Mass Incarceration The Color Of Justice Essay - 1352 Words

Mass Incarceration: The Color of Justice (DRAFT) Racial discrimination in the United States has been a radical issue plaguing African Americans from as early as slavery to the more liberal society we see today. Slavery is one of the oldest forms of oppression against African Americans. Slaves were brought in from Africa at increasingly high numbers to do the so-called dirty work or manual labor of their white owners. Many years later, after the abolishment of slavery came the Jim Crow era. In the 1880s, acts known as the Jim Crow laws were enacted by Southern states to keep oppression of African Americans alive. These laws helped to legalize segregation between blacks and whites. Slavery and Jim Crow were created to regulate how African Americans functioned in society. Slaves were refused the right to vote, refused citizenship, refused education, and labeled as incompetent as a way for whites to keep what Author Michelle Alexander of the book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness calls â€Å"social cont rol†. Alexander argues that mass incarceration is the new modern â€Å"racial caste system† of social control. She further goes on to claim that this new system of mass incarceration has replaced the old social systems that were used to oppress African Americans such as slavery and Jim Crow. The system of mass incarceration fueled by the War on Drugs was established as a form of racial control. This new system puts people of color into an endless cycle ofShow MoreRelatedThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration1199 Words   |  5 PagesImagine if someone was able to change others perceptions on the American criminal justice system? Michelle Alexander was able to accomplish that by altering some people s entire perception on the American criminal justice system by focusing on our most pressing civil right issues of our time for some of those who did read her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age of Colorblindness. Michelle Alexander stated that The most despi sed in America is not gays, transgenders, nor even illegalRead MoreMass Incarceration In Michelle Alexanders The New Jim Crow Laws1083 Words   |  5 Pagesargued that today’s mass incarceration is the new Jim Crow. Michelle Alexander, an associate professor of law at Ohio State University, outlines her argument for how she came to see the United States legal system as a system of racialized social control in her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. She argues that mass incarceration is a type of racial caste system similar to Jim Crow, the â€Å"war on drugs† is the greatest contribution to mass incarceration, and much of theRead MoreIs The Mass Incarceration Of Blacks The New Jim Crow?1540 Words   |  7 PagesIs the Mass Incarceration of Blacks the new Jim Crow? American has a legacy of the mistreatment and disenfranchisement of African Americans. The same bad treatment that many think only took place in the past is in fact still intact, it’s just presented in a new way. The mass incarceration of blacks in the Unites States can be attributed to the â€Å"racial hierarchy† that has always existed. The U.S contributes to about 5% of the worlds overall population, and about 25% of the worlds prison populationRead MoreMass Incarceration Is Defined As The Substantial Increase1072 Words   |  5 PagesMass incarceration is defined as the substantial increase in the number of Americans, particularly men of color, imprisoned within the last forty years. Despite its intentions to serve justice, the system is flawed; the physical freedom, possessions, and educational/career opportunities for inmates are limited during and after imprisonment. Lockeian ideology provides insight into how our criminal justice system has come to operate in this way. In John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, LockeRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration819 Words   |  4 PagesIn her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2012), Michelle Alexander empathizes on the issues of the complex of criminal justice systems which has a significant impact on people of color as The New Jim Crow. She also attaches significant to the racial dimensions of the â€Å"War on Drugs† because the convictions for drug offenses are only the most important cause of the explosion in incarceration rates in the United States. This argues that federal drug policy inequityRead MoreBeverly Daniel Tatum Describes Racism As A System Of Advantage1485 Words   |  6 Pagesvarious ways. In other words, blacks are considered less intelligent than whites. The incarceration rates have grown tremendously since the last time someone can remember. The largest jailer in the world is the United States. Philadelphia, however, has the nation’s highest incarceration rates. Surprisingly, 60% of them are still awaiting trial but 72% of them are black. Research has show’s that mass incarceration rates goes hand in hand with segregated cities. In â€Å"The City: Prison’s Grip on BlackRead MoreMichelle Alexander Mass Incarceration1601 Words   |  7 Pagesand legal scholar. In recent years, she has taught at a number of universities, including Stanford Law School, where she was an associate professor of law and directed the Civil Rights Clinics. Alexander published the book  The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. In it, she argues that systemic racial discrimination in the  United States  has resumed following the  Civil Rights Movements gains; the resumption is embedded in the US  War on Drugs  and other governmental policiesRead More The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander1182 Words   |  5 PagesThe New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness is a book by Michelle Alexander, a civil rights litigator and legal scholar. The book discusses race-related issues specific to African-American males and mass inca rceration in the United States. Michelle Alexander (2010) argues that despite the old Jim Crow is death, does not necessarily means the end of racial caste (p.21). In her book â€Å"The New Jim Crow†, Alexander describes a set of practices and social discourses that serve toRead MoreThe New Jim Crow Review600 Words   |  3 Pages The New Jim Crow Review I agree with Michelle Alexander on her view of mass incarceration, as well as the new racial caste system that has evolved in the United States. She states that, â€Å"we have not ended racial caste in America, we have merely redesigned it†. After reading her book The New Jim Crow, her point of view on the age of colorblindness is extremely bold. Over time, it has developed into many forms. The racial systems have evolved from exploitation, to subordination, to marginalizationRead MoreAnalysis Of The Oresteia Trilogy762 Words   |  4 Pagespebble that represents the â€Å"guilt† (Aeschylus 21) of Orestes and a white pebble that represents the innocence of Orestes. In literature it is historically noted that the color black is used to symbolize evil or death, whereas, the color white is historically symbolized as purity, goodness, and life. The systemic colorism of people of color, particularly the Black body, continues to be prevalent not only in literature, but in m odern American history and political system. In early August of 2017, a protest