The chief prosecutor in the city was none other than Eric Holder. “The police force was majority black, the police chief at the time was African American, the mayor was black. Locking Up Our Own enriches our understanding of why our society became so punitive and offers important lessons to anyone concerned about the future of race and the criminal justice system in this country.Georgetown Law Associate Dean Kristin Henning.Īs Forman began to work through his anger, he realized that the city council that had passed the gun and drug laws that Brandon was being sentenced under was a majority African American city council. He writes with compassion about individuals trapped in terrible dilemmas-from the men and women he represented in court to officials struggling to respond to a public safety emergency.

public defender, Forman tells riveting stories of politicians, community activists, police officers, defendants, and crime victims. But the policies they adopted would have devastating consequences for residents of poor black neighborhoods.Ī former D.C. In the face of skyrocketing murder rates and the proliferation of open-air drug markets, they believed they had no choice. mayor Marion Barry and federal prosecutor Eric Holder, feared that the gains of the civil rights movement were being undermined by lawlessness-and thus embraced tough-on-crime measures, including longer sentences and aggressive police tactics. Many prominent black officials, including Washington, D.C. In Locking Up Our Own, he seeks to understand the war on crime that began in the 1970s and why it was supported by many African American leaders in the nation's urban centers.įorman shows us that the first substantial cohort of black mayors, judges, and police chiefs took office amid a surge in crime and drug addiction.

is a leading critic of mass incarceration and its disproportionate impact on people of color. I can see why was awarded.' -Trevor Noah, The Daily Showįormer public defender James Forman, Jr. 'A beautiful book, written so well, that gives us the origins and consequences of where we are. What he illuminates should not be ignored.' -Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative carefully exposes the complexities of crime, criminal justice, and race. ' Locking Up Our Own is an engaging, insightful, and provocative reexamination of over-incarceration in the black community. ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWS' 10 BEST BOOKSįINALIST, CURRENT INTEREST CATEGORY, LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZES WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR GENERAL NON-FICTON

James forman locking up our own