One-third of America's adult population has passed through the criminal justice system and now has a criminal record. An assessment of the contemporary carceral state, this book argues that the broad reach of the criminal justice system has recast the relation between citizen and state, resulting in a sizable group of second-class citizens.

Never before has American government exhibited so vast a network of institutions dedicated to the control, confinement and supervision of its citizens. This book is one of the first to probe the consequences of this carceral state for citizenship, civil society, and democracy. Policing Democracy argues that the growth and reach of the criminal justice system has fundamentally recast the citizen-state relationship, resulting in a sizable and growing American civic underclass. Today, at each stage of criminal justicefrom police stops to court adjudication to incarcerationcitizens in this underclass have come to experience a state-within-a state that reflects few of this country s core democratic values. Through scores of interviews, along with analyses of large-scale surveys, the authors demonstrates how contact with police, courts, prisons, and jails produces a carceral lifeworld characterized by decreased trust in political institutions, a reduced faith that the state will respond to the will of the people, and a diminished sense of standing and citizenship."