Well-meaning social reforms created 'Prison by Any Other Name,' authors say

At a time when the country is discussing how the justice system and policing can be reformed, it's critical that we avoid adopting reforms that have damaging consequences.

In Prison by Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms, authors Maya Schenwar and Victoria Law outline the way that well-meaning movements ended up funneling people into environments where they faced even more scrutiny and punitive measures.

In this new episode of the Modern Law Library podcast, the ABA Journal’s Lee Rawles discusses with Schenwar and Law examples such as the school-to-prison pipeline, court-ordered drug treatment programs with no proof of success, location-monitoring devices that are expensive and set probationers up to fail, and the invasiveness of family social services in an era of mandated reporting.

In This Podcast

Maya Schenwar

Maya Schenwar is the editor-in-chief of Truthout. She is co-author of Prison by Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms, as well as the author of Locked Down, Locked Out and the co-editor of Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect?, an anthology series. She lives in Chicago.

Victoria Law

Victoria Law is a freelance journalist and co-author of Prison by Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms, as well as the author of Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women and co-editor of Don’t Leave Your Friends Behind. She is a co-founder of NYC Books Through Bars and lives in New York.