WHY READ IT?
The notion that if you’ve ever committed a crime you’re permanently disposable is the very idea that has rationalized mass incarceration in the United States.
Three things right off the bat:
- Almost a third of black men in the United States are in some phase of the correctional system. That means either jail, prison, probation or parole.
- The United States holds nearly a quarter of the entire world’s prison population. A disproportionate amount of them are black.
- Thousands of corporations across this country use prison labor. Prisoners labor to produce goods or perform services for free or pennies on the dollar. If you think you haven’t enjoyed or consumed the fruits of prison labor this week, you’re almost certainly wrong.
All this in the land of the free. All this in a society where slavery is supposedly abolished in law. Same goes for racial discrimination. These promises of American life should be up to scrutiny. They must be in an age where the Black Lives Matter movement has such a prominent role in the conversation. Whether you think about it or not, the state of our justice system affects you.
THE STRUCTURE OF THE NEW JIM CROW
Michelle Alexander points out the following consequences of black American incarceration rates:
An extraordinary percentage of black men in the United States are legally barred from voting today, just as they have been throughout most of American history. They are also subject to legalized discrimination in employment, housing, education, public benefits, and jury service, just as their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents once were.
She realized that the system of mass incarceration had “emerged as a stunningly comprehensive and well-disguised system of racialized social control”. It succeeded the system of Jim Crow laws that oppressed black Americans, especially in the American south.
With the 13th Amendment passed and chattel slavery ended, racist white southern elites looked for new ways to exercise control over freed black Americans. Part of the control they exercised was economic. Formerly enslaved people were often penniless. Few had wealth enough to get started on their own enterprises or farms. For that, they’d need land redistribution or some other intervention. But if you can criminalize black Americans for a minor offense like vagrancy, you can then incarcerate them. Suddenly, a critical clause of the 13th amendment comes into play. After all, it reads:
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Except as punishment for a crime, folks. That’s the part that many American local, state and federal governments took to heart, even if they don’t admit it. Once you had a group of black prisoners, you had a work gang. You could hire them out to whatever businessman, sharecropper or wealthy entity would pay. This is exactly what Southern governments did. It’s what many prison systems do today with prison labor. Prison systems claim it’s a way for prisoners to make money and learn skills. There’s kernels of truth to that. But then we look at the “wages” paid to these prisoners, and to the obscene profits made by American corporations that contract out prison labor. The question of who is benefiting from prison labor seems to have clear answer.
The “new Jim Crow” system doesn’t end with incarceration or prison labor, though. Once released, the oppression continues through probation and parole restrictions, crippling fines. Post-release regulations prohibit former convicts from getting public benefits, housing, or many jobs. Many states ban them from voting in elections. A short sentence doesn’t change this, nor does the nonviolent nature of a crime; Alexander notes they will “continue to be relegated to a permanent second-class status upon their release… the system of mass incarceration is based on the prison label, not prison time.” This keeps many black Americans disenfranchised and poor. A disproportionate number revolve through the criminal justice system over and over. This is a shockingly effective form of social control. Governments use this tool to effectively re-enslave large numbers of black Americans.
The New Jim Crow argues that the American War on Drugs is the prime mover behind mass incarceration. As a result, it’s a prime tactic for keeping black Americans under heel. The book clarifies a few misconceptions early on before going into a deeper history of the drug war. Here’s a few of them:
- American incarceration rates up during decades where the rates in similarly developed nations stayed the same, or went down.
- The CIA supported armed guerrilla and criminal groups that trafficked crack cocaine into the US in the 1980s. The CIA even admits this, and its actions fueled the drug war. The profits from these sales financed right-wing groups in armed conflicts in Central America.
- While crack cocaine led to a ramp-up in the drug war, the Nixon and Reagan administrations pushed it before crack hit the scene.
- Drug crime rates were actually declining when politicians declared that a “drug war” was necessary to combat them.
- Expert groups like the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals recommended a dismantling and de-escalation of our prison system. Despite this, the federal government took the exact opposite route, and escalated the construction of new prisons. The advice to ramp down our prison state isn’t new; our leaders just ignored it.
Even though drug use was declining in America, President Reagan declared an escalation of the War on Drugs. Meanwhile, the federal and state governments cut funding for drug treatment and prevention programs. They preferred to funnel that money into cops and prisons. The result? Massive amounts of drugs seized, police raids completed (often using SWAT teams starting in the 1970s). Millions received sentences for drug offenses. None of it did much to obstruct the supply or demand for drugs. Most convicts were small-time. They were only possessors and users of drugs, or at best small-time sellers. Most were nonviolent. The arrest of true kingpins was rare. Even though drug use devastated families and communities, the “drug war” didn’t rebuild them or halt the damage. Heavy-handed enforcement of drug laws made the problem worse.
With a drug conviction came more than a prison sentence, even if it was a lengthy one. Convicted drug users were forever ineligible for public housing, student loans, and many federal benefits. This includes cash assistance and food stamps (now known as SNAP). Many could not get suitable employment after receiving a conviction on their record. Mandatory minimum sentences took away the discretion judges had when conferring sentences. They could no longer vary sentences based on who had made a regrettable mistake by possessing drugs, and who was a real threat to public safety. Overzealous prosecutors pushed these convictions through to increase their own win-loss statistics. It became incredibly expensive to defend yourself in court from a drug charge. Prosecutors pressured defendants ever more to take plea deals before trial. Most defendants did take those plea deals. Many of those were innocent of their crime. They took a plea for a smaller sentence out of fear they’d receive a larger one at trial. This created an entire subclass of Americans with a critical disadvantage. Untold numbers of people received drug convictions and criminal records. This handicapped their future prospects and denied them any meaningful chance at redemption. All this, imposed by a justice system that had no claim to fairness.
- For more about the tactics used in the drug war, I suggest Alex Vitale’s The End of Policing and Radley Balko’s Rise of the Warrior Cop. Check the links for my reviews on both of these books.
WHY THE DRUG WAR?
The author asks this question about a third of the way through the book, and it’s a critical one. The answer it seems, as with many things, is that’s where the money was. Before the money poured in, local governments and police departments scoffed at the idea that the drug war should be a priority. The more time you spend trying to interdict drugs, the less time you spend on classic policing activities. That includes stopping theft and violent crime. This tracks with other books I’ve read on the subject, like Rise of the Warrior Cop. The Federal government provided billions worth of cash grants and transfers of equipment. They did this to build up anti drug programs in state and local enforcement agencies. This incentivized departments to focus on drug interdiction. They locked up even small-time offenders rather than devoting those resources to violent crime and theft. That’s where many of us would hope most of their efforts would go. Laws passed beginning with Nixon and Reagan diverted military equipment and even bases to the cause. They treated drugs as a matter of national security so that they could devote more military resources to them. Republicans aren’t the only ones to blame here, either. Clinton and Obama both pursued this trend of police militarization. At most, Obama made superficial moves to de-emphasize it.
Alexander’s argues that everyone involved in running the drug war and mass incarceration have too much to gain from keeping it going. They have too much to lose from dismantling it. This makes perfect sense to me. Police departments get cash, powerful equipment and support. Much of their drug interdiction work that is low effort, high reward compared to investigating murders, rapes, and thefts. Almost every town of every size got the money to build and equip a full SWAT team within their police departments. With them, they mostly serve drug warrants, and they do that most often by forcing their way into a home (whether that’s necessary or not). Most of us think our Fourth Amendment rights matter. It should concern us a great deal how much that’s been eroded by police tactics and court decisions. Now, unannounced break-ins by cops into our homes are allowed under almost every circumstance.
WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
Even without the drug war, I’d think our justice system was still broken to its core. This may seem obvious to those who’ve felt the full impact of its abuses. But sometimes I do have to remind myself of this. I’m a white man who’s managed to never get arrested despite some close calls. Some times – at police barricades during protests, for instance – I was arguably asking for it. A poorer-looking or browner man might have gotten arrested in my place. It’s also because I’m the father to a seven year old who still thinks police are the coolest. They have sweet cars, good looking uniforms, bright lights and loud sirens. They’re the ones that catch the bad guys. He instinctively trusts them. I know this view of them will change. Sooner or later my son will realize what it means that while his father is white, my son is definitely not.
Surely we want to create a better future for kids like him. To do that, we must look at how our social, legal, political and financial systems interact, and the outcomes they produce. We’ll have to get past the idea that racism means only racial hatred. It’s not just born from a darkness in the heart and brought into the world with explicitly violent and discriminatory actions. It’s more complex and insidious than that. We’ll have to get over the idea that colorblind equality in name, “under the law” is enough. If there is technical equality but no equity, the wounds of the past don’t heal. They linger, and they fester.
TIRED OF READING?
Watch the documentary 13th on Netflix. This 2016 Documentary was directed by Ava DuVernay. It focuses on how the 13th Amendment left punishment upon conviction of a crime as a loophole in its abolition of slavery. This explores many of the same themes and history as The New Jim Crow. Michelle Alexander shows up alongside Angela Davis and Henry Louis Gates. US Senator Cory Booker and Republican Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also appear. The film delves deeply into the prison system and leasing convicts for slave labor.
I’ve watched this a few times over the years, recommend it to people often, and get good feedback from their turns watching it. It’s super-effective.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
Slavery in the United States didn't end with the 13th Amendment - it remained as punishment for a crime. And boy, did America come up with some crimes.
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