Module 4 Reading - Mass Incarceration

Alexander, Michelle. "Introduction" in The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The New Press, 2020. Pager, Devah, “Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration.” Inequality in the 21st Century, 1st ed., Routledge, 2018. 13th | Full Feature | Netflix by Ava DuVernay NPR Hidden Brain, Rap on Trial: How an Aspiring Musician’s Words Led to Prison Time

How is the criminal justice system through mass incarceration similar to Jim Crow laws?

Similar to blacks during Jim Crow, ex-convicts experience:

• social stigma

• access to mainstream economy (ex property)

• lack of democratic rights

What was the racial impact of the War on Drugs?

• growing idea that drug dealers were people of color

• false mass incarceration in black neighborhoods for heroin possession

T / F - A majority of the cocaine produced during the War on Drugs was local within black communities

False

Nicaraguan smugglers funded by CIA brought cocaine

Current prison population estimates

2 million

T / F - Despite having only 5% of the world’s population, the US has over 25% the world’s prison population

True

US prison population surpasses oppressive regimes and not on par with equally developed nations such as Germany

T / F - Rate of crime is correlated to punishment via incarceration

False

Illustrated by low white prison population; incarceration more so a control tool

Racial caste system

similar to traditional caste systems in that they lock certain racial groups from progressing (socially, economically, etc.) through laws and customs

What is the relationship between mass incarceration and racial caste systems?

Mass incarceration is the pipeline to becoming an undercaste through the label of being a prisoner

underclass / undercaste

those who are unable to pursue social mobility

How have ex-convicts’ criminal statuses seep into other social aspects?

• stain on records that may dissuade employers, landlords, etc.

• permeates racial stereotypes (ex: blacks are aggressive and violent)

T / F - Based on Devah Pager’s audit study, a criminal record proportionately affected black and white participants from receiving a callback by employers

False

Whites’ chances of getting a callback was reduced to ½ original chance, black’s chances reduced to 1/3

T / F - Based on Devah Pager’s audit study, whites were more likely to receive a callback regardless of criminal records over blacks

True

A white with a criminal background (17%) had a greater chance of getting a callback than a black without (14%)

Birth of a Nation (1915)

antebellum short film about civil war

fostered beliefs blacks were malicious (esp. towards white women)

romanticized KKK (crossburning)

Willie Horton

black man portrayed as murderer used during Bill Clinton’s campaign

Central Park Jogger Case

false rape case resulting in arrest of 5 black children

gained widespread media attention through portrayals of heartless “super predators”

Explain the shift from judge to prosecutor during the Clinton administration

• mandatory minimums for minimum sentences of crime regardless of circumstance

• life without parole

• California’s 3 strike rule - 3 misdemeanors causes life in prison

ALEC (American Legislative Executive Committee)

lobbying group containing politicians to create bills

What is the relationship between ALEC and CCA?

CCA creates a variety of correctional facilities that consistently filled for investors

ALEC creates bills such as SB 1070 that foster incarceration

Prison industrial complex

Profiting off of prison systems

• Funding prison amenities (EX: food, telephone calls, etc)

• Using prison labor

T / F - Most prisoners are incarcerated due to inability to pay for a plea bargain

True

Often given choice of a shorter plea bargain sentence or the possibility if facing a mandatory minimum

1/____ black men are expected to face incarceration

3

13th Amendment

No one in the US shall engage in slavery EXCEPT as punishment for a crime

T / F - Rap lyrics that are considered violent are preceived to a similar degree as violent lyrics of other genres

False

Rap lyrics were perceived more negatively; many juries unable to understand niches of the genre