions for amelioration just become a morass of facts and figures that get a little overwhelming. But even so, these are all great places to start asking questions.
Lots of questions. Pointy ones, with spikes, because we have a big-ass election coming up.
This is a great introduction to Amercia's addiction to incarceration, especially incarceration based on racism and classism. Super heavy subject, great for a graphic novel. Side effects may include discovering that Reagan, Ashcroft, Tip O'Neill and other powerful politicians were even bigger shitbags than you'd originally believed.
There are a couple places where I raised my eyebrows:
--"Prison reformers hoped to follow the example of mental health 'deinstitutionalization' (except deinstitutionalization hasn't gone so well, say the legions of people without access to mental health care)
--"San Diego and Boston got [positive] results with 'community policing'" (I would like to hear from Black and other people of color, Bob)
--"By pitting 'victims rights' against 'prisoners rights' we are denying the need to heal for all"(That...is one hell of an oversimplification there. I had to sit down for a moment with that one)
And the last ten pages of the book, where it finally turns its hand to suggestions for amelioration just become a morass of facts and figures that get a little overwhelming. But even so, these are all great places to start asking questions.
Lots of questions. Pointy ones, with spikes, because we have a big-ass election coming up.
agmaynard's review
4.0
As the title says, it's a graphic retelling of the previous work that was updated, Race to Incarcerate, and even with the 2013 publication date, the stats and relevance are current enough.