The New Jim Crow, And The Criminal Justice System

Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, examines mass incarceration in the United States, why the criminal justice system works the way it does towards minorities, the detriments associated with mass incarceration as it relates to offenders, and much more. In the introduction of her book, Alexander immediately paints the harsh reality of mass incarceration with the story of Jarvious Cotton who is denied the right to vote among other rights because he, “has been labeled as a felon and is currently on parole” (1). Other information Alexander presents in her introduction are her qualifications as an author of the book, and gives a brief summary of each chapter and how each one is laid out. Her qualifications are she is African-American civil rights attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and is also an Associate Professor at the University of Stanford Law School. From a critical standpoint, Alexander seems very qualified to write on the topic, being part of the marginalized group and also being an expert in the legal field of which the topic covers, enhances her ethos to where one could consider her an expert in mass incarceration topics, as they relate to African-Americans. Overall, the introduction of her book does a great job starting out giving a stark reality of topic at hand, giving brief statistical references about mass incarceration in the United States, and giving an outline for her book.

In The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander maps out the parallels between the old Jim Crow system and the new racial caste system of mass incarceration. There are many profound similarities between these two systems, such as historical parallels, closing the courthouse doors, and racial segregation.

Racism in the United States has not remained the same over time since its creation. Racism has shifted, changed, and shaped into unrecognizable ways that fit into the fabric of the American society to render it nearly invisible to the majority of Americans. Michelle Alexander, in her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness shatters this dominantly held belief. The New Jim Crow makes a reader profoundly question whether the high rates of incarceration in the United States is an attempt to maintain blacks as an underclass. Michelle Alexander makes the assertion that “[w]e have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it” using the criminal justice system and colorblind rhetoric. (Alexander 2). The result is a population of Black and Latino men who face barriers and deprivation of rights as did Blacks during the Jim Crow era. Therefore, mass incarceration has become the new Jim Crow.

Alexander’s main premises focuses on the large majority of African American men imprisoned today, as she reflects on the direct result of it that “young black men today may be just as likely to suffer discrimination in employment, housing, public benefits. And jury service as a black man in the Jim Crow era- discrimination that is perfectly legal, because it is based on one’s criminal record.” (Alexander, 181) Alexander points out not only how a significant portion of black men are ending up in prison, but how when released they face discrimination because of their criminal record making them unable to rehabilitate their lives and putting them back into the ghetto. Discrimination is a main factor which puts people of color in the penal system, and a main factor which when getting out keeps them from changing their lifestyle for the better.

Though most citizens in the United States would agree that the prison system in the U.S. needs to be amended, do they see the prison system as a way to enforce the racial caste system? At first Michelle Alexander, the author of The New Jim Crow, did not see the prison systems as racially motivated until doing further research. After researching the issue, Alexander found the prison system was a way to oppress African Americans and wrote the novel The New Jim Crow. The New Jim Crow follows the history of the racial caste system and in the novel Alexander comes to the conclusion that the mass incarceration of African American is the New Jim Crow, or in other words a new system of black oppression. Though some might try to refute the idea of mass incarceration of African Americans, Alexander offers a well thought out argument with substantial evidence and data to compellingly link Jim Crow and mass incarceration and proves that it is an issue that should be on the radar of all U.S. citizens.

In today’s society, discrimination continues to affect millions of minorities from inappropriate name calling to being shot by a law enforcement officer because you were perceived to be dangerous. The underlying effects of racial discrimination are seen in all aspects of our society, especially in our social institutions. These social institutions range from the educational system to our government, yet racial discrimination is more evident in the criminal justice system. When analyzing how the criminal justice system discriminates against minorities we are able to do so through the visible disparities within the system. Unfortunately, these disparities display African Americans having the highest population rates in the criminal justice system, therefore, we can immediately conclude this disparity in population is due to the injustices conducted by the system. Thus, there is a need for urgent change not just within the criminal justice system but within all social institutions beginning with our government. This change should create greater opportunities for minorities to enter the political field in our government as well as promoting higher participating in voting. Yet, the criminal justice system within all its aspects practices discrimination due to its deeply interwoven prejudice, institutional racism, and socioeconomic status.

The criminal justice system accepts responsibility for making our neighborhoods and cities safe for all. The repercussions of removing people from their families and communities and then depositing them back later, without any assistance or substantial rehabilitation, are grave.9 Men and women who have served extensive prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenses are not only left with little or no social support but also clearly marked by the criminal justice system as potentially threatening repeat offenders. Although mass incarceration policies have recently received a great deal of attention (due to incarceration becoming prohibitively costly), failure to address the legacy of racism passed down by our forefathers and its ties to economic oppression will only result in the continued reinvention of Jim

In today’s world, we treat criminals and offenders that are out of prison in a similar manner to how people were treated in the Jim Crow era. One example of the new Jim Crow Era is Sonya Jennings. Sonya is a felon as well as an African American mother. She was given an eight years probation after being arrested for possession of narcotics. Since Sonya is now tagged as a felon, she does not have the right to vote, she cannot receive public welfare, and she faces job discrimination (Alexander). The Jim Crow system has been planned in America today, legalizing discrimination for people with past criminal activity’s and records (Alexander).

The New Jim Crow is a book that discusses how legal practices and the American justice system are harming the African American community as a whole, and it argues that racism, though hidden, is still alive and well in our society because of these practices. In the book, Michelle Alexander, author and legal scholar, argues that legal policies against offenders have kept and continue to keep black men from becoming first class citizens, and she writes that by labeling them as “criminals,” the justice system and society in general is able to act with prejudice against them and subordinate black Americans who were previously incarcerated, on probation, or on parole, by limiting their access to services as a result of their ‘criminal status’ and therefore, further degrading their quality of life. The New Jim Crow urges readers to acknowledge the injustice and racial disparity of our criminal justice system so that this new, more covert form of racism in society can be stopped.

The United States is the world leader in both positive and negative arenas. As a nation, we are leading the world in the number of incarcerated individuals. While the ethnic composition of each state will vary, documentation shows that “African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at a rate that is 5.1 % the imprisonment of whites.” (Nellis, 1) Consequently, most sentences are issued at the state level and not the federal level. In our attempt to be tough on crime and rid our nation of her drug problem and criminal action, we have created a new more pressing issue, an unethical system of law and society.

After reading the book, you should have a fuller understanding of the inner workings of the (CJS) criminal justice system. Further, you will understand not just the effects of Jim Crow, but more important, how so many young African-American males end up on the road to the new Jim Crow. Ninety-five percent of the information in this book comes from first hand knowledge, and not what somebody told me, or someone else’s work. You will also be able to communicate the facts of the criminal justice system more effectively with others. In this book, the focus is on the insights gained by the author from his ten years in the courtroom as a trial lawyer, and his more than 200 jury

Given that the majority of those incarcerated are black males, Alexander contends that this tactic is nothing more than a ploy which harkens back to the time of chattel slavery, when “runaway” property was to be returned to the rightful owner. (Alexander, M., p. 23-29, 137-39; Sentencing Project, 2015) In today’s era of the New Jim Crow, the runaway “property” is still the black or ethnic male, the role of the rightful “owner” is now filled by criminal justice system, and the correctional facilities are the modern day equivalent to the 18th century cotton plantation. (Alexander, M., p. 23-25, 31, Cole, D.,

In today’s American society much of the issues incurred are centered on racism or racial discrimination encompassing crime and the criminal justice system. A vast majority of the issues in the criminal justice system relate to race, ethnicity, or economic class and captures actions by legislators, the policies of the police, and the practices of the courts. In 2009 alone, African American males accounted for 6.7 times more incarceration rates than whites in both state and federal penitentiaries, largely due to the U.S. drug laws. In 2010, legislators of the State of Arizona required the local police to verify the immigration status of anyone based on mere suspicion, which leads to ethnic profiling of Hispanics and lawsuits for the laws’ constitutionality. The notion that the police conduct traffic stops and racially profile based on skin color and not the law being broken, as well as the statistics of prosecutors offering better plea deals based on class, or Judges sentencing people of color more harshly, all yield a feeling of injustice for minorities and a fear of crime for whites (Walker, Spohn, & Delone, 2012).

Efforts to reform the prison system and make it less racist, for example, have been enacted and have enjoyed some measure of success in a similar fashion as efforts to reduce racism in other societal institutions have (Walker, 2006, p. 251-252). At the same time, studies have shown that the criminal justice system tends to punish crimes committed by professionals and people from upper classes at a lower rate than those committed by those who come from more limited economic backgrounds (Walker, 2006, p. 250). Both instances also point to the fact that the criminal justice system, criminals, and prisons do not operate in a vacuum outside of the larger dynamics of

The Criminal Justice system exists because of adults and juveniles who decided to commit offenses that put society’s well being at stake or they decided to not follow the law that was set before them. However, minorities make up most of the convicted citizens and it’s something minorities have no control over. The Center for American Progress says, “According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, one in three black men can expect to go to prison in their lifetime. A report by the Department of Justice found that blacks and Hispanics were approximately three times more likely to be searched during a traffic stop than white motorists” (Sophia Kerby, The Top 10 Most Startling Facts, 2012). Based on past encounters, the assumption that African Americans and people of Hispanic descent will be present when crime occurs. African Americans make up less than half of society’s population but based on statistics, blacks make up more than half of the population of convicted men and women in federal prisons and state jails.