ABSTRACT
Chapter 4 of The Rich Gets Richer examines how a failing criminal justice system that neither protects society nor achieves justice is allowed to continue. The criminal justice system actually fails in three ways: It fails (1) to implement policies that stand a good chance of reducing crime, (2) to treat as crimes the harmful acts of the rich and powerful, and (3) to eliminate economic bias in the criminal justice system itself. The chapter argues that this happens because the current system’s failure produces benefits for the wealthy in America. This is due, not to a conspiracy, but to historical inertia-the persistence of a criminal justice system dating from pre-industrial times, which does not recognize many of the harmful acts of the well-off. They can go on performing harmful acts without punishment, while the country remains focused on street crime and poor minority criminals.
