Summary
This book describes how society has accepted the treatment of black men in the age when the country wants everyone to believe that discrimination against blacks is a thing of the past. The civil rights movement brought about great change for African Americans but not political and economic equality. Since the end of slavery, there has been a conflict about how the Caucasians would maintain superiority over African Americans. African Americans with The government has found a way to shut black men out of mainstream society and no one seems to care that this is happening. The war on drugs started as a political statement and has grown to become a mechanism to target black men and ruin their lives. The author states that the war on drugs was started at a time when drug use was on the decline. The war on drugs empowered federal, state, and local government to target black men and use the judicial system against them to fill prisons and, once labeled as criminal, to block them from participating in basic goods and services available to other citizens. The book provides evidence that the judicial system does not treat all members of society the same. There are judicial rulings by the Supreme Court that clearly pushes the boundaries.
Once a black man gets a felony arrest on his record, he is denied the right to vote so he does not have a voice in his community. Blacks fought for the right to vote and a felony conviction can take away that right for a long period of time or forever. This is a step backward. The author takes us through history when blacks did not have the right to vote, the struggle to gain this right and how even after blacks got the right to vote, there were all kinds of intimidation tactics to instill fear and prevent blacks from exercising their right to vote. Now the criminal justice system targets blacks, unfairly incarcerates them, labels them a criminal felon, and takes away their rights to vote. Instead of discrimination against blacks, the charade is rolled into the criminal justice system and the discrimination is against felons. Denying blacks the right to vote denies them of the right to participate in shaping their lives and the communities in which they live.
The author details how the federal government has facilitated state and local governments in targeting black men for removal from mainstream society and preventing their successful return. The Supreme Court granted police the ability to use race as a factor when profiling for arrests (Alexander, 2011, p. 129). This lead to police concentrating their efforts in the African American community (Alexander, 2011, p. 130). The police arrested black men in large numbers and these arrests became foundational for future profiling and arrests. Because many of the black men that were arrested were poor, they did not have the means to hire a lawyer to act on their behalf, so they were given a court-appointed lawyer to whom they were just a number. Often times the court-appointed lawyer took the easy way out which was to plead to a charge without taking the time to properly discuss and investigate the guilt or innocence of the person. In this scenario, many innocent people unknowingly pleaded guilty to a crime they did not commit without knowing the consequences of this decision. Once convicted, they are labeled for life and denied many opportunities. We as a society think that the American justice system is the greatest, due process and all, but that is far from the truth. The author shows the huge discrepancy in the justice system. The justice system is stacked against poor people. The author points out that the prosecutorial side, district attorney office, seem to be staffed according to the needs of the judicial system for lawyers, investigators and support staff. The defense, court-appointed lawyers, of the justice system is understaffed in both lawyers and investigators, so you get what you pay for. People of financial means get a lawyer they can afford and poor people get a court-appointed lawyer who is overworked and underpaid. This seems to be a recognizable and ignored fact of our judicial system. The question is “why does the justice system continue to function this way?†The answer may be that our country operates on wealth and poor people do not have much of a voice, influence, when money is the measure.
You might think from the above description of how black men are treated in the judicial system that they are the only poor people that are put through the justice system. The book talks about how poor people of different race are treated differently. When poor Caucasian people are arrested, they are not funneled through the same trap door that black men are. They are given different opportunities such as not being charged with a felony, given the chance for community service, offered treatment and rehabilitation instead of jail time for the same drug arrest that is categorized differently. Indeed, the system provides only the harshest treatment for black men. Once the label “felony†is attached, the life of black men is forever changed. They are excluded from jury duty so there are fewer blacks available for jury duty on cases that do make it to trial. It is harder for an African American person convicted of a crime to be judged by a jury of his or her peers. The label felon also comes with employment discrimination because you must check this box on a job application and the federal and/or state government automatically disqualifies people with a felony conviction. Certain occupations automatically disqualify people with a felony conviction. The federal government denies educational benefits, government housing, food stamps or financial assistance to people with the label “felonâ€. Once a black man obtains the label of felon, he is denied the very things that poor people rely on to stabilize themselves and to use as an anchor while working to achieve success.
The topic of the book is how black men are targeted, mistreated and shunned from society while everyone looks on and no one takes action to end this horrible abuse. The author tells of the struggle from slavery that continued even after freedom was granted, the struggle for the right to vote, the civil rights struggle, and now this mass incarceration of black men that has existed for more than two decades with no action in sight. The author talks about the history of the NAACP and discuss thoughts about why the organization has not taken this issue as their cause. Clearly, mass incarceration is destroying individual lives, families, and communities and no one seems to care. This mass incarceration has become the norm. The author does an excellent job of covering this topic. We are walked through important parts of history to show the importance of past struggles, what achievements were made, and how this is a severe setback for black men and the impact on the African American race. The topic is important because it shows how the African American race is being torn apart under the disguise of the justice system. The topic opens our eyes to the “unjust†criminal justice system that people around the world and here at home think is so great. The book is written to help us understand why so many black men are in jail, many through no fault of their own, and to understand that even after they have been released from prison, the system does not allow black men to recover from the event and move on. This is an important topic because it helps us to understand why so many black men are either in jail or not successful.
The book's objectives are to explain how black men are being incarcerated at alarming rates, and once in the justice system they are permanently removed from mainstream society by legal roadblocks that guarantee failure at any attempt for success. The federal government has incentivized prejudice against blacks and handed over authority to states to discriminate against blacks. For example, the federal government gives money to the states for public housing and states decided to place all poor black people together in communities rather than spread poor blacks and poor whites equally in the same communities. Poor black people are not the only people receiving government subsidies but they are the only ones being controlled by the government. The book clearly describes how black men are mistreated at every level of the judicial system, from round up to be placed in the criminal justice system, to unfair treatment and harshest punishment from the system, to denial of services and opportunities once released from the system, and repeat incarcerations stemming from unfair conditions placed on released prisoners who try to return to their communities. For example, a person labeled a felon may be told not to associate with another felon when many black men in their community carry this label. The black man recently released from prison does not have the means to relocate so he risks being subject to unfair restrictions and no way out of the situation. If the family lives in government housing, they are told not to have a felon in the house or they risk eviction. In this case, the family cannot provide support to their loved one and the loved one will not have a place to return to. The author clearly meets her objectives in detailing the legal roadblocks that a black man released from prison with a felony conviction will face.
Are topics missing that should be covered?
The topic and objectives are clear and the author used examples and literature to make the points. I would like to see information about the NAACP, their mission and past action on social injustices, and what if anything they have contemplated doing about this current situation. The author states that the NAACP will not take action on behalf of criminals because it does not look good to people outside the African American race. This book states that innocent black men are being swept up into this legal hodgepodge. This “mass incarceration†has a huge effect on the African American population in the United States so it would seem that the NAACP can find an angle that they can work to bring worldwide attention to this disparity, and then motivate people to act to move this issue to the forefront. From history, it seems that every issue of discrimination has been a hard fought fight, but it had to start somewhere. It is discouraging to think that this mass incarceration has been going on for well over two decades and there is no action being taken, no plan being discussed to intervene. If this is not a cause for the NAACP, what is? Black families are being torn apart and the black community is being eroded. Who is better to take this on than the NAACP?
She briefly mentioned the decriminalization of drugs in America. I wish that she would have gone more in-depth about that. It has been very successful in Portugal. They created a law in 2001 that decriminalized drugs. Under the law, the offender would receive mandatory medical treatment if they were caught with less than a 10-day supply of drugs. This has resulted in a 75 percent drop in drug cases and a 95 percent drop in drug-related HIV infections. (Frayer, 2017) In theory, society as a whole would be improved by treating drug use as a health issue instead of a crime. Fewer people would be in jail over the minor offense and more funding could be used on mental and addiction counseling
How was this text useful for our course?
The text used constitutional amendments to show how individual rights were violated, and supreme court rulings to show how the legal system works at a higher level. The author briefly discussed how the judicial system works and showed the disparity within the system, justice is not blind. Americans watch a lot of TV and the shows that are crime related leads one to believe that the justice system is indeed fair and that if you get a court-appointed lawyer he/she will fight just as hard as if you had the funds to hire a high paid lawyer. The concept of due process seems to be subject to interpretation. It was clear in the book that innocent people are arrested and detained and not afforded the opportunity for a fair trial. Everyone should be aware of flaws in the justice system. The incorrect assumption is that if someone is imprisoned, they are guilty. This is especially hard on the person being detained because no one believes him when he is telling the truth. This incorrect belief about the justice system cause families to think the worst and withdraw support from their loved ones
How did the text influence your thinking on the subject?
I was surprised to read that the war on drugs was started before drug use became rampant. I believe most people thought the war on drugs was started because of an increase use of marijuana and crack cocaine. At the time the war on drugs was started, drug use was on the decline. The author points out that the war on drugs was a means to show voters that the president could be hard on crime. The author notes that only 2 percent of voters thought drugs was a problem at the time the war on drugs was announced. Over time mandatory sentencing was implemented followed by the three strikes rule to reinforce the notion that the government is hard on crime. These measures are all legal means of controlling black men. The author cites surveys that show equal use or more use of illegal drugs by Caucasians than blacks.(Alexander, 2011, p. 97) Black men have been admitted to state prison on drug charges at a rate that is thirteen times higher than white men. (Alexander, 2011, p. 98) In 2006, 1 in every 14 black men was incarcerated compared to 1 in every 106 white men (Alexander, 2011, p. 98). A human rights watch reported in 2006 that in seven states 80 to 90 percent of all drug offenses sent to prison were African Americans.(Alexander, 2011, p. 96) I was naive to think that black men have a much higher drug use profile than their white counterparts.
Which chapter was your favorite? Why?
Chapter 3, The Color of Justice, is my favorite chapter because it walks through cases that determined the current system of justice in the war on drugs. Law enforcement made a decision to cut the pursuit of violent crime and focus on drug enforcement. The media had already portrayed black men as violent criminals and the general population accepted this as truth. Police were given great latitude in deciding who to target for arrest and charge with a drug offense. Since the media had already convinced ordinary citizens that black men are criminals, it was easy to start locking them up for drug offenses. The justice system granted discretion to lawyers about how to handle individual cases leading to bias against African Americans from the prior media blitz. Since this bias existed, record number of black men were targeted. The author looks at studies that establish the existence of personal bias even when the subject was unaware that they exhibited bias.(Alexander, 2011, p. 104) Legal cases went to the supreme court who upheld the use of discretion in determining who to arrest and prosecute. (Alexander, 2011, pp. 105-109) even though this discretion clearly resulted in racial bias. The Supreme Court deemed that a certain amount of racial discrimination is acceptable in the judicial system as long as it is not called racial bias.(Alexander, 2011, p. 108). This chapter discuss cases that went to the Supreme Court for ruling on racial bias. Numerous studies on racial profiling across varying states show that blacks are stopped at a much higher rate than whites.(Alexander, 2011, pp. 130-133). The author provided research and case studies to understand why the current system exists.
Which chapter is your least favorite? Why
Chapter 5, The New Jim Crow, is my least favorite. I feel that it was repetitive and a summation of the chapters before it. It seemed like I had already read most of the chapter already. The “How it Works section†of the chapter is basically the same as the other chapters in the book. She goes on the state how the War on Drugs is causing mass incarceration and explains the way cops stop and interrogate “suspicious†black men. (Alexander, 2011, p.185)
Organization and Documentation
Alexander’s easy-to-read style allows this book to be read by everyone. She did not use overly big words and explained everything to the point where it started to sound repetitive. She made sure that everyone understood what she was writing about. The book was well organized and documented. Each topic had a header and each chapter had a list of sources used. She baked her statistics with credible sources. The clear statistics adds a new depth to her writing. She also turns the statistics into real people. Sharing some of there stories so the reader can relate to their situations.
Implications
The system is designed for them to fail. Women can just as easily fall victim to mass incarceration. If she decides to have children, she needs to be able to explain what's going on and try to keep them from getting trapped in the system. Communities need to band together and stop the drug problem. Leaders in the community need to step up and do what's right for their people. Law enforcement agencies should take from this that what they’re doing is wrong. Yes, black people are breaking the law but, so is every other race in America. All people should be policed to the same degree. If it's not, this book should be a requirement to graduate police academy. Law enforcement leaders need to see what is going on within their criminal justice system.
Conclusion
The New Jim Crow sheds light on the criminal justice system in America. We learned a lot from reading this book. The author told us about the struggles that black people face because of mass incarceration. Someone's life becomes so much harder once someone has that “Felon†label. I knew the system was racist but, I didn't realize how blatant it was until I read this book. They don't even attempt to hide their prejudices. Black people have been oppressed throughout history. First slavery, then Jim Crow, and now mass incarceration. There’s a system that so many people don’t think exist. That is why this book should be a requirement in every school in America. The earlier we start informing America’s future of its present and past, the earlier we can begin to fix it. The repetitiveness is my only critique of the book. I felt like I’d read the exact same thing it the previous chapter. I would recommend this book everyone. I feel like it is a necessary read for anyone in America.
References
Alexander, M. (2011). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. Place of publication not identified: Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference.
Frayer, L. (2017, April 18). In Portugal, Drug Use Is Treated As A Medical Issue, Not A Crime. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/04/18/524380027/in-portugal-drug-use-is-treated-as-a-medical-issue-not-a-crime