The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, 5th Edition

Jeffrey H. Reiman

Though crime rates have recently begun declining in most major cities around the U.S., the criminal justice system is still failing. While politicians and police chiefs rush to claim credit for the declines, most independent observers credit the declines to factors such as the stabilization of the drug trade and the improving economy. Crime and violence are still extremely prevalent in America higher than those of other modern nations.

The basic premise of this book is that the criminal justice system is biased against the poor from start to finish from the definition of crime through the process of arrest, trial, and sentencing. Topics include: law, ideology, and economic bias; the decline of crime rates; the resurgence of heroin usage; how and why the system is failing, and rehabilitation of the system.