Doing Time on the Outside: Incarceration and Family Life in Urban America

by Donald Braman

Overview

This startling etnography uncovers the other side of the incarceration saga: the litte-told story of the effects of imprisonment on prisoners' families. Since 1970 the incarceration rate in the United States has more than tripled, and in many cities-urban centers such as Washington, D.C.-it has increased over fivefold. But the numbers don't reveal what life is like for the children, wives, and parents of prisoners, or the subtle and not-so-subtle effects mass incarceration is having on inner-city communities. Donald Braman shows that those doing time on the inside are having a ripple effect on the outside-reaching deep into the family and community life of urban America. He offers fresh insights into how criminal justice policies are furthering, rather than abating, the problem of social disorder. Drawing on a series of powerful family portraits supported by extensive empirical data, Braman shines a light on the darker side of a system that is failing the very families and communities it seeks to protect.

About the Author:
Donald Braman is Associate Professor of Law at George Washington University

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900472032692
Publisher:	University of Michigan Press
Publication date:	08/06/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Donald Braman is Associate Professor of Law at George Washington University. This is his first book.

Table of Contents

Introduction     1
What Went Wrong?     13
A Public Debate     15
"It's a Mess What's Happened"     20
The Creation of the Ghetto     23
Incarceration as a Response to Public Disorder     30
Kinship     37
On the Ropes: Londa & Derek     41
Falling Apart: Thelma & David     65
Pulling Families Apart     89
Exchange     97
Arrested: Edwina & Kenny     99
Doing Time: Lilly & Arthur     113
Cycling through the System: Zelda & Clinton     135
Material and Social Consequences     154
Silence     165
Missing the Mark: Louisa & Robert     169
Problems at Home: Constance & Jonathan     177
Work Worries: Tina & Dante     188
Depression and Isolation: Robin & Aaron     195
Coping: Murielle & Dale     200
Faith and Church: Dolores & Lawrence     210
Social Silence     219
Conclusion: Looking Ahead     221
Postscript     225
Methodology and Data Sources     227
Acknowledgments     231
Notes     235
Index     267

Editorial Reviews

In this revision of Bioplanning a North Temperate Garden, Beresford-Kroeger, a Canadian botanist, researcher, and lecturer, offers her attractive perennial garden as a case study for ecological gardening practices, which she terms bioplanning. She discusses the elements design, soil, water, airways, fragrance, flora, and fauna of planning an environmentally sensitive garden and includes four detailed garden plans ("bioplans") that incorporate these elements. Subsequent chapters describe more than 1200 perennials, biennials, bulbs, corms, and tubers suitable for Canadian and northern U.S. gardens, with notes on organic care and "ecofunction" (how plants function ecologically); there is also a chapter on organic pesticides. Not an essential purchase given the availability of similar books (e.g., Sarah Stein's Noah's Garden) but worth considering for public libraries in the northern United States. Beth Clewis Crim, Prince William P.L., VA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

"Braman reveals the devastating toll mass incarceration takes on the parents, partners, and children left behind."
—- Katherine S. Newman



"Anyone concerned about the future of urban America should read this book. "
—-Jeremy Travis, The Urban Institute

From the Publisher