Justice Abandoned: How the Supreme Court Ignored the Constitution and Enabled Mass Incarceration

By Rachel Elise Barkow

Categories: Law, Politics & Social Sciences

In Justice Abandoned, legal scholar Rachel Elise Barkow of New York University, a former member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, examines the Supreme Court's role in the rise of mass incarceration in the United States. Barkow argues that the Court weakened constitutional limits on criminal punishment, from plea bargaining and sentencing to the right to counsel and protection against excessive punishment. She shows how these decisions gave prosecutors and legislatures wide power and proposes ways to restore the Constitution's checks.

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• Fareed Zakaria: “She is a professor at NYU Law School, and she has a terrific book out next month on a somewhat different but important topic, "Justice Abandoned."”