It has been call the "Ferguson effect": Since the 2014 police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, officers have been backing off of proactive policing, and criminals are becoming emboldened. Mac Donald deconstructs the central narrative of the Black Lives Matter movement: that racist cops are the greatest threat to young black males. She argues that it is criminals and gangbangers who are responsible for the high black homicide...

Crime drains our society of billions of dollars every year and takes an appalling toll in terms of death and fear. Eliminating crime entirely is not possible, but prevention is. Police officers bravely patrol our cities and towns to keep us safe. But they cannot do it alone. There are many things we can do to help protect ourselves against crime. Under the expert guidance of police forces, ordinary citizens throughout the United States have come together...

Life is full of obstacles, and in today's complicated, hyperconnected world we are all seeking to gain insight and knowledge that will allow us to take charge of our own safety and well-being. As a highly decorated former DEA agent and leading private investigator, Thomas G. Martin has seen every kind of trouble there is. In Seeing Life through Private Eyes, he provides a wealth of experience, insider information, and valuable advice to readers of...

In this revised edition of his seminal book on race, class, and the criminal justice system, Marc Mauer, executive director of one of the United States' leading criminal justice reform organizations, offers the most up-to-date look available at three decades of prison expansion in America. Including newly written material on recent developments under the Bush administration and updated statistics, graphs, and charts throughout, the book tells the...

The rule of law has vanished in America's criminal justice system. Prosecutors now decide whom to punish and how severely. Almost no one accused of a crime will ever face a jury. Inconsistent policing, rampant plea bargaining, overcrowded courtrooms, and ever more draconian sentencing have produced a gigantic prison population, with black citizens the primary defendants and victims of crime. In this passionately argued book, the leading criminal law...

Background information on the history of gangs in America precedes first-person accounts by four gang members from different backgrounds and with differing ideas about the role of gangs in their lives.