"The Real War on Crime" by Donziger (1996) presents the authors view of what is really going on with regard to crime in the United States. The author notes a number of criticisms about the criminal justice system.
To begin with Donziger points out that there is confusion about crime data with a lack of agreement, which results in an inability to determine how to create a safe society. Crime rates do not tell the whole story. For example while it is reported that crime rates are rising, it would be more accurate to state that crime rates are stable but what is changing is the nature of criminal violence. Due to increased prevalence of firearms, young males are at high risk of being killed. Differing measures of crime also add to the confusion. The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) is based on arrest information and is viewed to exaggerate crime rates; the Victimization Survey (NCVS) is considered more accurate. Another point to consider is that while crime rates in America may remain, most of the crime is not violent, a distinction viewed by the author as being critical when understanding crime and the criminal justice system.
Donziger stated that an additional problem found within the system is that there is no cabinet official in charge of national crime policy; each state legislature determines its own crime policy. An example of a policy that Donziger considers untested and disastrous is the "Three Strikes and You're Out" legislation. Studies in California, a state with a strict and broad provisions to this legislation, show that very few sentenced under this policy are actually repeat violent offenders; thus the goal of the legislation, to reduce repeat violence has failed and yet the costs of the law are high and expected to triple.
Donziger points out that imprisonment is meant to help citizens feel safer since it takes the offender off the streets. Yet this attempt has not resulted in Americans feeling safer ...