Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America by James Forman Jr.

James Forman Jr.'s book, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, provides an in-depth look at the role African-American political leadership played in creating and perpetuating the mass incarceration crisis that plagues the United States today. With powerful insights, Forman Jr. examines the unintended consequences of policies supported by African-American political leadership in the 1970s.

The book offers an analytical overview of the history of criminal justice in America, focusing primarily on the involvement of African-American political leaders in criminal justice policy-making. It is primarily divided into three sections. The first section “Historical Context” provides a look at the historical context in which African-American political leaders developed and implemented criminal justice policies during the 1970s.

The second section “The Crisis of Mass Incarceration” examines the upsurge of mass incarceration triggered and sustained by African-American political leadership. It looks at the policies put in place by these leaders and looks at how these policies have contributed to the high incarceration rate that still exists today.

The third section “The Legacy of Incarceration” dives deeper into the effects of mass incarceration on African-American families, the economy, and beyond. It also looks at the measures implemented by the Obama administration that have been put in place to help address this crisis.

Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America seeks to contribute to the much-needed dialogue about mass incarceration and its effects on African-American communities. Forman Jr. argues that mass incarceration has a direct and disproportionate effect on African-Americans and that much of this is due to the policies implemented by African-American political leadership. He delivers a powerful indictment of these policies that together, have made the crisis of mass incarceration far worse than it was when they were first implemented.

Forman Jr. further argues that the crisis of mass incarceration can only be addressed by a combination of criminal justice reform at the national level and meaningful and sustained efforts to dismantle structural racism and poverty at the local level. He calls on African-American political leaders to lead the way and build on the foundations laid by the Obama administration in order to ensure a more just criminal justice system.

Overall, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America is an important and timely book. It provides an insightful look at the role of African-American leadership in the creation and perpetuation of the mass incarceration crisis, and it calls for further criminal justice reforms and social change. This book is a must-read for those looking to gain a better understanding of how the criminal justice system works and its effects on African-American communities.