The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration ....

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age of Color Blindness

Each chapter of this book could take an hour long or more discussion. A way to start is on facts and myths to get at the ideas this book communicates so well in depth.

High Level FACTS

• Book provides damning facts and data, a condemnation of our criminal justice system, of certain aspects of our culture, and our inability to make change or significant progress on our incarceration of almost 3 Million People.
• Prison population has grown 5 times in less than our lifetimes, mostly African American and Latino

                o 1972=350,000 in jail or prison; NOW 2.7 Million—a lot more than any

                 other nation

• 7.3 Million are under control of the Correction System
• 50 Million ex-felons, on parole and the 2.7 Million incarcerated make up the undercaste, people that it is OK to hate, to discriminate against, to deny any support to, to largely mistreat.
• 1 in 3 Black Male babies are destined for jail—unprecedented levels of incarceration
• Most of the incarcerated are under State control, not Federal
• 90% of those admitted for drug offenses are Black and Latino—The New Jim Crow was born!
• Every time racial equality is addressed, a strategy to further segregate people of color and the poor—to make them less equal based on color and/or class

MYTHS of the Defense of Mass Incarceration

• Surging incarceration rates can be explained by crime rates—CRIME RATES HAVE NOT RISEN
• Most people cycling in and out of the criminal justice system are violent offenders—NOT TRUE
• People of color are more likely to use and sell illegal drugs than whites—NOT TRUE; whites are more likely to be involved in drugs
• The drug war has been focused on rooting out violent offenders and drug kingpins—NOT TRUE; very few drug kingpins have been arrested and jailed.
• Most people charged with crimes are provided meaningful legal representation—NOT TRUE
• The US Constitution guarantee of “equal protection under the law” protects racial minorities from bias in the criminal justice system — NOT TRUE

                 “The 4th Amendment is but one example of rights being trampled on by the drug war. Virtually all constitutionally protected civil liberties have been undermined by the drug war. The Court has busy allowing arbitrary searches, approving mandatory drug testing of employees and students, upholding random searches and sweeps of public schools and students, permitting police to obtain search warrants based on anonymous informant’s tip, expanding the government’s wiretapping authority, etc. and etc.”