Criminal (In)Justice

What the Push for Decarceration and Depolicing Gets Wrong and Who It Hurts Most

By: Rafael A. Mangual

Narrated by: Charles Constant

In his impassioned-yet-measured book, Rafael A. Mangual offers an incisive critique of America's increasingly radical criminal justice reform movement, and makes a convincing case against the pursuit of "justice" through mass-decarceration and depolicing.

After a summer of violent protests in 2020—sparked by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Rayshard Brooks—a dangerously false narrative gained mainstream acceptance: Criminal justice in the United States is overly punitive and racially oppressive. But, the harshest and loudest condemnations of incarceration, policing, and prosecution are often shallow and at odds with the available data. And the significant harms caused by this false narrative are borne by those who can least afford them: black and brown people who are disproportionately the victims of serious crimes.

In Criminal (In)Justice, Rafael A. Mangual offers a more balanced understanding of American criminal justice, and cautions against discarding traditional crime control measures. A powerful combination of research, data-driven policy journalism, and the author's lived experiences, this book explains what many reform advocates get wrong, and illustrates how the misguided commitment to leniency places America's most vulnerable communities at risk.

The stakes of this moment are incredibly high. Ongoing debates over criminal justice reform have the potential to transform our society for a generation—for better or for worse. Grappling with the data—and the sometimes harsh realities they reflect—is the surest way to minimize the all-too-common injustices plaguing neighborhoods that can least afford them.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Rafael A. Mangual (P)2022 Center Street

Critic reviews

“In Criminal (In)Justice, Rafael Mangual draws on the seemingly forgotten lessons of our past success to make a powerful (and timely) case against discarding the systems and approaches that brought about the remarkable decline in crime that began in the early 1990s. This admirable and highly informed departure from the conventional wisdom about criminal justice in the United States is required reading for those concerned about public safety.”—William Barr, former U.S. Attorney General and bestselling author of One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General

“Rebuilding trust between the police and communities of color–who disproportionately suffer the impact of crime–requires honesty, understanding, and bravely following the facts wherever they lead. Everyone who cares about the quality of life in America’s most dangerous zip codes has a duty to read this book even if it makes them uncomfortable."—Bill Bratton, Ret. Commissioner, NYPD & Chief, LAPD and author of The Profession: A Memoir of Community, Race, and the Arc of Policing in America

“Rafael Mangual has done America a great public service. In this elegantly written, carefully researched book, he explains our exploding crime problem: how we got ourselves into it and how we can get ourselves out. If there’s a more important issue than this, I don’t know what it is.”—Dennis Prager, nationally syndicated radio talk show host, co-founder of PragerU, and author of The Rational Bible: Deuteronomy

Timely given the current ‘defund’ climate

Well narrated, plenty of data to back up his conclusions. His personal background adds credibility also.

Great rebuttal to the current mainstream argument

Looking forward to his next book !

Very detailed and introspective to both sides of the argument

Good work

excellent non-bias information. Definitely something worth reading more than once. I highly recommend this book

Brilliant Book

A must read for every out of touch white progressive liberals that are responsible for the death of of countless black and brown men because of the false narrative.

Good read

Author made a meticulous study of criminal justice with view to recent defunding police and reducing incarceration trends in the US, and he makes a sound argument for reassessment of current trends.

excellent

excellent description of common misconceptions with the real issues in the criminal justice system and detailed data to back up his arguments. wish more was discussed about solutions to the problem that aren't usually brought up but still an excellent book

This Book was Recommended by a Friend

The author works for The Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. He gives facts and figures of why police reform shouldn’t be the hot issue he claims liberals are calling for. He calls it defunding which is a catch word for the conservative right opposition. I gave it five stars for presenting well the conservative viewpoint of the issue.

The figures he gave on the small percentage of police that are bad apples (the death of George Floyd that we all saw up front and personal) gave me an understanding of why 97% of policemen feel disrespected when politicians talk about policy change because of the few bad apples. That should never be the case when police reforms are discussed. I respect and am grateful for the service of police. The author talked mostly of funding police. He did not address how to deal with bad apples and eliminating choke holds. He did admit that no knock search warrants might be wrong if police didn’t have good intelligence.

The author also tried to explain why the U S, with 5% of the world’s population, has 25 % of incarcerated people. It is true. His answer (comparing Great Britain with several districts in Chicago and Baltimore) was that it is because the U S had far more violent crimes. Whoa!!! Instead of saying we need to spend more on judges to speed up the processing of criminals so they don’t sit in jail before their trials and are not let out to safeguard innocent people (which I agree with) why isn’t the question why the richest, best country in the world also has the most violent crimes per capita?

Another early discussion in the book was his discussion of the character of those in jail (statistics on how many suffered from socially maladapted mental illness) and why putting “these people” back with their families might not be in the best interest of children. Again, where was the discussion of why this might be the case? I’m not disagreeing with the author.

The fact that most black and brown people live in districts most affected by crime and violence and also in cities that have historically had bad police chiefs who were racist (I live in Chicago area) cannot be discounted by conservative think tanks who do not want to address our country’s history of fascism, redlining and policies that hurt black and brown families.

The bigger question both sides to this issue should address is how we want to spend taxpayer money. Do we want to have the most violent country and spend our money on prisons or do conservatives want to look at what will decrease crime in this country and make that the issue. Money spent on public education and universal health care would provide equity going forward for all our citizens.

Excellent and Intellectually Honest

The author does a masterful job at marshaling the evidence in favor of sensible law enforcement policies. He takes on the "criminal justice reform" issues that many take for granted and carefully asks what the actual evidence shows. From "mass incarceration" to bail reform to "unwarranted racial disparities" and more, Mangual debunks most (but not all) of the conventional wisdom of the far left and leaves us with solid public policy prescriptions. I hope that those who have devoured books on "mass incarceration" will give this one a try. One more thing: props to the fantastic narrator!

excellent reas

extremely balanced and thought provoking read. the author does an excellent job looking at multiple angles and carefully considered research