Ghost in the Criminal Justice Machine

An activist blends memoir and social commentary in this debut nonfiction work.

The son of a doctor, DeWeaver dropped out of junior high school in Oakland, California, and by the age of 18 he had been found guilty of murder. In this book, he recounts his experiences in prison and subsequent personal transformation while offering astute commentary on white supremacy and criminal justice reform. White supremacy, per the author, transcends individual prejudice; he sees it as a three-tiered system, “a power structure built on top of a culture built on top of an ideology.” As a cultural and ideological force, DeWeaver asserts, white supremacy incentivizes taking power from marginalized groups—from Black Americans to trans people—to further concentrate the power of white men; it’s a system built not only on racism but also on cis-patriarchy and other forms of discrimination. In making the case for prison abolition and the systemic reform of the criminal justice system, DeWeaver displays a familiarity with the relevant academic literature, citing theorists like Antonio Gramsci among others in the book’s ample endnotes. While this book’s scholarly underpinnings are strong, what makes it stand out is the author’s engaging narrative, which incorporates his own personal history throughout. DeWeaver asserts, “I wrote my way out of prison”; he co-founded the first Society of Professional Journalists chapter in a prison and became a leader in San Quentin State Prison’s rehabilitation community. In doing so, he writes, he had to “become a white supremacist to get out of prison,” as he performed narratives of humility that he knew parole boards expected. Unafraid to pull his punches, the author’s blunt writing style may rattle readers unfamiliar with the modern abolitionist movement (DeWeaver writes that an accurate understanding of white supremacy reveals “the true identity of police forces as state-sanctioned terrorist organizations”). This is nevertheless an erudite commentary built on solid research and undergirded by the author’s intimate knowledge of the abuses built into America’s systems of criminal justice and incarceration.

A well-researched challenge to the status quo of America’s prison system.