Limits of Equality

"Beginning in the 1970s, state and federal governments enacted determinate sentencing laws and other sentencing enhancements as "tough on crime" measures and "colorblind" policies that would decrease racial disparities in sentencing and increase equality in criminal justice outcomes. In Criminal Injustice, Traci Schlesinger takes a groundbreaking and much needed look at these so-called "race- and gender-neutral" policies and makes a compelling argument that, contrary to their purported aims, they reproduce white male supremacy. Her book shows clearly that mass racialized incarceration is neither just nor sustainable and urges readers to transform their current understandings of criminal justice, arguing persuasively that we must eliminate disparities while simultaneously working to abolish the prison system if we are ever to attain any level of social justice. Criminal Injustice is a must-read for scholars, activists, prisoners, and anyone concerned with promoting and fighting for justice." Jodie Michelle Lawston, Assistant Professor of Sociology at California State University at San Marcos and author of Sisters Outside: Radical Activists Working for Women Prisoners.