IVP Readers' Choice Award Outreach Magazine Resource of the Year The United States has more people locked up in jails, prisons, and detention centers than any other country in the history of the world. Mass incarceration has become a lucrative industry, and the criminal justice system is plagued with bias and unjust practices. And the church has unwittingly contributed to the problem. Dominique Gilliard explores the history and foundation of mass incarceration, examining Christianity’s role in its evolution and expansion. He then shows how Christians can pursue justice that restores and reconciles, offering creative solutions and highlighting innovative interventions. The church has the power to help transform our criminal justice system. Discover how you can participate in the restorative justice needed to bring authentic rehabilitation, lasting transformation, and healthy reintegration to this broken system.

The United States has more people locked up in jails, prisons, and detention centers than any other country in the history of the world. Exploring the history and foundations of mass incarceration, Dominique Gilliard examines Christianity’s role in its evolution and expansion, assessing justice in light of Scripture, and showing how Christians can pursue justice that restores and reconciles.

Rethinking the American Prison Movement provides a short, accessible overview of the transformational and ongoing struggles against America’s prison system. Dan Berger and Toussaint Losier show that prisoners have used strikes, lawsuits, uprisings, writings, and diverse coalitions with free-world allies to challenge prison conditions and other kinds of inequality. From the forced labor camps of the nineteenth century to the rebellious protests of the 1960s and 1970s to the rise of mass incarceration and its discontents, Rethinking the American Prison Movement is invaluable to anyone interested in the history of American prisons and the struggles for justice still echoing in the present day.

Rethinking Prison Reentry: Transforming Humiliation into Humility describes a prison-based education pedagogy designed to address a prevalent racial politics of shaming, self-segregation, and transgenerational learned helplessness. So many incarcerated black men face insurmountable psychosocial obstacles when attempting to make the successful transition back into ownership of their lives. Tony Gaskew confronts the issue of redemption and reconciliation head-on by critically examining the “triads of culpability” when it comes to crime and justice in America: (1) of those who commit crimes; (2) of those who enforce criminal laws; and (3) of those who stand by and do nothing. He explores the growth of a black counterculture of crime that has created modern-day killing fields across urban neighborhoods and challenges the incarcerated black men trapped within its socially constructed lies, helping them to draw upon the strength of their cultural privilege to transform from criminal offender into incarcerated student.

The #MeToo movement is a global phenomenon. Several Christian organizations have been engaging with issues of abuse against women in places like Africa and Asia. Much of this happens among internally displaced or external refugees. I was reared in a New Delhi slum, and saw much of the horrors of human trafficking among the low caste and outcaste people among whom I lived. These kinds of atrocities against girls and women--internally displaced refugees--rightly raises much anger. Are there solutions? My students and leaders of several organizations have asked me to write a biblical response to issues raised by the #MeToo movement and the global horror of sexual trafficking of girls and women. This book provides a biblical response to issues raised by the #MeToo movement--questions that I have had for many years, going back to my childhood days in that New Delhi slum. My thesis is that women experienced these abuses in ancient societies in very heinous ways. This is seen clearly in ancient Sumerian, Egyptian, and Roman etc. religions. I argue that the Bible sets out to counter attitudes and religious practices of sexual abuse against women. The Bible is the original #MeToo movement.

In the United States, Black men are almost six times more likely to be imprisoned than white men. This disproportionate impact can be traced back to slavery, Jim Crow laws, and the criminalization of Black people into the modern day. With growing awareness about unfair treatment in the justice system, more and more people are calling for change. Read more about the history and causes of mass incarceration and how activists are reforming and rethinking justice. Read WokeTM Books are created in partnership with Cicely Lewis, the Read Woke librarian. Inspired by a belief that knowledge is power, Read Woke Books seek to amplify the voices of people of the global majority (people who are of African, Arab, Asian, and Latin American descent and identify as not white), provide information about groups that have been disenfranchised, share perspectives of people who have been underrepresented or oppressed, challenge social norms and disrupt the status quo, and encourage readers to take action in their community.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgement -- Introduction: Why Do We Punish? -- 1 The Problem of Punishment -- 2 Unconscionable Punishment -- 3 The Coproduction of Justice -- 4 The Certainty of Punishment and the Proportionality of Incarceration -- 5 Imprisonment and the Right to Freedom of Movement -- 6 Are There Expressive Constraints on Incarceration? -- 7 Punishment, Restitution, and Incarceration -- 8 Communicative Theories of Punishment and the Impact of Apology -- 9 A Reparative Approach to Parole-Release Decisions -- 10 Restorative Justice in High Schools: A Roadmap to Transforming Prisons -- 11 Reforming Youth Incarceration in the United States -- 12 Policing for "Profit": The Political Economy of Private Prisons and Asset Forfeiture -- 13 Why Paternalists and Social Welfarists Should Oppose Criminal Drug Laws -- 14 The Need for Prosecutorial Guidelines -- 15 Prison Tunnel Vision -- 16 Exile as an Alternative to Incarceration -- 17 Corporal Punishment as an Alternative to Incarceration -- 18 The Potentials and Limitations of De-Incarceration -- List of Contributors -- Index