Corrections_Today_September_October_2019_Vol.81_No.5

Communications & Publications

Bookshelf

are topics like debtor’s prisons, private probation, driver licenses suspensions, money bail, the criminalization of the mentally ill, child support, collateral consequences of housing, employment and education, school suspensions and the criminalization of homelessness. Whether the reader agrees or not with Edelman’s premises, there is certainly no doubt these topics impact the criminal justice system and in many ways perpetuates it. Instead of spending time on all of these topics, let’s focus on the issues which directly impact pretrial detention and reentry. For those caught up in the money bail system, the research shown in the book and in the literature demonstrates that many who remain in pretrial detention do so because they do not have the money or access to property to bail out. So, for some, they remain in jail often for a bail less than $500. Society does itself a disservice here as Edelman points out; people who stay in jail because they cannot bail out may plea bargain simply to get out and, the longer they remain in confinement, the more often they may become institutionalized. Research shows the longer they remain in jail, the more likely they will return. Without discussing if money bail is relevant or needed, the use of risk assessments provides courts relevant information about those who may be violent and those who may abscond. The Arnold Public Safety Assessment

reduced the Mecklenburg County, North Carolina jail population by 20% without an increase in crime. Local jail populations grew almost 20% between 2000 and 2014 with pretrial detention providing for 95% of that growth. While the use and misuse of bail has received a lot of attention, driver license suspensions have not, and it is a significant factor in the reentry of offenders. When sentenced, many offenders have outstanding traffic citations. When they are unable to take care of these citations, generally because of incarceration, upon release they have a revoked driver’s license and thus, especially in rural areas, no way to get to work. In looking at employment collateral consequences, the North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission found that transportation was a leading cause of failure. Many offenders resort to driving without a license as they need work upon release, and of course, this raises risk if caught of new technical violations or criminal conduct depending upon the jurisdiction. Most of these traffic issues can be resolved by a legal representative contacting the state’s Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV). But unless they do the work pro bono, who has the money to work with the DMV for a satisfactory resolution of allowing a releasee to obtain a valid driver’s license? Many of those confined (primarily men) have child support obligations as they are confined. As these

Not a Crime to be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America Written by Peter Edelman, The New Press (2017), 293 pp. Reviewed by Art Beeler, Senior

Lecturing Fellow at Duke Law and Adjunct Professor at North Carolina Central University.

For anyone who works in criminal justice, Peter Edelman’s short book on the criminalization of poverty is a must read. Many working in criminal justice believe we should only be making and enforcing the laws but not be involved in the social justice aspects of our profession. For those working in corrections, social justice and criminal justice have become so intertwined that they are impossible to separate. When looking at the first section of the book, the following topics have direct impact on those confined or on community supervision, and thus impact probation officers, case managers and social workers. There

60 — September/October 2019 Corrections Today