Why Are There So Many People in Jail in Scranton, PA?
Vera Institute for Justice
Jan 6, 2017

“Pennsylvania’s Lackawanna Valley has been a key site of struggle for national electoral politics for many years. Joe Biden was born in Scranton, a fact made famous in the 2012 Vice Presidential debate. Hillary Clinton’s father, Hugh Rodham, was born and raised in Scranton, a biographical detail that was emphasized by the Clinton campaign both in the 2008 primary and in the 2016 general election. Donald Trump campaigned intensively in Scranton, and it was one of the last places he visited before Election Day. The valley, and its history, helps to illustrate the sort of majority-white, deindustrialized, blue-collar counties that are often overlooked when considering not only politics at large but criminal justice reform in particular.”

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