THE RICH GET RICHER AND THE POOR GET PRISON For nearly 40 years, this classic text has taken the issue of economic inequality seriously and asked: Why are our prisons filled with the poor? Why aren’t the tools of the criminal justice system being used to protect Americans from predatory business practices and to punish well-off people who cause widespread harm? The Rich Get Richer shows readers that much of what goes on in the criminal justice system violates citizens’ sense of basic fairness It presents extensive evidence from mainstream data that the criminal justice system does not function in the way it says it does nor in the way that readers believe it should The authors develop a theoretical perspective from which readers might understand these failures and evaluate them morally—and they to it in a short and relatively inexpensive text written in plain language New to this edition: • Presents recent data comparing the harms due to criminal activity with the harms of dangerous—but not criminal—corporate actions • Presents new data on recent crime rate declines, which are paired with data on how public safety is not prioritized by the U.S government • Updates statistics on crime, victimization, wealth, and discrimination, plus coverage of the increasing role of criminal justice fines and fees in generating revenue for government • Updates on the costs to society of white-collar crime • Updates and deepened analysis of why fundamental reforms are not undertaken • Streamlined and condensed prose for greater clarity Jeffrey Reiman is the William Fraser McDowell Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at American University in Washington, DC In addition to The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, Dr Reiman is the author of In Defense of Political Philosophy (1972), Justice and Modern Moral Philosophy (1990), Critical Moral Liberalism: Theory and Practice (1997), The Death Penalty: For and Against (with Louis P Pojman, 1998), Abortion and the Ways We Value Human Life (1999), As Free and as Just as Possible (2012), and more than 60 articles in philosophy and criminal justice journals and anthologies Paul Leighton is a Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology at Eastern Michigan University In addition to The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, Dr Leighton is the co-author of Punishment for Sale (with Donna Selman, 2010) and Class, Race, Gender and Crime (with Gregg Barak and Allison Cotton, 4th edition, 2013) He is also co-editor with Jeffrey Reiman of the anthology Criminal Justice Ethics (2001) In addition to his publications, Dr Leighton is webmaster for PaulsJusticePage.com and PaulsJusticeBlog.com Eleventh Edition THE RICH GET RICHER AND THE POOR GET PRISON IDEOLOGY, CLASS, AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE Jeffrey Reiman Paul Leighton Eleventh edition published 2017 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Jeffrey H Reiman All rights reserved The right of Jeffrey Reiman and Paul Leighton to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe First edition published 1979 by Wiley Tenth edition published 2013 by Pearson Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Names: Reiman, Jeffrey H., author | Leighton, Paul, 1964- author Title: The rich get richer and the poor get prison : ideology, class, and criminal justice / Jeffrey Reiman, Paul Leighton Description: 11th edition | New York, NY : Routledge, 2016 | Includes bibliographical references and index Identifiers: LCCN 2016017221| ISBN 9781138210929 (hardback) | ISBN 9781138193963 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781315639079 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Criminal justice, Administration of–United States | Social classes– United States | United States–Social policy Classification: LCC HV9950 R46 2016 | DDC 364.973–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016017221 ISBN: 978-1-138-21092-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-19396-3 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-63907-9 (ebk) Typeset in Palatino LT Std by Cenveo Publisher Services For Sue and For Sala and Aiko BRIEF CONTENTS Figure and Tables Preface to the Eleventh Edition Acknowledgments for the First Edition Introduction: Criminal Justice Through the Looking Glass,or Winning by Losing Chapter Crime Control in America: Nothing Succeeds Like Failure Chapter A Crime by Any Other Name … Chapter … And the Poor Get Prison Chapter To the Vanquished Belong the Spoils: Who Is Winning the Losing War Against Crime? Conclusion: Criminal Justice or Criminal Justice Appendix I The Marxian Critique of Criminal Justice Appendix II Between Philosophy and Criminology Index 10 -health care 91 -inequality 35, 99, 129 -occupational 65, 89 -white collar crime 144, 147–48 New Zealand 38 Newsweek 90, 183 Nicotine 41, 97 Nixon, Richard 12, 18 Nobody Knows My Name (Baldwin) 194 Nonnegligent manslaughter 84 Nonviolent crime 126, 135, 171 Nonviolent offenders 14–5, 17–8 Non-Prosecution Agreements (NPAs) 125 North Chicago Federal S…L 137 O Obama, Barack 14–5, 20 Occupational disease 69, 85–8, 93, 95 Occupational fatalities 78, 88–9 Occupational hazards 76–8, 80, 82, 93, 95, 168 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 65, 78, 85–6, 88–9, 96 Occupy Wall Street 181 Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) 19 Office of Technology Assessment 94–5 Ohlin, Lloyd E 176 ONDCP See Office of National Drug Control Policy One-on-one harm 74–6, 80–3, 90, 167 One in 100 (Pew) 16 Opium 19 OSHA See Occupational Safety and Health Administration Oxford Handbook on Criminological Theory 34 Oxford Handbook on White Collar Crime 119 Oxford Handbook on Crime and Public Policy 38 OxyContin 41 P Pacific Gas … Electric Co 94 The Pains of Imprisonment (Johnson and Toch) 37 Panopticon 48 271 Parole 2–3, 15, 22, 28–9, 115, 137, 195, 203, 205 Paulson, Glenn 95 PCP (Phencyclidine) 201 The Peanut Corporation of America 75, 79, 82 Peel, Robert 181 Penalties for White Collar Crimes (Congressional Hearing) 129 Petersilia, Joan 23, 202 Pew Charitable Trust 16 Pew Environmental Health Commission 99 Piehl, Anne Morrison 22 Pinkertons 182 Pitt, Harvey 144, 149 Pittsburgh, PA 122 Plague of Prisons (Drucker) 12 Plato 180 Plato’s Republic 165 Plea bargaining 126–27, 137, 143, 145, 204 Police (See also Law enforcement) -acts of repression 19, 181–82, 199 -arrests and charging 14, 66, 120 -brutality 2, 24, 194, 205–07 -corruption of 11, 43, 199 -crime reduction and 1, 13–4, 21, 23–6 -criminal justice-industrial complex and 71, 171, 195 -discretion 1–3, 73, 204, 208 -drug dealers and 25, 29, 41 -firearms and 25, 39 -hiring of 13, 125, 136, 199 -media and 74, 172–73, 176 -politicians and 12, 26 -race and 68, 121–23, 205 -socioeconomic status and 120–21, 123–25, 139, 168, 178, 201 -statistics and 28, 87 Police Foundation 40 Policy -American Criminal Justice 1, 4–7, 26, 50, 73, 166–69, 171, 181, 186 -drug 15, 18–20, 43–4, 201 -evidence-based 33, 45, 64 -federal crime 21, 94 -financial deregulation 139 272 -firearm 38–9 -incarceration and 12, 202 -military-industrial complex 170 -president administrations and 13, 170 -social 27–8, 33 -sources of crime 11, 84 -“Tough on Crime” 14, 24, 28, 170 Politicians 12, 15, 26, 72, 75, 166, 170, 178 Pontell, Henry 130 Portugal 20, 29 Poverty -adjudication and 126 -arrests and 204 -bias against the poor 178–79 -children and 35, 99–100, 185 -character 171, 179–80, 186 -crime and 8, 65, 175 -as a crime source 7, 12, 33, 36, 197 -death from 98–9, 101 -fear of crime and the poor 167–68, 178–79 -Foucault and 48 -health 99–100 -inequality and 33–4, 185 -media and 74 -prison and 44, 113, 201, 208 -probation and 149, 206 -race and 99–100, 116 -sentencing and 129, 131 -toxic wastes and 95 -Typical Criminal 67 -unemployment and 117 -victimization of 168–69 -war on 12, 50 -white collar crime and 145 President’s Cancer Panel 93–4 President’s Commission on Law Enforcement … Administration of Justice 9, 27, 113, 181 President’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) 93 President’s Crime Commission 38, 67, 120 President’s Report on Occupational Safety and Health 84 Price fixing 133 273 Prison-industrial complex 171 Prisons (See also Incarceration) -costs of 2, 14, 16, 207 -crime rates and 11, 22–3, 29 -crime reduction and 21–2, 44, 205 -drug offenses and 37, 44, 123, 145, 149 -education and 117, 130, 151 -expansion of 12, 24 -Foucault on 48–50 -gangs and 38 -incarceration rates and 15, 17–8, 28, 150 -increasing population in 1, 12, 14, 16, 18, 26, 170 -international comparisons and 28–9 -job training in 4, 44 -legitimacy of 46–7, 194 -media and 149–50 -overcrowding in 36 -poverty and 2, 5, 7, 36, 44, 113, 117, 167–68, 197 -privatization of 13, 28, 169–71 -public opinion and 3, 70 -race and 16, 37, 67–9, 114–17, 122, 127, 131–32, 150, 178 -rape in 37 -recidivism and 2, 36, 203 -rehabilitation programs and 2, 44, 168, 201–02 -socioeconomic status and 67, 101, 113–14, 117–18, 123, 134, 149, 151–52, 171 -source of crime 11, 38 -statistics on 21, 29, 68–9, 150, 170, 202 -“tough on crime” and 12, 14–5, 146 -unemployment and 117, 150–51 -white-collar crime and 66, 119, 125, 129, 135, 141–42, 145, 148, 199 Prison construction 170 Prison guards 2, 170, 195 Private Prisons 28, 169–71 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act 144 Probation 2, 28–9, 68, 115, 121, 123, 130, 137, 141, 149, 206 Prohibition 39–41, 199 Pronovost, Peter 91 Property crimes -embezzlement and 69 -juveniles and 32 274 -narcotic addition and 42, 201 -race and 131 -rates 22, 30–32 -statistics on 31–2, 84, 119, 126 -victimization of 168–69 -white-collar crime and 118–19, 135 Prosecutors -charges by 66, 208 -discretion and 3, 71, 73, 80, 204–05 -narcotics and 20 -racial discrimination 116, 125 -sentencing and 116, 131 -white collar crime and 144, 199 Prostitution 3, 28, 42, 48, 199 Protecting America’s Workers Act 89 Prudential Insurance 170 Public safety 15, 21–2, 205–06 Punishment for Sale (Leighton and Selman) 170 Pyrrhic Defeat Theory -defined 5–6, 11, 167 -Durkheim and 27, 45, 47, 50 -Erickson and 27, 45, 47, 50 -criminal justice system and 28, 50, 71, 186 -hypotheses 73 -Marxian theory and -television crime and 74 Q Quinney, Richard 7, 71–2, 181 Qwest 136, 138–39, 141 R Race/ethnicity (See also Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites) -arrests and 117, 121 -criminal justice system and 117, 125, 132 -employment and 37, 116, 150 -health and 99–100 - industrial society and 176 -police and 121–23, 205 275 -sentencing and 115, 127, 131 -socioeconomic status and 116, 186 -toxic wastes and 95 -victim-offender relationship 132 Rakoff, Jed 148 Rand Corporation 44–5 Rape 3–4, 37, 67, 72, 87, 169 Rapp, Michael 137 Rawls, John 194–96 Reagan, Ronald 12, 41, 96, 100, 205 Reason 15 Reasonable person 174–75, 178 Recidivism 2, 16, 38, 42, 203 Rehabilitation 21, 36, 44, 168, 202 Reiman, Jeffrey 2, 101 Renda, Mario 137 Repeat offenders 44, 89, 148, 199 Repetitive motion injuries 88 Residential Drug Abuse Program 133 Restorative justice 202 Reyes, Jessica 26 Rigas, John 139 Rigas, Michael 139 Rigas, Timothy 139 Right to vote 3, 37 Rios, Victor 123 Rite Aid 138 Ritholtz, Barry 147, 149 Robin Hood 174 Robbery -complex social practices and -FBI Index component 67 -international comparisons of 38 -narcotics and 42 -sentencing bias 129, 118 -socioeconomic status and 134, 169 -victimization from 169 Rockefeller, Nelson 150 Rosenfeld, Richard 25, 176 Ruling elite 166 276 Russell, Kathryn 68 Russia 30 S Safety hazards 84, 94 Sampson, Robert 121 Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002) 144–45, 149, 198 Saving Children from a Life of Crime (Farrington and Welsh) 45 Savings and Loan scandals (S … Ls) -about 36, 134–36, 144 -cases of 138 -Lincoln Savings and Loan 138 -prosecutions of 125, 135, 147–48 -roster of 137 -sentencing and 128–29, 134 Schlegel, Kip 189 Schmoke, Kurt 201 Schwarzenegger, Arnold 16 Science magazine 100 The Science of Marijuana (Iverson) 40 Scoundrel Capitalism 138–39 Seagal, Debra 173 Second Amendment 203 “Secondhand” smoke 97 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 124–25, 138–41, 144, 146–49, 171 Segregation 36, 82 Selman, Donna 170 Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources 85 Senate Subcommittee on Investigations 133 Sentencing -of blacks 37, 115, 131 -crime rates and 13, 21 -discretion and 4, 151, 204 -discrimination in 115, 119, 130, 132, 204 -disparity in 15, 131 -guidelines for 28, 131, 140, 146, 198, 204–05 -of Hispanics 115, 131 -by judges 73, 143, 145 -mandatory minimums and 12, 15, 22, 131, 170, 205 -poverty and 129 277 -private prisons and 171 -reform 15, 44–5, 201, 208 -socioeconomic class and 114, 116, 118, 130, 152 -for white-collar crime 125, 128, 140, 145 Sentencing Project 37, 123 Shapiro, Susan 125 Sherman Antitrust Act 133 Silver, George A 90, 92–3 Skilling, Jeffrey 140, 145, 147 Smart on Crime program 14 Smith Barney Shearson Inc 170 Smoking (See also Tobacco) 39–40, 97, 99–100 Social class See Socioeconomic class Social Cost of Drug Abuse 42 Social order 5, 7–8, 48, 171, 174–76, 178, 183, 194, 207 The Social Reality of Crime (Quinney) 71 Social responsibility 173 Socioeconomic class -bias and 74, 115, 122, 130, 178, 204 -capitalism and 64, 180 -crime and 7, 34, 134, 169, 177, 204 -criminal class and 3–4, 178, 198 -criminal justice system and 49, 113, 116, 119, 150, 179, 207 -delinquency and 120–21, 130 -differential treatment 5, 115 -disparities and 116, 128, 184, 186, 204 -Foucault and 48–50 -hazardous waste and 94, 96 -health and 90, 99–100 -income mobility and 35–36 -industrialized society and 176, 182 -legal advantages and 119, 122, 128 -“law and order” and 168 -police and 123 -policies and 129, 181, 198 -poverty as crime source 7, 33–5, 98, 113, 151 -prisons and 67, 113–14, 129, 150, 182 -race and 115–17, 121, 123, 126, 152, 186 -sentencing and 120, 204 -Typical Criminal and 74 278 -white collar crime and 90, 124–25, 129, 133, 137 Soft on crime excuse 28 Solis, Hilda 87 Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 9, 115 Spohn, Cassia 115, 131 St Augustine 194–96 Stalin, Joseph 196 Standard … Poor’s 146 Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSAs) 30 Stephens, James Fitzjames 82 Stiglitz, Joseph 35, 148–49 Stigma 2–3, 37–8, 121, 202 Stolzenberg, Lisa 130, 204 Strain theory 176 Subprime mortgages 146–48 Substance abuse See Alcohol; Drugs; Marijuana Sullivan, Scott 142–43 Sunbeam 139 Superfund program 94, 96 Surgeon General 20, 40, 41, 96–7 Sutherland, Edwin 114, 118, 124 Swartz, Mark 142 Sweden 38 Switzerland 20, 29–30 Szeliga, Robin 141 T Tauzin, Billy 141 Tax cheating/fraud 69, 118, 134 Tax evasion 118 Television crime/violence 74, 149–50, 172–74, 183 Terrorist 13, 93, 133, 174 Texas 65, 125 Texas Department of Health 82 Theft -auto 67, 134–35 -criminal law and 173, 175, 207 -drug addicts and 42, 200 -economic arrangements and 168, 174 -employer/wage 69, 124–25 279 -grand 130 -Medicaid 130 -race 127 -retail 205 -reports of 44 -socioeconomic status and 101, 133, 169 -statistics on 84, 87 A Theory of African American Offending (Unnever and Gabbidon) 174 A Theory of Justice (Rawls) 194 Thomas, Paulette 170 Thornberry, Terence 120–21 Thrasymachus 165, 180–81 “Three-strikes” law 12, 15, 145, 170 Thrifts 135 Tillman, Robert 130 Time Magazine 32, 128, 183 Tobacco 40–1, 43, 94, 96–8 Toch, Hans 37 Tokyo, Japan 30 Tonry, Michael 15, 26, 37 Tough on Crime 11–2, 15, 28, 129 Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA) 94 Toxic waste See hazardous waste Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States (Commission for Racial Justice) 95 Trading with the Enemy Act 133 Traffic laws 122, 128 Travis, Jeremy 202 Turner, Maurice 41 21st Century Crime Bill 13 Tyco 136, 142 Typical Crime 69, 74–6, 82, 114, 178 Typical Criminal 67, 69–70, 74–5, 77–9, 114, 136, 178 U UCR See Uniform Crime Reports Unemployment -as a crime source 33 -crime decline and 25–6 -financial scandals and 136 280 -incarceration and 130 -race and 35, 116–17 -rate 35, 67 -socioeconomic status and 179 Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) -arrest rates 18, 31–2 -criminal justice system failure and 71 -definition -homicide and 84, 92 -Typical Criminal and 67, 69 United Kingdom See Great Britain United Nations 19–20 United States -child poverty in 99, 197 -crime in 11, 15, 28, 33, 44, 122, 181 -criminal justice system failure 26, 166, 186, 196 -drugs in 19–20, 29, 39–40, 42 -financial meltdown in 34, 146 -handguns and 38–9 -health in 90, 94–8 -homicide and 30, 93 -incarceration and 12, 14–6, 21, 36, 28, 150–51, 170 -occupational disease in 85–6 -sentencing in 14, 29, 66, 131 -violence in 13, 17, 29, 182 -wealth distribution in 34–5, 114, 169, 184–85 -white-collar crime in 66, 124, 134, 136, 141–42, 145 Unnecessary surgery 69, 90, 93 Unnever, James 174 Urban Institute 99 Urbanization 30–31, 50 Useem, Bert 22 U.S Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board 65 U.S Coast Guard 19 U.S Customs Service 43 U.S Department of Health, Education and Welfare 42 U.S Fish and Wildlife Service 124 U.S Homeland Security 19 U.S Navy 19 U.S News … World Report 13 281 U.S Senate See Congress U.S Sentencing Commission 15, 131, 145, 205 U.S Supreme Court 127, 200 V Value system 184 Vancouver, BC 29 Van den Haag, Ernest 8, 28 Vera Institute of Justice 37, 129 Vicodin 41 Victimization -from aggravated assault 87, 169 -crime decline and 32 -criminal justice system failure and 6, 43, 119 -fears of -guns and 38–9 -income and 8, 168–69 -occupational hazards and 75–6, 82 -oppression and -race and 82, 115, 132 -from rape 37, 169 -socioeconomic class and 48, 115, 168–69 -Typical Criminal and 75, 79 -from violent crime 77–8, 87, 168 -from nonviolent crime 81, 135 -white-collar crime and 119, 135, 138, 149 Victimless crimes 198–201, 208 Violent Crime -arrests for 67 -drugs and 25 -fear of 13, 31 -handguns and 39 -incarceration for 17–8, 21–2, 130 -media and 74, 172 -metropolitan areas and 17, 31 -policy and 15, 38–9, 81, 168 -race and 67 -rates of 13, 16–7, 28, 30, 32 -“reasonable person” and 174 -sources of 26, 33–4 282 Vocational training 44 W Wackenhut Corrections See GEO Group Wage theft 69, 124–25 Wall Street 124, 134, 146, 149, 170, 181 Wall Street Journal 138, 170 War against crime 5, 26, 165, 180 War on Drugs 1, 14, 19–21, 28, 40, 122–23 Washington, DC 9, 41, 67, 201 Washington Post 17, 19, 39, 67, 75, 94, 100, 145 Waste Management 138–39 Watergate 134 Wayward Puritans (Erikson) 45 Wealth -crime and 34, 48, 125, 134, 168, 178 -criminal justice system 6, 49, 126, 166, 171, 204 -disparities 4–5, 48, 98, 116, 184–86 -distribution of 34–6, 168, 183–85, 207–08 -police discretion and 121 -race and 116 -social 76 -success and 136, 165, 176, 180 “Weeding out the Wealthy” 113, 118–19, 150–51 Welfare 16, 179 Welsh, Brandon 44 Weltanschauung 184 Whistleblower 140, 142, 145, 199 White collar crime (See also Savings and loan scandals) -arrests for 136, 145 -bonus of bias 129, 173, 178 -costs of 118–19, 135–38, 145, 199 -incarceration and 133–35 -legal advantages for 34, 124, 128 -offenders and 124, 137 -penalties for 133, 145 -prosecutions for 125, 146, 148 -public opinion of 135 -sentencing for 128–29, 133–36 -socioeconomic status and 208 283 -source of crime and 8, 34 White Collar 118 White House 1, 21 Why Crime Rates Fell (Conklin) 23 Whites -arrests of 115, 121 -bail and 127 -drugs and 117, 123 -health and 100 -homicides of 132 -incarceration of 116, 131 -juvenile justice and 121–22 -in poverty 99 -sentencing for 121, 133, 204–05 -socioeconomic status and 34, 116 -traffic laws and 122 -unemployment and 35, 117, 126 Wilson, James Q 40 Wilson, Jerry 201 Wilson, William Julius 116 Winnick, Gary 141 Wintemute, Garen 38 Wolfe, Sidney 90–1 Women 26, 81–2, 100, 202 Workplace injury 87–90 Working Group on the Economics of Crime 23 World Health Organization (WHO) 95 WorldCom 136, 138–39, 142–43 Wrongful convictions 132 X Xerox 136 Y Young, Francis 40 Youth control complex 123 Youth population 32–33 Z 284 Zatz, Marjorie 115–17 Zimring, Franklin 12 A Zoo Near You (Johnson) 11 285 ... Starting with the ninth edition, Paul Leighton joined Jeffrey Reiman as co-author of The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison Paul has assisted with the revisions of The Rich Get Richer since... on the relationship between economic status and arrest, conviction, and sentencing The point bears repeating for this edition When the first edition of The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison. .. have revised rather than rewritten The Rich Get Richer, we are indebted to those who helped with the original edition They are thanked in the section “Acknowledgments for the First Edition.”