Locked In.

• Author: Ciaramella, C.J.
• Position: John Pfaff's "Locked In" - Brief article - Book review

John Pfaff is here to tell you everything you know about mass incarceration is wrong.

In Locked In (Basic Books), the Fordham law professor takes a hard look at the prevailing narrative about America's unparalleled boom in incarceration, then compares it with the actual data underlying the spike. What he discovers goes against most of what the public has heard from criminal justice reform advocates, the media, and even former President Barack Obama.

The poster child for reform, the "first-time, nonviolent drug offender," is relatively insignificant as a factor in the increase in mass incarceration, he finds Nonviolent drug offenders make up only 16 percent of the total state prison population. Lengthy mandatory minimum sentences also had a surprisingly small effect on prison populations. Instead, Pfaff points to unchecked aggressiveness from prosecutors, who sent more and more people to prison over the course of the 1990s even after crime rates began to sink.

Using a persuasive array of statistics, Pfaff shows the only way to make a real dent in the prison...