Pogo, the brilliant creation of New York cartoonist Al Capp, was a nondescript creature that was famous for his satirical insights into political and social life, one classic of which was “We have met the enemy and he is us.” The truth that this quip points to is at the heart of the crisis of American corrections. Incipient in the crisis are the potential ways out of the box.

Correctional practices and policy exist within a cultural context that includes loathing and fear of the criminal.

Most people believe that harsh punishments may prevent the convicted from reoffending or potential lawbreakers from committing new crimes. The idea that prisons and jails may spread the societal contagion of violence is not well understood or researched. The hallmark of prisons and jails is “out of sight out of mind.” As significant sector of American society experiences the correctional system directly and personally; a subsector experiences secure confinement. Others come to learn about the corrections system through the experiences of loved ones, coworkers, or neighbors. However, a significant portion of those who are most deeply involved in the system come from a concentrated community; they tend to be poor, people of color, and financially, educationally, and otherwise disadvantaged. Depressed communities are beset with many problems including extreme poverty, deteriorating infrastructure, crowding, homelessness, violence, rampant drug addiction, failing schools, and generally substandard government services. Reforming correctional practices is only one of a dizzying set of challenges to improving these communities.

Well-off Americans tend to know little about the corrections system. They generally learn about it when crises hit the media—murders behind the walls, major riots, escapes, and scandals. Television portrayals of prisons and jails tend to highlight the most dangerous and violent inmates who, in fact, make up a small fraction of the incarcerated population. Our citizenry is grossly uninformed about the facts on who is under correctional supervision, how the numbers have rap- idly increased, the prevailing recidivism rates, how long people spend in prison, or the actual costs of corrections. Few if any elected officials or members of the media know the facts about corrections or have personally visited a jail or prison.

As a result of the general ignorance about corrections, the loudest voices or those of well-heeled interest groups tend to control the laws and resources that support current policy. In too many places, corrections has been adversely impacted by voter initiatives that increase the punitive aspects of the sentencing and corrections process without understanding the complex consequences of such legislation. These increases have resulted in the erosion of other basic societal supports— such as education and health care—that make our com- munities safer.

Solid, factual, and verifiable information is the key to the hopes for meaningful and durable reform. There is growing adoption of evidence-based practice in corrections including improved risk and needs assessment approaches as well as the expanded avail- ability of cognitive-behavioral programs. This is a hopeful direction for corrections, even though the science behind these efforts is still underdeveloped and most of these programs require a major culture shift among correctional workers. It remains a distinct challenge to convince correctional staff that a more empathetic and nonhierarchical system can improve their daily lives as well as the lives of prisoners. Going forward, it will be critical to design reform strategies that can promote this culture change and move out of the “hothouse” environment of pilot programs and be replicated on a massive scale.

As noted earlier, public opinion is beginning to shift in one notable area—the treatment of minor offenders in alternatives to secure detention. There is a strong movement to reduce the incarceration of young people and to divert serious juvenile offenders from prisons and jails. Indicators also suggest that we may be ready to call a truce in the costly and counterproductive War on Drugs. In addition, there are glimmers of hope that Americans will join most of the industrialized world and finally abandon capital punishment.

The economic and fiscal crisis impacting the nation at the community level has weakened the urge to build more prison and jail cells and continue the expansion of the corrections system. However, saving money for its own sake is not the best motivational tool for progressive reforms. A new wave of litigation on violations of the Bill of Rights and other illegal practices in corrections is a growing reality. Lawsuits get the attention of public officials who might otherwise choose to cast a blind eye on problems in the correctional system. How successfully these legal challenges are translated into real reforms remains a mystery.

Certainly, leadership from the very top is an essential ingredient to success. Emboldened during his second term, President Obama has revisited the reformation of criminal justice policy. As part of what he has called “an important first step toward restoring fundamental ideals of justice and fairness,” Obama commuted the sentences of eight nonviolent prisoners—a symbolic gesture, to be sure. In clear recognition of racial disproportion, he has supported Attorney General Eric Holder to review the prosecutorial practices that con- tribute to the problem. He was also quoted as saying that “middle-class kids don’t get locked up for smoking pot, and poor kids do.”25 Building on previous legislation to close the gap in sentencing for powder versus crack cocaine, Congress members are cosponsoring a bipartisan bill to allow for the review of more than 8,000 crack cocaine sentences.

Many key questions about sustained reform persist as we go forward. Can gradual and marginal improvements be implemented despite the traditional resistance within corrections to even minor movements toward more humane treatment of prisoners? Should prisons as we know them be abolished? And if this is our goal, what are the alternatives to handling very dangerous and violent criminals? Should we seek to break the pub- lic sector dominance of running prisons and rely more

heavily on the private sector? Or should we restrict privatization of corrections by favoring much more stringent public regulation of for-profit entities?

Some have argued for a paradigm shift in corrections that moves away from punishment and deterrence and toward “restorative justice.” Restorative correctional programs seek to hold lawbreakers accountable to their victims and to the community but in ways that do not disable or destroy them for life. There are also ideas about ramping up the process of helping prisoners reenter society in a positive and supportive way and to do more to educate inmates and promote their employment after release. Other conversations about changing corrections include explorations about “trauma-informed therapy,” given the reality that many inmates are themselves victims of severe mental and physical violence. As our public philosopher Pogo observed, “We are facing an insurmountable opportunity.” Not since the 1960s has the political and social climate for meaningful reform in the United States been more promising. No one can predict where the corrections system will head in the next few decades. This uncertainty will create “insurmountable opportunities” for those with energy, passion, and the willingness to be part of the transformation process. Hopefully, some of the readers of this text will take up this quest.

It is also worth noting the wisdom of the great American sociologist C. Wright Mills, who reminded us that the personal problems of individuals need to be under- stood within the political and social structure. As one contemplates the deep personal suffering and anxiety embedded in the correctional system, whether of victims, offenders, family members, or system workers, it is crucial to maintain sight of the political and social structures of race, class, gender, and extreme poverty that underpin the system crisis and lie at the heart of its amelioration.

• To gain an understanding of how politics in the broadest sense affects criminal justice policy.
• To grasp the specific ways that U.S. crime policy has been shaped by electoral politics and the media during the past decades.
• To become familiar with the rise of mass incarceration in the United States and some of its causes.
• To be able to discuss how fiscal crises have contributed to changes in political climate and the positions of the left and right political spectrum.
• To grasp the shift in public opinion regarding appropriate crime policy, especially for low-level crime.
• To understand some of the data that researchers have been able to provide to the discussion of effective crime control.
• To name at least three interest groups that have a stake in maintaining a large prison population.
• To grasp the conflict around determining the power of voting districts.
• To understand some of the barriers to sentencing reform.