Smart on Crime

Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor's Plan to Make Us Safer is a book by Kamala Harris with Joan O'C Hamilton, first published by Chronicle Books on October 7, 2009.[1]

Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor's Plan to Make Us Safer
AuthorKamala Harris
Joan O'C Hamilton
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreNonfiction
PublisherChronicle Books
Publication date
October 7, 2009
Pages205
ISBN978-0-8118-6528-9
OCLC864320794
Followed bySuperheroes Are Everywhere 

Contents

First published as Harris (then the San Francisco district attorney) was beginning her 2010 campaign for California Attorney General, the book outlines her vision of how the criminal justice system should function. She explains in detail why it is not enough to simply be tough on crime, and how prosecutors and lawmakers must also be smart and reform-minded in their approach.[2] She argues such changes would increase public safety, reduce costs, and strengthen communities.[1]

Reception

Children's Defense Fund president Marian Wright Edelman praised the book saying "Harris speaks from experience to debunk myths and offer real solutions to many of the problems with [our] current criminal justice system. Her suggestions have the potential to change and save lives."[3]

In view of the police killing of George Floyd and subsequent protests, some critics have observed that Harris did not pay enough attention to race, instead attributing the problem of disparities in the system to class,[2] and mentioning racial profiling from law enforcement only twice.[4] In one passage, she dispels the notion that communities of color are inherently hostile towards the police saying, "There is a widely held notion that poor communities, particularly poor African-American and Latino communities, consider law enforcement the enemy and that they do not want police officers in their neighborhoods. In fact, the opposite is true. Both my experience and scientific surveys reflect this fact again and again. I can state categorically that economically poor people want and support law enforcement."[2]

In response, Harris has stated that she is well aware of the racial biases in criminal justice and policing, citing her decision to become a prosecutor as an extension of the work her parents did during the civil rights movement.[2] Those same critics have also noted that since being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016 and as Vice President in 2020, Harris has become more assertive on issues such as prison reform, racial equality, and scrutinizing police practices.[2][4]

References
  1. Harris, Kamala (7 October 2009). Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor's Plan to Make Us Safer. ISBN 978-0811865289.
  2. Hensley-Clancy, Molly (August 20, 2018). "The Complicated Politics Of Kamala Harris's First Book". Buzzfeed News. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
  3. "Publications". Joan O'C Hamilton. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
  4. Lopez, German (August 12, 2020). "Kamala Harris's controversial record on criminal justice, explained". Vox. Retrieved August 21, 2020.
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