Injustice for All: How Financial Incentives Corrupted and Can Fix the US Criminal Justice System [Paperback]

American criminal justice is a dysfunctional mess. Cops are too violent, the punishments are too punitive, and the so-called Land of the Free imprisons more people than any other country in the world. Understanding why means focusing on colornot only on black or white (which already has been studied extensively), but also on green.

The problem is that nearly everyone involved in criminal justiceincluding district attorneys, elected judges, the police, voters, and politiciansfaces bad incentives. Local towns often would rather send people to prison on someone elses dime than pay for more effective policing themselves. Local police forces can enrich themselves by turning into warrior cops who steal from innocent civilians.