Product Description

Now in paperback, a devastating critique of race- and class-based inconsistencies in the American criminal justice system. In a hard-hitting study hailed by Publishers Weekly as "well-argued" and "passionate," leading constitutional scholar David Cole reveals that, despite a veneer of neutrality, race- and class-based double standards operate in virtually every criminal justice setting, from police behavior, to jury selection, to sentencing. These double standards allow the privileged to enjoy constitutional protections from police power without paying the costs associated with extending those protections across the board to minorities and the poor. But they also inflict even greater costs on society, by compromising the legitimacy of the criminal justice system, and by exacerbating racial divisions nationally. No Equal Justice offers specic suggestions for moving beyond the inconsistencies we have tolerated, and concludes with a powerful argument for rebuilding the sense of community that is so essential to a safe and healthy society.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #323332 in Books
• Published on: 2000-02-01
• Released on: 2009-10-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 232 pages

Amazon.com Review
The American criminal-justice system, writes Georgetown law professor David Cole, has effectively become a two-tiered system, with differing levels of regard depending on the race or class of a given citizen who comes into contact with it. The thousands of African Americans who have been confronted by law-enforcement agents nationwide for "fitting the description" of alleged perpetrators would likely concur, but, according to Cole, it isn't just the cops that operate this way; judges, prosecutors, juries, and legislators are equally complicit. If the barrage of illustrative cases he presents in No Equal Justice paints a picture of an antidemocratic society, his proposed solution--making the criminal-justice system more "community-based," strengthening the relationships between citizens to "stop" crime before it starts--holds out a promise of equality. Critics may argue that such a plan is unrealistic, but the problems he describes are all too real, and deserve the attention No Equal Justice provides.

From Publishers Weekly
Cole, a lawyer and Georgetown University professor, puts teeth into the argument that America has two separate systems of justice?one for the privileged and educated, another for the poor and less educated, which often means black and Latino people living in inner cities. Citing recent cases from around the country, he documents widespread police brutality and corruption, including planting evidence and lying to win convictions. He demonstrates the likelihood that several police tactics?e.g., pretextual traffic stops?that are routinely applied to racial minorities would not be tolerated if applied to more privileged citizens. Cole's catalogue of inequities is no less damning for being familiar: defendants charged with killing white victims get the death penalty far more often than defendants charged with killing black victims; state-appointed lawyers for indigent defendants are often overburdened and grossly incompetent. Cole goes beyond complaint, however, and offers a reform strategy. Among the measures he calls for are a shift away from mass incarceration toward community policing, "shaming" penalties in lieu of jail for some offenders and offering monetary or other incentives to disadvantaged youth to stay in school. Cole's book is a well-argued, passionate plea for an unabashedly liberal program to fight crime while honoring the constitution's protection of individual rights.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From The Washington Post
Bold.... Breathtaking.... A challenging, multilayered analysis of how the disconnect between constitutional theory and legal practice has infected today's justice system.... Thorough, well-written, and persuasive.

Customer Reviews

Make time for this book.
This is a book that needs to be read both by those who are interested in the relations between races in this country and those who think they are not. It is a scholarly but easily readable and compelling description of the insidious effects of race in the administration of criminal justice in this country.

Important stuff -- and a good read.
Poor people and people of color suffer systematic injustice and harrassment at the hands of the criminal justice system. David Cole articulates the ways in which each injustice compounds the effect of the next -- from police brutality and racial profiling on the streets to jury selection and racist application of the death penalty. Unlike the average legal scholar, he writes with a style that is accessible and compelling.

GOOD BOOK
This book is a good starter book for students of criminal justice-while the book blames too much on the Supreme Court it still shows the biases real well within our system of justice. The book could spend a little more time on solutions-case examples and the minority problems which cause crime within our society-but this is a good book overall.