Punishment Without Crime
How Our Massive Misdemeanor System Traps the Innocent and Makes America More Unequal
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Narrated by:
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Janina Edwards
About this listen
A revelatory account of the misdemeanor machine that unjustly brands millions of Americans as criminals
Punishment Without Crime offers an urgent new interpretation of inequality and injustice in America by examining the paradigmatic American offense: the lowly misdemeanor. Based on extensive original research, legal scholar Alexandra Natapoff reveals the inner workings of a massive petty offense system that produces over 13 million cases each year. People arrested for minor crimes are swept through courts where defendants often lack lawyers, judges process cases in mere minutes, and nearly everyone pleads guilty. This misdemeanor machine starts punishing people long before they are convicted; it punishes the innocent; and it punishes conduct that never should have been a crime. As a result, vast numbers of Americans—most of them poor and people of color—are stigmatized as criminals, impoverished through fines and fees, and stripped of drivers' licenses, jobs, and housing.
For too long, misdemeanors have been ignored. But they are crucial to understanding our punitive criminal system and our widening economic and racial divides.
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2018
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2018 Alexandra Natapoff (P)2018 Basic BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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The Law of Superheroes
- By: James Daily J.D., Ryan Davidson J.D.
- Narrated by: Eric G. Dove
- Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Could Superman sue if someone exposed his identity as Clark Kent? Is a life sentence for an immortal like Apocalypse "cruel and unusual punishment"? Is X-ray vision a violation of search and seizure laws? Is the Joker legally insane? And who foots the bill when a hero destroys a skyscraper or two while defending Metropolis? Fear not, gentle listener! The answers to these questions and a multitude more are contained inside this audiobook.
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Legal Pedantry Has Never Been This Much Fun
- By Troy on 07-31-14
By: James Daily J.D., and others
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How to Read the Constitution - and Why
- By: Kim Wehle
- Narrated by: Kim Wehle
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The Constitution is the most significant document in America. But do you fully understand what this valuable document means to you? In How to Read the Constitution - and Why, legal expert and educator Kimberly Wehle spells out in clear, simple, and common-sense terms what is in the Constitution and most importantly, what it means. In compelling terms and including text from the United States Constitution, she describes how the Constitution’s protections are eroding.
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very biased
- By Anonymous User on 01-25-20
By: Kim Wehle
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Locking Up Our Own
- Crime and Punishment in Black America
- By: James Forman Jr.
- Narrated by: Kevin R. Free
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Today, Americans are debating our criminal justice system with new urgency. Mass incarceration and aggressive police tactics - and their impact on people of color - are feeding outrage and a consensus that something must be done. But what if we only know half the story? In Locking Up Our Own, the Yale legal scholar and former public defender James Forman Jr. weighs the tragic role that some African Americans themselves played in escalating the war on crime.
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Outstanding Book
- By Andrew on 12-13-17
By: James Forman Jr.
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The Supremes' Greatest Hits, 2nd Revised & Updated Edition
- The 44 Supreme Court Cases That Most Directly Affect Your Life
- By: Michael G. Trachtman
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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The Supreme Court's rulings have shaped American life and justice and allowed Americans to retain basic freedoms such as privacy, free speech, and the right to a fair trial. This revised and updated edition of Michael G. Trachtman's riveting work includes 10 important cases from 2010 to 2015.
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Nice review overall.
- By "freeindeed4ever" on 02-10-20
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Big Dirty Money
- The Shocking Injustice and Unseen Cost of White Collar Crime
- By: Jennifer Taub
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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How ordinary Americans suffer when the rich and powerful use tax doges or break the law to get richer and more powerful - and how we can stop it. There is an elite crime spree happening in America, and the privileged perps are getting away with it. Selling loose cigarettes on a city sidewalk can lead to a choke-hold arrest, and death, if you are not among the top one percent.
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The Loss of Glass-Steagal has led to Cheating
- By Rajiv on 05-23-21
By: Jennifer Taub
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Automating Inequality
- How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor
- By: Virginia Eubanks
- Narrated by: Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Since the dawn of the digital age, decision-making in finance, politics, health, and human services has undergone revolutionary change. Today, automated systems control which neighborhoods get policed, which families attain needed resources, and who is investigated for fraud. While we all live under this new regime of data, the most invasive and punitive systems are aimed at the poor. In Automating Inequality, Virginia Eubanks systematically investigates the impacts of data mining, policy algorithms, and predictive risk models on poor and working-class people in America.
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Outstanding, Through, Well Researched Book!
- By LISA on 07-11-24
By: Virginia Eubanks
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Tough Cases
- Judges Tell the Stories of Some of the Hardest Decisions They've Ever Made
- By: Russell F. Canan - editor, Gregory E. Mize - editor, Frederick H. Weisberg - editor
- Narrated by: Isabel Keating, Richard Ferrone
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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In Tough Cases, judges from different kinds of courts in different parts of the country write about the case that proved most difficult for them to decide. Some of these cases received international attention: the Elián González case in which Judge Jennifer Bailey had to decide whether to return a seven-year-old boy to his father in Cuba after his mother drowned trying to bring the child to the United States, or the Terri Schiavo case in which Judge George Greer had to decide whether to withdraw life support from a woman in a vegetative state over the wishes of her parents.
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Puts being a judge in perspective
- By David Bigelow Stouffer on 01-14-20
By: Russell F. Canan - editor, and others
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To Protect and Serve
- How to Fix America's Police
- By: Norm Stamper
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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American policing is in crisis. The last decade witnessed a vast increase in police aggression, misconduct, and militarization, along with a corresponding reduction in transparency and accountability. Nowhere is this more noticeable and painful than in African American and other ethnic minority communities. Racism - from raw, individualized versions to insidious systemic examples - appears to be on the rise in our police departments.
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Truth mixed with liberal rhetoric
- By Eric G. on 11-19-16
By: Norm Stamper
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Supreme Power
- 7 Pivotal Supreme Court Decisions That Had a Major Impact on America
- By: Ted Stewart
- Narrated by: Art Allen
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Best-selling author Ted Stewart explains how the Supreme Court and its nine appointed members now stand at a crucial point in their power to hand down momentous and far-ranging decisions. Today's Court affects every major area of American life, from health care to civil rights, from abortion to marriage. This fascinating book reveals the complex history of the Court as told through seven pivotal decisions.
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Polemical, downright ridiculous at times
- By Joe Igla on 11-04-17
By: Ted Stewart
What listeners say about Punishment Without Crime
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kay M Hawklee
- 07-21-21
Must read!
The is a very important book and should by a must read on any social justice reading list. Very well researched!
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- Mastiff Enthusiast
- 10-02-21
concerning look at our misdemeanor justice system
makes a lot of good points, and backs it up with data. this is well written with some compelling illustrations. I knew a lot of this, but didn't really how bad the fee system has gotten, or is, in some states. it's a good reminder of the history of legislating poverty, and she points out some good hypocrisies. Definitely worth a read.
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- Jennifer
- 04-15-21
Very informative
This book really lays out really just how destructive misdemeanors are in this country and how it shapes communities. Communities that are predominantly people of color and also poor communities. I feel like majority of these laws are put into place to purposely destroy those community by making sure that these people had records. It clogged up our courts and filled up our jails. It forced people to lose their jobs, their housing, Sometimes their children. Some people think it’s just a misdemeanor but it’s so much more and can be so devastating and destructive to so many. Again that’s why voting is so important especially at the local and state level. Time to make some real changes in our communities.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-08-19
American "Justice"?
Everyone should listen to this book before commenting on how "great" this justice system is.
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- Colton Amos
- 03-12-20
Informative and very interesting!
educational and relatable for everyone. definitely recommend. the stories helped me understand and it really sheds light on our misdemeanor system.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-03-20
sometimes we don't think!
When reading about crime and punishment one never thinks about the misdemeanor system.
This work certainly brings that to life.
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- Anonymous User
- 08-08-19
This Book Should Be A Required Read For All
Amazing and necessary read for all individuals doing criminal injustice work. Law students, sociology, political science, public policy and psychology should be required to read this as well as judges, lawyers, paralegals, police depts, sheriff depts and prosecutors.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jenny
- 05-05-19
Insightful
Narrator was great. Loved her passion & story telling skills. Everyone in the court system should buy this book.
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- Mary Ellen
- 10-24-19
Don't wait until this happens you..get in the know
Loved it! Narrator very easy to listen to and caring. She is a thoughtful human.
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- Jody
- 01-05-24
The information on the justice system
The book did not have any draw to keep me reading. It made good points and had some good information. But was presented so dry that I lost interest in the content quickly. I was hoping in some more case examples of the failures of the justice system. The book gave a lot of general stats but nothing that woul want me to pick up another book and find out more.
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