Smart Decarceration

Matthew Epperson, PhD, MSW, is an associate professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration and founding co-director of the Smart Decarceration Initiative. His research centers on developing, implementing, and evaluating interventions to reduce disparities in the criminal justice system.Carrie Pettus-Davis, PhD, MSW, is founding director of the Institute for Advancing Justice Research and Innovation and founding co-director of the Smart Decarceration Initiative. Professor Pettus-Davis oversees research to better understand factors and disseminate practices that will dramatically reduce incarceration rates.

• Contributors Foreword by Michael Sherraden Introduction by Matthew Epperson Part I: Setting the Context for DecarcerationChapter 1: Smart Decarceration: Guiding Concepts for an Era of Criminal Justice TransformationMatthew Epperson and Carrie Pettus-DavisChapter 2: Reflections on a Locked Door: Lessons from History and the Failed Promise of Penal Incarceration Rebecca GinsburgChapter 3: From Moment to Movement: The Urgency for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals to Lead Decarceration Efforts Glenn E. Martin Part II: Advancing Justice and Community ReformsChapter 4: From the Inside Out: A Perspective on Decarceration from a Formerly Incarcerated Individual Ronald Simpson-BeyChapter 5: The Prosecutor's Role in Promoting Decarceration: Lessons Learned from Milwaukee County John Chisholm and Jeffery AltenburgChapter 6: Learning to Lead in the Decarceration Movement Vivian D. NixonChapter 7: Prisoner Reentry in an Era of Smart Decarceration Reuben Jonathan MillerChapter 8: Community and Decarceration: Developing Localized Solutions Kathryn Bocanegra Part III: Rethinking Policy and PracticeChapter 9: Minimizing the Maximum: The Case for Shortening All Prison Sentences Nazgol GhandnooshChapter 10: Reforming Civil Disability Policy to Facilitate Effective and Sustainable Decarceration Carrie Pettus-Davis, Matthew Epperson, and Annie GrierChapter 11: A Public Health Approach to Decarceration: Strategies to Reduce the Prison and Jail Population and Support Reentry Ernest DruckerChapter 12: Community Interventions for Justice Involved Individuals: Assessing Gaps in Programming to Promote Decarceration Faye S. Taxman and Amy MurphyChapter 13: Empirical Means to Decarcerative Ends? Advancing the Science and Practice of Risk Assessment Julian Adler, Sarah Picard-Fritsche, Michael Rempel, and Jennifer A. Tallon Part IV: Moving from Concepts to StrategiesChapter 14: Imagining the Future of Justice: Advancing Decarceration through Multisector Social Innovations Margaret E. SeversonChapter 15: Guideposts for the Smart Decarceration Era: Recommendations Strategies for Researchers, Practitioners, and Formerly Incarcerated Leaders Carrie Pettus-Davis, Matthew Epperson, Samuel Taylor, and Annie Grier Index

Smart Decarceration offers a welcome reality check regarding prisons and the failure of the "encarceral state" to reform those convicted of serious crimes. This anthology presents a brief history of prisons in the United States, with many forgotten facts (e.g., prisons were a tourist destination in the 18th century) and catalogs the efforts of a growing number of criminal justice reformers to reduce the likelihood that the accused serves prison time or to reduce the time actually spent behind bars. Voices of the formerly incarcerated inform this anthology and amplify the findings of researchers.