The United States houses more people in prison than any nation on the planet, incarcerating 716 people for every 100,000 residents. In fact, our incarceration rate is more than five times higher than most of the countries in the world. Minorities are impacted by our nation’s policies the greatest. For African American males in their 30s, one in every 10 is in prison or jail. The impact of the “war on drugs,” has resulted in a disproportionate impact on minorities, as two-thirds of those in prison for drug offenses are minorities.
In the United States, many would argue that there are two justice systems: one for the poorest citizens, many of whom are minorities, and one for the wealthy who can afford attorneys to negotiate their way out of spending time behind bars. For example, in the prosecution of former executives of Enron, Kenneth Lay’s defense cost $25 million and Jeffrey Skilling’s cost $70 million. Many have pointed to the fact that no banking executives have been criminally prosecuted for their role in causing the biggest financial disaster since the Great Depression as evidence of a tiered justice system. In “Too Big to Jail: How Prosecutors Compromise with Corporations,” University of Virginia School of Law professor Brandon L. Garrett opens a window and sheds light on the seldom explored world of what happens when criminal charges are brought against a major company in the United States, pointing out throughout the pages of his text that prosecutors fail to effectively punish the most serious crimes.
