Ghost in the Criminal Justice Machine: Reform, White Supremacy, and an Abolitionist Future

Despite reform efforts that have grown in scope and intensity over the last two decades, the machine of American mass incarceration continues to flourish. In this powerful polemic, formerly incarcerated activist, essayist, and organizer Emile Suotonye DeWeaver argues that the root of the problem is white supremacy. In the tradition of James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time, DeWeaver's Ghost in the Criminal Justice Machine is a brilliant debut, combining social commentary and personal narrative in an original and provocative critique of the deeply troubling racial logic behind parole boards, police unions, prison administration, and more.

During his twenty years in prison, DeWeaver covertly organized to pass legislation impacting juveniles in California's criminal legal system; was a culture writer for Easy Street Magazine; and co-founded Prison Renaissance, an organization centering incarcerated voices and incarcerated leadership. DeWeaver draws on these experiences to interrogate the central premise of reform efforts, including prisoner rehabilitation programs, arguing that they demand self-abnegation, entrench white supremacy, and ignore the role of structural oppression.

With lucid, urgent prose, DeWeaver intervenes in contemporary debates on criminal justice and racial justice efforts with his eye-opening discussion of the tools we need to end white supremacy--both within and outside the carceral setting. For readers of Mariame Kaba, Susan Burton, and Derecka Purnell, Ghost in the Criminal Justice Machine adds a sharp and unique perspective to the growing discourse on racial justice, incarceration, and abolition.

Emile Suotonye DeWeaver is a formerly incarcerated activist, widely published essayist, owner of Re: Frame LLC, and a 2022 Soros Justice Fellow. California's Governor Brown commuted his life sentence after twenty-one years for his community work. He has written for publications including the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, Colorlines, The Appeal, The Rumpus, and Seventh Wave. He lives in Oakland, California.