This book has so much that makes it worthy of recommendation. I think the information in the text is really important, especially with the climate we are currently in. I don't think anyone with a modicum of common sense could examine this book and disagree that there is a massive injustice with regard to BIPOC people in our country.
However, it's only a 3-star for me. Not because I disagree with the idea that mass incarceration has predominately and unfairly affected Black people and other people of color, because it's quite obvious that it has. But as a book, this just didn't work for me. It was far too repetitive.
For starters, this is the 10th anniversary edition of the book. Added to the original text is a preface from the author talking about how things have (or haven't) changed in the decade since she wrote the book, as well as her addressing some critiques of the original text. The book was originally 290 pages. The 10th anniversary edition is 352 pages! That's 60+ pages mostly consisting of the author rehashing entire sections of the book in order to defend it. And some of the passages from the preface are almost directly lifted from the original text, so as I listened to the audiobook, I got the same information multiple times.
It wasn't just the preface either. She kept referring, in great detail, back to things she'd already discussed. Most of Chapter 5 (out of 6...these were incredibly long chapters.) was her reiterating things that she'd already said. For me, it made the narrative feel scattered and muddled it all a little for me.
It's obvious that the author did a lot of research into the history of these laws and specific cases where Black people were unfairly treated and how those cases helped form a system of legal oppression, in many cases going against rights laid out in the Constitution. It's disturbing and disgusting that this is not only a part of our legacy, but still prevalent in our society and government to this day. That said, this did start feeling more like an academic text that I would expect to see in some sort of college-level criminal justice or civil rights class. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's a lot to process, especially when the structure is so repetitive.
I would've appreciated a little more unpacking of the discussion surrounding for-profit prisons and how it's in their best interests to keep inmate numbers high, regardless of the fairness or constitutionality of the laws used to target Black people, throwing them into a cycle that is next to impossible to escape.
I do think there is a lot of really good information in this book, especially for those who weren't already on board with the thesis of the book. I would absolutely recommend it to people curious about the history of Black people in this country, specifically in how it pertains to criminal and social justice and systemic oppression.