Professors of criminology who’ve spent time behind bars, say they know the criminal justice system inside and out. And they don’t like what they’ve seen. In recent years, they have formed a small but vocal movement that is trying to turn the justice system on its head. They argue that too many people in America are imprisoned, for far too long, and in conditions that humiliate instead of rehabilitate. But mainstream crime scholars say their research is bunk.
They say that ex-cons with PhD’s are writing victimology, not criminology, and argue that you can take the professor out of the prison, but you can’t take the prisoner mindset out of the professor. Academics and advocacy, the inside view on crime and punishment.
Guests:
Stephen Richards, criminologist, co-editor of “Convict Criminology”
Mark S. Fleisher, cultural anthropologist and criminal ethnographer, author of “Beggars and Thieves: Lives of Urban Street Criminals”