If the problem is violence against women, is the solution the criminal justice system? Many anti-violence activists look to the police, prisons, and stepped-up criminalization for help and protection, but Beth Richie says that's a misguided approach, one that feeds the buildup of what she calls a prison nation. Richie describes the contours of the prison nation and the threats it poses to women on the margins.

Homelessness may seem a fact of life in a highly unequal society. But there's much more to it than that. Radical scholars Christina Heatherton and Jordan T. Camp argue that homelessness is fundamentally tied to an intensely racialized form of political control and economic restructuring of our society over the past 40 years, unleashed partially in response to the black freedom struggle and urban rebellions of the 1960s. They discuss why places like Los Angeles' Skid Row have become a laboratory for policies that ultimately will be applied to our society at large.

The so-called ugly laws banned people considered unsightly and disgusting from exposing themselves to public view. According to Susan Schweik, these city ordinances are loaded with significance, for what disability has meant and still does, for class antagonisms and political agency, and for how elites deal with those they despise and fear.

Death penalty abolitionists have made tangible progress. The wrongful conviction of innocent people has spurred reform. And yet, contends Douglas Berman, a huge problem goes largely unnoticed and unaddressed: the American affinity for what he calls extreme punishment. Also, Lisa Rasmussen and Lauren Odell Usher talk about the art show Art & the Body Politick.

Are city governments truly committed to providing housing and jobs to low- and no-income residents? In his book City of Disorder, Alex Vitale points out that New York City administrations have regularly intervened on the side of big capital, with harsh consequences for a growing underclass. Also, Kevin Van Meter assesses the state of left organizing in the US and urges more dialogue and collaboration.