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Nathan Chetrit
POLS 1100 – 021
April 20th, 2011
Summary-Critique Paper
The Rich get Richer and the Poor get Prison
In chapter one of Jeffrey Reiman’s 1998 5th edition publication, The Rich Get Richer and the Poor
Get Prison: Ideology, Class and Criminal Justice, the American University professor of philosophy writes
to the American people. Whether an ordinary citizen, government official, or policy maker, Reiman
writes to show the incredible imbalance in the justice system in the United States, while explaining why
things aren’t always as they seem. Throughout the chapter Reiman discusses the alarming high rates of
crime, the reasons we use to explain them and the truth behind the declining number of crimes
committed. Reiman claims these changes have little to do with government policies. The changes can
actually be understood through past research and his Pyrrhic theory which explains the failure of these
policies.
Contrary to the numerous addresses and money dedicated by past presidents such as Reagan,
Bush and Clinton, that we must do something in regards to the constant rise in crime and drugs on the
streets, Reiman claims not much has changed. For the past 25 years we have put more and more
criminals behind bars at an alarming rate, which by President Clinton claims, is largely due to the
increase in new police officers working the beat. To argue this claim, experts say that the rising number
of employed officers could not have a big effect on the reduction of crime as it takes five officers to keep
and area patrolled 24 hours a day. Therefore the employment of enough officers to truly secure all areas
is impossible. Though the number of crimes has decreased, the reasons for it can be attributed to
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different causes. I must agree with Reiman, I believe that spending more money on officers is not the
right way to approach the rising level of crime seen since the original release of his book 11 years ago.
During this time we have seen that despite increased spending, our prisons are over populated and
crime is still high.
Over this exact period of 25 years where more people have been put behind bars, crime and
drugs have risen dramatically in the US. Government wants us to believe that the recent decline is in
part from their actions, it’s actually due to different reasons. Much of the crimes committed in the past
were due to turf wars which have settled down drastically as drug dealers have been able to turn their
daily activities into stable inner city businesses. Today contrary to popular belief turf wars amongst
gangs are rare. Experts claim another reason for the decline, the decrease in the percentage of young
men in society. People aged 15-29 are the population most likely to commit crimes, a group whose
percentage amongst the population has decreased from 1976 to 1994. A statistic that once again is on
the rise and while crime rates have increased in the past years, show that these experts know what they
are talking about.
Despite recent decline, crime rates are still very high and still more than any western democratic
country. The occasional victories presented to society in the fight against crime are just measly ones as
the war is being lost. The reasons why we couldn’t reduce crime if we wanted to are a few; first, we are
too soft on crime, second, as we progress as civilization crime progresses and the rising incidences are
inevitable. As there is more urbanization and industries become more advanced, the benefits outweigh
the costs in many eyes. Third, the blame game, as stated before youth is the majority cause for crimes.
With youth transitioning to the chaotic adult life little can be done to ease the transition for them to the
real world. Last but not least claims are that we just don’t know what to do.
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In my opinion these excuses are solely a reason not to do anything and not to change anything
are mediocre at best. In the last two decades we have had the largest percent of criminals behind bars
than any other democratic nation. A large majority of incarcerated people being of lower economic
status for crimes of carjacking, drug dealing and so forth. The increasing unjustification of punishment
sentences for these criminals is visible when comparing to prosperous economic citizens committing
crimes, such as savings and loan frauds. The average sentence is very similar, but the effects on society
are vastly different. The average loss on a stolen car would be the price of the car where the average
loss of a saving and loan fraud is $500,000. The uneven balance of justice on such crimes committed by
different economic status citizens is another example seen in our daily lives of the studies conducted on
the actions of our leaders. Elite’s decisions have a vast effect on average citizen who have to suffer the
consequences of these decisions. Elites on the other hand can use their wealth to buy their way out of
trouble and hardship just like during the Vietnam War, where someone could pay to not be enlisted and
re-receive his freedom. In reality there are actions to take as many studies have shown dating back to
before the Reagan years. In 1965 President Johnson ordered an investigation to take place in regards to
the causes of crime and to make recommendations of how the system might run more effectively.
Unfortunately no action has been taken by government besides increasing spending on crime control, as
elites want to keep the people uninformed and “handicapped” through their lives to better control them
as a society and remain in position of power; we can expect to see this trend continue.
Some believe that crime is an inevitable part of society and actually benefits it by its existence
therefore it will never disappear. Crime serves society by bringing people together. As one person
defies rules his actions bring a community together and people hold each other in high perspective. The
coming together of the community allows people to express their opinion on the offense and discuss the
matter, ultimately creating a stronger bond within the community. This, by the suggestions of Kai
Erikson in his book, Wayward Puritans, “shows that a community makes good use of unacceptable
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behavior but that it positively needs unacceptable behavior…deviant behavior is an ingredient in the
glue that holds a community together”. According to Erikson, this suggestion has become the
foundation to the belief that the justice system does not try to rid crime because it is vital to maintaining
unity amongst people in society.
Through this theory Reiman builds his theory called the Pyrrhic defeat theory. Despite Erikson’s
belief that crime is necessary for society Reiman claims that would mean that social consensus on
matters is already existent ahead of time. To the contrary, a consensus amongst people is made through
discussion and deliberation; it is not something made ahead of time by the powers to be. Therefore
Reiman’s theory works to show how the failure of criminal justice system can have an impact on the
beliefs in the world, in regards to what is or what isn’t true when observing society.
To conclude, Jeffrey Reiman in The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison speaks to establish
the understanding that the war on crime is a failure and can be corrected. Despite a slight decline in
recent years of criminal activity the numbers of people in prison are staggering and government has
taken little action over the last several decades to make a significant change to the certain situations.
Despite various excuses by government officials and elite perspectives on the matter, Reiman explains
through the help of Erikson view, his theory of Pyrrhic defeat. Societies may promote behavior that they
want to actually eliminate from society. His theory differs from Erikson by stating that creating a
consensus amongst communities is essential rather than there already being one ahead of time. Reiman
claims that criminal justice fights only to keep crime from getting out of hand and to keep the struggle of
crime existent in society so the rich may benefit and make crime look like it’s the acts of the poor.
In reading Reiman's writing I couldn’t agree more with his message and beliefs. As time has
passed I too have questioned the end result of increasing amounts of law enforcement, tax payer money
spent and the end result on society. As studied in class, like the war on terror, the war on crime and
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drugs is a failed one and its approach to success is wrong. Just as our wars around the world continue
with no end in sight, the war on crime continues as well. The leaders of this country and the people who
call themselves elites want to rule and posses all the power over the people. As stated in the text and
seen over the last decade, the once again rising percentage of middle age men has gone hand in hand
with rising crime rates and over population of the countries penitentiary system. Although the saying
goes, you can’t teach old dog new tricks, if the government would change their long and consistent
approach to the war on crime im sure things could look different. Implementing new methods and
learning from past studies while putting money into the educational system could lead to tremendous
change in the US and the world. Rather than cutting its education and civically contributing budgets, I
believe we should cut funds for these unjustified wars throughout the world and try a different
approach for once.