Excessive Punishment, Mass Incarceration, and Reimagining the Justice System

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Today, nearly 1.2 million people are confined to federal and state prisons, and approximately 700,000 more are locked up in local jails. Recidivism rates remain stubbornly high, and racial disparities persist; Black Americans are still imprisoned at five times the rate of whites.

The new book Excessive Punishment: How the Justice System Creates Mass Incarceration, features essays from scholars, practitioners, activists, writers who experienced incarceration, and others. The contributors explore the social costs of excessive punishment and how to ensure public safety without perpetuating the harms of mass incarceration.  

Join us to hear from several of the book’s contributors as they discuss why the U.S. criminal justice system is so punitive and how to reimagine a system of safety and justice.

Speakers include:
Jeremy Travis, Senior Fellow, Columbia Justice Lab
Dr. Monica Bell, Professor of Law, Associate Professor of Sociology, and Counselor to the Dean at Yale Law School
David A. Singleton, Associate Professor of Law at the University of District of Columbia (UDC) David A. Clarke School of Law
L.B. Eisen, Senior Director, Justice Program, Brennan Center

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