Mass Incarceration: An Extension of Slavery (13th Amendment Loophole)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts related to mass incarceration in the United States, its historical roots in slavery through the 13th Amendment loophole, and its evolution through Black Codes, Jim Crow, the War on Drugs, and the Prison-Industrial Complex.

Mass Incarceration (US Statistics)

The phenomenon where the U.S. accounts for 5% of the world's population but 25% of its prisoners, with the prison population drastically increasing from 300,000 in 1970 to 2.3 million by 2016.

13th Amendment Loophole

The exception in the 13th Amendment stating 'Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime… shall exist,' which became a legal foundation for criminalizing and controlling Black people after 1865.

Reconstruction Era

The period from 1865 to 1877 following the Civil War, during which the 13th Amendment loophole was immediately exploited to control freed Black people.

Black Codes

Laws passed by Southern states during the Reconstruction Era that criminalized actions like loitering, unemployment, and vagrancy, primarily targeting freed African Americans to force them into labor.

Convict Leasing System

A post-slavery system where Black prisoners were 'leased' to work on plantations, in mines, or build railroads, under brutal conditions and high death rates.

The Birth of a Nation

A profoundly influential 1915 film that portrayed Black men as violent predators, glorified the Ku Klux Klan, and helped legitimize racist imagery, screened at the White House.

Black Criminal Stereotype

A media-fueled racial stereotype that portrayed Black men as inherently menacing and violent, used to justify segregation, lynching, and heavy policing during the early 20th century.

Jim Crow Era

A period from 1877 to the 1950s characterized by systemic segregation, racial violence (including lynchings), and the criminalization of Black people for resisting.

Law and Order Politics

A political slogan that emerged during the White backlash against the Civil Rights Movement, used as coded racial language by politicians like Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon to frame Black activism as criminal.

John Ehrlichman's Admission

Richard Nixon's advisor, John Ehrlichman, admitted that the Nixon campaign used the War on Drugs as a deliberate strategy to disrupt 'the antiwar left and Black people' by criminalizing drugs associated with each group.

War on Drugs

A policy declared by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s that led to a massive increase in drug-related arrests, particularly targeting crack cocaine in Black communities, significantly contributing to mass incarceration.

Crack vs. Powder Cocaine Sentencing Disparity

A legal disparity where crack cocaine (associated with Black communities) offenses were punished 100 times more harshly than powder cocaine (associated with white communities), leading to disproportionate incarceration rates.

1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (Crime Bill)

A bill passed under President Bill Clinton that funded new prisons, added police officers, expanded 'Three Strikes' laws, and increased death penalty offenses, leading to record incarceration rates, particularly for Black and Latino men.

Three Strikes Law

A punitive sentencing law expanded by the 1994 Crime Bill, mandating life sentences after a third felony conviction.

Superpredator Myth

A debunked narrative coined in the 1990s by academics and politicians, describing Black youth as remorseless criminals, which fueled public fear and justified harsh policing and sentencing.

Prison-Industrial Complex

A system of overlapping interests between government and industry that uses surveillance, policing, and imprisonment to achieve social, economic, and political goals, resulting in profit for private corporations and mass incarceration.

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)

A private prison company founded in 1983 that profits directly from incarceration rates, representing a key component of the prison-industrial complex.

ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council)

A network of politicians and corporations that writes model bills, such as 'three strikes' and 'stand your ground' laws, illustrating how corporate interests can shape legislation contributing to mass incarceration.

Felony Disenfranchisement

The practice of stripping voting rights from individuals with felony convictions, which disproportionately affects Black adults, with 1 in 13 unable to vote nationally.

Michelle Alexander

Author of 'The New Jim Crow,' who argued that mass incarceration has replaced Jim Crow laws as a modern system of racial control in the United States.

Black Lives Matter

A movement that emerged in response to police killings of Black individuals (e.g., Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner), often criminalized in media, echoing earlier patterns of silencing Black activism.

Criminalization of Black Dissent

The historical pattern of government agencies (like the FBI) weaponizing the criminal justice system against Black activists and leaders (e.g., Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Black Panthers) to suppress social and political movements.

Stand Your Ground Law

A controversial self-defense law, exemplified in the Trayvon Martin case, often linked to ALEC, that has been criticized for contributing to racial bias in the justice system.