Description: Smart Decarceration is a forward-thinking, practical volume that provides concrete strategies for an era of decarceration. This timely work consists of chapters written from multiple perspectives and disciplines including scholars, practitioners, and persons with incarceration histories. The text grapples with tough questions and builds a foundation for the decarceration field.
Review Quotes: "Smart Decarceration offers a welcome reality check regarding prisons and the failure of the "encarceral state" to reform those convicted of serious crimes. This anthology presents a brief history of prisons in the United States, with many forgotten facts (e.g., prisons were a tourist destination in the 18th century) and catalogs the efforts of a growing number of criminal justice reformers to reduce the likelihood that the accused serves prison time or to reduce the time actually spent behind bars. Voices of the formerly incarcerated inform this anthology and amplify the findings of researchers." -- Luther Krueger, Journal of Urban Affairs