Ernest Drucker

Listen to "Ernest Drucker Decarcerating America" on Spreaker. With over 2.2 million people imprisoned in the U.S. today and growing bipartisan support to end mass incarceration, the task of decarcerating America is both daunting and urgent!! 4.7 million people are on probation and parole.70 million people have a criminal record. What comes after the prison in­dustrial complex? How do we reduce the number of people in prisons and jails without endangering public safety? In the new book "DECARCERATING AMERICA: From Mass Punishment to Public Health," epidemiologist ERNEST DRUCKER, the author of "A Plague of Prisons," assembles original essays from experts across the criminal justice reform movement to offer one of the first concrete and constructive sets of proposals for bringing our incarceration rate in line with that of other democracies. Using a public health approach in­volving primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions, this anthology offers a cogent answer to the “epidemic of mass incarceration.” The US has more people in prison than any nation in the world! The first step to justice...rethink prisons, release people, rebuild communities. The issues detailed in "DECARCERATING AMERICA: From Mass Punishment to Public Health" will continue to play out in courts and on the national stage this year: • THE MARIJUANA WARS: AG Sessions will do battle with the states on legalization of medical and recreational marijuana. • RIKERS ISLAND: The forthcoming closure of the notorious Rikers Island prison complex is sure to spark questions about public safety and set the model for large-scale decarceration in other cities. • MONEY BAIL: With New Jersey now leading the way, more states are choosing to abandon the practice of jailing defendants who cannot afford bail. Court systems across the country are being sued, and bail funds are being created to subvert the system, which is responsible for a large portion of the jail population around the country.