The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison: Ideology, Class, and Criminal Justice

The Rich get Richer and the Poor get Prison is well worth the reading time. While some of the concepts require time to ponder, and not that I agree with everything, the author, Jeffrey Reiman, does provide insight as to why parts of society is the way it is--be it healthy or destructive. For that, the book is worth the read.

Is a very thoughtful and true to form read. It gives insighful information and facts to ponder. Very good and interesting.

Professor Reiman's book goes beyond what is perceived as the usual worn out academic argument of blaming crime on poverty. The book is very clear that the problem of crime is much more complex than a simple correlation of "poverty causes crime." The main point of the book is that capitalism causes crime. Capitalism also causes poverty, but further, capitalism causes greed and power. Reiman makes an important move (though not the first one to do so) by looking into white-collar crime and how the rich are getting richer by breaking serious laws that have a huge impact on our economy and our society's general quality of life; while the poor are getting prison for committing crimes with far less macro ramifications for society. White-collar crime is linked to poverty only in the since that without poverty, white-collar crime would not be possible. This takes us back to the position that capitalism causes crime. However, Reiman is careful not to be a believer in utopian ideals. There is no suggestion in his book that crime would disappear if our society were to move toward, or become, a just society. The point is that crime would be less necessary if poverty and greed were not social norms.Professor Reiman constructs a well researched argument to show why our prisons are overflowing with people who were under-represented (if at all) in court because their economic status caused them to have an incompetent or over-worked court appointed attorney; while people like Kenneth Lay are still free and endangering our society. This book is an important tool for understanding current social relations and what we have to do before we can be safe and free.

This is a wake-up call. Jeffrey Reiman presents us an impeccably researched, very forceful argument against the criminal justice system as it is. He makes some claims that initially seem incredibly shocking and wild, but by the time you finish you'll at least understand if not fully agree. Basically, Reiman lays out how the criminal justice system has, over time and unintentionally, become the center of a class struggle. He argues that those in power receive the benefits, and the poorest suffer for their gain. He focuses on the ignorance of the fact that the upper classes are causing the most harm much of the time, yet still receive much lighter sentences than the relatively minor crimes of the poor. He touches on the idiocy of the wildly unsuccessful War on Drugs; the need for effective gun control; and the solutions lying within the alleviation of the harsh realities of poor, inner-city life.His politics are far left; in fact, a little left of far left. This book is not for the faint of heart (he proposes the legalization of heroin at one point) or Republicans (probably most Democrats will find themselves a bit uncomfortable, too.) It's a fascinating, tight argument though that will at the very least create realization of some strong feelings regarding the criminal justice process.

I was assigned to read this book for a criminology class. This book presents and deals with some very pressing points and downfalls of our Criminal Justice system. It deals with the racial imbalance in arrest and conviction, and actually addresses white collar crime, something that is rarely ever discussed. Overall, I would reccommend this book to anyone involved in Sociology or Criminal Justice, or anyone who is just interested in finding out how our CJ system really works, beyond what most anyone is willing to admit.