Ethan Brown
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| INCARCERATION NATION: An Inside Look at Crime, Punishment and the Failing U.S. Justice System *More than 1 in 100 adults in the United States is behind bars. *Approximately 7 million people in the U.S. under some form of correctional supervision. *1 in 9 Black men between the ages of 20 and 34 is in Prison. *The United States is now the world's leading jailer, surpassing even Russia. In his eye-opening lecture "Incarceration Nation," journalist and bestselling author of Queens Reigns Supreme: Fat Cat, 50 Cent and the Rise of the Hip-Hop Hustler and Snitch: Informants, Cooperators and the Corruption of Justice, Ethan Brown, draws on nearly a decade of experience interviewing drug kingpins, drug abuse experts, Federal and State law enforcement officials and criminologists to argue that federal and state law enforcement must re-direct their attention away from non-violent drug offenders and toward violent criminals because we face both an overburdened prison system and skyrocketing crime rates in cities like Philadelphia, New Orleans and Oakland. Ethan traces the explosive growth in the prison system to the mandatory minimums for drug related offenses, which were established during the height of the hysteria surrounding crack cocaine in the mid-late 1980s. We need look no further than New Orleans for a dramatic illustration of the catastrophic dangers of our punitive drug policy. New Orleans is currently the murder capital of the United States. Yet in 2007, a mere 2% of all arrests made by the NOPD were for violent offenses. Worse, the DA's office in New Orleans is clogging criminal courts by bringing up people arrested for second and third marijuana possession offenses on felony charges. Ethan demonstrates how two decades of harsh drug laws have done little to curb drug use and availability. Indeed, a July 2008 survey by the World Health Organization (WHO) found that the United States has the highest rates of Cocaine and Marijuana use among the 17 major countries surveyed. Ethan will also show how these very laws provide benefits to snitches who do not work "up the ladder" of the drug business but instead trade their freedom by ratting on fellow street level dealers or simply fabricating evidence against innocents. "Incarceration Nation" explores the path leading to one of our country's most critical democratic failings--and point to the way forward with a sentencing and criminal justice reform movement that frees up our law enforcement to deal with most dangerous criminals on the streets instead of the street corner hustler. From 1999-2004, Ethan Brown was a staff writer at New York Magazine, where he wrote numerous features and cover stories about street crime, drug policy and the music business. Ethan writes about criminal justice issues for New York, The Guardian, Men's Vogue, GQ, Rolling Stone, The Village Voice and Wired among many other publications. Ethan has appeared on Fox News, Court TV, MSNBC, Hot 97, BET and NPR. Snitch "Must reading for anyone concerned about the future of law and order in America" --Brown University Economics professor Glenn C. Loury Queens Reigns Supreme "Diligently researched and trenchantly observed…a fascinating look at the way one generation's reality becomes the next's mythology." --The Boston Globe |