Crime in America features selections from a series of six books Paul Brakke wrote on what's wrong with the criminal justice system and how to fix it. These books deal with the police, courts, and prisons, and consider of some of the crises now facing American society due to illegal immigration, the opioid crisis, and the growing divide between racial, ethnic, rural-urban, and income groups. This book summarizes the critical insights of these other books in order to reach the widest possible audience, because one of Brakke's reasons for writing this book is to inspire real change.
The book is organized into five sections. Part I deals with crime, who commits it, and the police as our first line of defense. Part II deals with punishment and its consequences, including the swamped criminal justice system, the positive and negative results of incarceration, and the collateral damage to the families of those incarcerated. Suggested remedies are scattered throughout these first two sections. Then, Part III concentrates on specific solutions, emphasizing reducing the return of ex-cons to prison and the length of prison sentences. Part IV concentrates on our drug plague, and Part V deals with divisions in the nation, some raised in previous sections, that must be healed to make America great again.
Author Biography:
Paul Brakke is a scientist based in the Little Rock, Arkansas area. He became interested in studying the criminal justice system because his life was turned upside down by the system, as described in his first book American Justice? This upheaval occurred after his wife was falsely accused of aggravated assault for allegedly trying to run over a 12-year old boy with her car, since some kids and neighbors wanted her out of the neighborhood. Eventually, the Brakkes were forced to move as part of a plea agreement, since otherwise, Brakke's wife was threatened with a possible 16-year jail sentence if the case went to trial and she lost. He has previously told his wife's story along with a critique of the criminal justice system in American Justice? After that, Brakke went on to look at other problems in the system and the country in general and how to fix them. His other books include: The Costly U.S. Prison System, Fixing the U.S. Criminal Justice System, Dealing with Illegal Immigration and the Opioid Crisis, The Price of Justice in America, Cops Aren't Such Bad Guys, and The Great National Divides. To publish them, he set up a publishing company American Leadership Books, featuring books on criminal justice and social issues, which are available in print and e-books through Amazon, Ingram, Kindle, and other major distributors. Over the past five years, he has become an expert on the criminal justice system and has become a speaker and expert consultant on this topic. Since these first books were directed primarily at law enforcement professionals, politicians, and academics, Brakke is now developing a series of books on criminal justice to appeal to the general public, especially to conservatives. The first of these books is Crime in America. The next books in this series will deal with prisons in America, and subsequent books will deal with the police, courts, illegal immigration, the opioid crisis, and racial divisions and conflicts. The books' website is at www.americanleadershipbooks.com. Audiobooks are available at https: //www.audible.com/author/Paul-Brakke/B0714KG374 .
