Limited critical evaluation on the societal effect of rising incarceration rates and construction of new facilities has been available. Crime is not at an alltime high in America or uniquely an American problem, yet no other country relies on incarceration as much as the United States. In this book, knowledgeable professionals show how current policy can create more violence instead of reducing it. The consensus of 26 contributors, disciplines including correctional administrators, physicians, criminologists, lawyers, and volunteers, is that mass incarceration propagates the violent subculture of prison on the streets. Editor John P. May, a practicing physician and leading expert in correctional health care, suggests that perhaps the best service people can do for some caught in the criminal justice system is to get them out as soon as possible, and the best service for society is to incarcerate fewer. Building Violence urges readers to rethink the incarceration policy, especially as it intersects with race, social class, gender, morality, technology, the media, profiteering, and legislated messages of prejudice, fear, and violence. This crisply written book is ideal for interdisciplinary study and reference in the fields of criminal justice, criminology, corrections, sociology, mental health, human rights, education, law, and administration.

Table of Contents:
Introduction - John P May PART ONE: THE SEARCH FOR SECURITY The Connection between Crime and Incarceration - Alfred Blumstein Today′s Violence - Khalid R Pitts Corrections without Correction - Stephen J Ingley Prisoner Rehabilitation - Colleen R McLaughlin Feeling Better but Getting Worse? Criminalizing Addictions - Roger H Peters Make ′Em Break Rocks - Kenneth L McGinnis PART TWO: IMPURE JUSTICE Legislating Barriers to Effective Solutions - William J Rold An Indelicate Tool for a Complex Problem The Racial Dynamics of Imprisonment - Marc Mauer The Care and Feeding of the Correctional-Industrial Complex - Elizabeth Alexander Examining ′Justice′ in the Juvenile System - Mark I Soler Adult Abdication - Bernardine Dohrn The Misrepresentation of Juvenile Crime PART THREE: CASUALTIES OF MASS INCARCERATION The Poltics of Jailing - Juan Williams Inappropriate Prison Populations - B Jaye Anno The ′Epidemic′ and ′Cultural Legends′ of Black Male Incarceration - Tony L Whitehead The Socialization of African American Children to a Life of Incarceration Adult Time for Adult Crime - Miriam A Rollin A Sound-Bite, Not a Sound Policy Mass Incarceration - Robert L Cohen A Public Health Failure Detention of Migrants - Fernando Chang-Muy Mental Illness behind Bars - Andrea Weisman PART FOUR: THE CRUCIBLE OF VIOLENCE Sanctioned Violence in American Prisons - Steve J Martin Even Dogs Confined to Cages for Long Periods of Time Go Beserk - Corey Weinstein Body and Soul - Joanne Mariner The Trauma of Prison Rape Feeding a Public Health Epidemic - John P May Violence and Incarceration - Joanne Page A Personal Observation The Stigma of a Criminal History Record in the Labor Market - Shawn D Bushway A Prisoner′s Journey - Randy Blackburn A Lesson from Another Country - Kim Marie Thorburn Death Penalty - Stephen S Spencer The Ultimate Violence