For the past 30 years, the nation has been on an incarceration spree. While some associate that change with lower crime rates, Alan Rosenthal from the Center for Community Alternatives challenges that view, and in this edition of the Campbell Conversations, discusses the harms to society, and to those trying to rebuild their lives, that have been brought about by what he terms “massive incarceration” and its race-based effects.
In particular he describes the barriers faced by those with past criminal records in pursuing higher education and employment, and also discusses the current consideration of “banning the box” in the City of Syracuse.