Book Review: The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison

Jeffrey Reiman is the author of several books, including Abortion and the Ways We Value Life. His some of his other works are Critical Moral Liberalism: Theory & Practice, Justice and Modern Moral Philosophy, -- and the Poor Get Prison: Economic Bias in American Criminal Justice.

The main theme of this book is just what the title is, the rich get richer and the poor get prison, which occurs because of our present economic system. In this system we try to justify distorted definitions of crime and criminals, uneven wealth distribution, poverty, and a criminal justice system that does not protect us against the gravest threats to life, limb, or possessions (90).

One of the main topics in this book that helps support the main theme is the idea that the criminal justice system is a failure. Most importantly, our efforts to stop criminal offenses have not worked. The slight advancements that have been made are not likely to be because of new measures taken by the criminal justice system. This failure continues even though we know how to handle many of our social problems. It is further helped by four specific excuses. This excuses are, we are too soft on crime (19), crime in an inescapable companion of any complex, populous, industrialized society (20), attributing crime to young people (23), and lastly, we don t know how to reduce crime (26). On this final excuse, Reiman tells the reader that we do have enough knowledge to have a huge impact on crime, that is of course, if we wanted to. He states,

We know that poverty, slums, and unemployment are sources of street crime. We do no fully understand how they cause crime (28). Society is aware of the positive effects of a good education. Society is also aware of the negative consequences of the readily available guns and failure to help those addicted to drugs.

Another supporting topic is the notation that criminal acts of the upper-class are not defined as criminal, even though these crimes create more social damage than the street crimes committed by the poor. The harms caused by the cost-cutting behavior of the upper- class create much more damage than the street crime committed by the poor. In addition, these crimes also cost the taxpayers a larger sum of money than the crimes of the poor, such as robbery, burglary, and larceny.

An additional supporting point is the concept the poor have more severe consequences than the rich when they are caught for a crime. So, while the rich must pay fines and possibly get probation, the poor must be sent to jail or prison. Apparently, in our system, the punishment does not always fit the crime. The criminal justice system, deals with some evil and not with others and it treats some minor evils as grave and treats some of the gravest evils as minor (57). This is not to say that the poor who are arrested and convicted are not guilty, because for the most part, they are usually serving time for a crime they did commit. However, it is the problem of weeding out the wealthy that occurs throughout all the levels of the criminal justice system. Not all of the people who are guilty make it in to jail or prison. In fact, it s mainly the guilty poor that are the ones who end up in jail or prison. As Reiman states, our prisoners are not a cross-section of America. They are considerably poorer

and considerably less likely to be employed than the rest of Americans. Moreover, they are also less educated (135).

Another point that the author makes is most people in society have an inaccurate mental picture of the poor being perpetrators of crime. Furthermore, they feel no fear of a white-collar businessman, who could be costing them thousands in tax dollars, but they do, however, fear the poor, young man standing on the corner waiting for the bus.

Finally, Reiman states through the Pyrrhic defeat theory that failure of the criminal justice system yield[ing] such benefits to those in positions of power that it amounts to success (5). If upper-class crimes were taken as seriously as the crimes committed by the poor, the upper-class would stand to loose much more than the poor. The rich receive positive effects from the fact that they pay only fines, instead of being sent to jail or prison. Further, it also benefits them that the criminal justice system focuses much more on the crime that occurs on the street, rather than behind closed office doors.

My opinion of this book is it really makes the reader think more deeply into what exactly is going on in the criminal justice system. Reiman makes his point clearly stated, sometimes so clearly stated that it becomes repetitive, but he did make me begin to question the criminal justice system. I do agree with the main theme and basic points he makes in the book. Some of the statistics were very shocking to me, because I had not ever realized that such things were happening. One of these statistics was table 3-2 which shows the sentences for different classes of crime on page 126. I was also surprised by the comment of keep in mind while looking at these figures that each of the

crimes of the affluent costs the public more than all of the crimes of the poor put together (126). When I first read this sentence I couldn t understand, why, if they were costing society so much, would society continue to put push them out of the criminal justice system rather than having them serve a punishment that fits the crime. I was also very upset by the story about the miners at the beginning of chapter two. I still have trouble comprehending how their punishment could be so minimal. By cutting corners to save money, they are endangering the worker lives. They aren t doing with the intention to hurt anyone, but they do know that the chance of someone being injured or even killed is a possibility, as Reiman says.

The point I agree with most in the book is the inaccurate image of the criminal. I have to admit that I too have walked a little faster when I m walking down the road and a shady looking character is lurking in the shadows. However, I don t blame myself for creating this mental picture. I used to blame media, but after reading this book, I now blame media and the criminal justice system. To a point, I somewhat disagree with Reiman s thoughts on how society should fear the white-collar businessman even more than the shady looking character. I still am more afraid of being murdered than I am of a businessman stealing money from me. I do realize that Reiman talks about more serious crimes the business world commits than merely stealing money, but it seems that street crime can be more easily related to everyday life. Perhaps the reason I feel this way is because for so many years the idea of be cautious of the weird-looking people, but I was never told to be cautious of my doctor who may perform unnecessary surgery on me.

In conclusion, I agree with the book as a whole. I never thought about most of the topics discussed in this book in the way that Reiman does. Before reading this book my opinion of the criminal justice system was that it was lacking, but it still worked. Now, I have little respect for the criminal justice system. I give The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison 3.5 stars.