Marie Gottschalk is professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of Caught: The Prison State and the Lockdown of American Politics.
Trump’s First Step Act has been lauded by everyone from criminal justice reform organizations to Van Jones as an important blow against the carceral state. It’s not — and it does far more harm for the incarcerated than good.
Fiscal conservatives were never going to bring down the carceral state. A broader fight against social inequality is needed.
Progressive narratives about what’s driving mass incarceration don’t quite add up.