Releasing Prisoners, Redeeming Communities

In the middle of the first decade of the twenty-first century,African Americans made up approximately twelve percent ofthe United States population but close to forty percent of the United States prison population. Now, in the latter half of the decade, the nation is in the midst of the largest multi-year discharge of prisoners in its history. InReleasing Prisoners, Redeeming Communities, Anthony C. Thompson discusses what is likely to happen to these ex-offenders and why.For Thompson, any discussion of ex-offender reentry is, de facto, a question of race. After laying out the statistics, he identifies the ways in which media and politics have contributed to the problem, especially through stereotyping and racial bias. Well aware of the potential consequences if this country fails to act, Thompson offers concrete, realizable ideas of how our policies could, and should, change.

Anthony C. Thompson is Professor of Clinical Law at New York University Law School. He is on the Board of Directors of the National Council for Crime and Delinquency and is also co-chair of the Board of Trustees of the Reentry Institute at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.