The New Jim Crow, And The Criminal Justice System - 996 Words

The criminal justice system in America is a system designed to work in three distinct steps. The first being to fairly identify those breaking the law, second, create a process through which to both punish and rehabilitate criminals, and lastly integrate them back into society. The current system typically goes unquestioned, as those in the system seem to be deserving of what ever happens while they are in it, even once they have served their prison sentence. It is only upon deeper inspection that we begin to realize the discrimination and unfair tactics used to introduce certain groups of society into the criminal justice system and proceed to trap them there. This is the issue addressed in Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, and it is through arrests, sentencing and further upon release from jail that this oppressive system is created and maintained. The first step used to establish the â€Å"new Jim Crow† occurs at the arrest stage. It is in this stage that prejudice and discrimination are used to unfairly target members of the minority community, more specifically black, and Hispanic Americans. Many of the discretionary practices used by our law enforcement work to put these groups at a disadvantage, even before being confronted by a police officer. For example, when it comes to routine traffic stops, blacks and Hispanics are more likely then their white counterparts to be pulled over. Furthermore, after the initial stop, those of darker skin color are again far more likely thanShow MoreRelatedIs The Mass Incarceration Of Blacks The New Jim Crow?1540 Words   |  7 PagesIs the Mass Incarceration of Blacks the new Jim Crow? American has a legacy of the mistreatment and disenfranchisement of African Americans. The same bad treatment that many think only took place in the past is in fact still intact, it’s just presented in a new way. The mass incarceration of blacks in the Unites States can be attributed to the â€Å"racial hierarchy† that has always existed. The U.S contributes to about 5% of the worlds overall population, and about 25% of the worlds prison populationRead MoreAfrican Americans in Prison and the Jim Crow Laws Essay915 Words   |  4 Pagesthe United States Population but make up over 40% of the current jail and prison population. A black man is five times more likely to be convicted of a crime than a white man in the United States. How far have we really come sinse the Jim Crow laws? During the Jim Crow Era African-Americans in some states were treated as second-class citizens in every aspect of life from how they interact with White Americans to not having the right to vote. Many people would say we as a nation are far passed thoseRead MoreThe New Jim Crow Law1014 Words   |  5 Pages policies, and rules that equates to the American criminal justice system. This series of principles of our legal system works as an entrance to a lifelong position of lower status, with no hope of advancement. Mass incarceration follows those who are released from prison through exclusion and legalized discrimination, hidden within America. The New Jim Crow is a modernized version of the original Jim Crow Laws. It is a modern racial caste system designed to keep American black men and minoritiesRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration Essay795 Words   |  4 Pagesvideo we were asked to write a reflection on discussed The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness which is a book written by Michelle Alexander a highly acclaimed civil rights lawyer, advocate and Associate Professor of Law at Ohio State University. Michelle Alexander states that although we made tremendous progress with Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s by unifying as a race and fought to seemingly ended the old Jim Crow era by the passing of laws such as the 1965 voting actRead More The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander1182 Words   |  5 PagesThe New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness is a book by Michelle Alexander, a civil rights litigator and legal scholar. The book discusses race-related issues specific to African-American males and mass incarceration in the United States. Michelle Alexander (2010) argues that despite the old Jim Crow is death, does not necessarily means the end of racial caste (p.21). In her book â€Å"The New Jim Crow†, Alexander describes a set of practices and social discourses that serve toRead MoreMass Incarceration In Michelle Alexanders The New Jim Crow Laws1083 Words   |  5 PagesJim Crow laws were state and local laws that reinforced racial segregation in the South between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the beginning of the civil rights movement in the 1950’s (Urofsky). The laws mandated segregation of schools, drinking fountains, restrooms, buses, and restaurants. In legal theory, blacks received â€Å"separate but equal† treatment under the law--in actuality, public facilities were nearly always inferior to those for whites, when they existed at all. In addition, blacksRead MoreThe New Jim Crow1185 Words   |  5 PagesThe New Jim Crow The New Jim Crow is a book that gives a look on how discrimination is still and at some post more prevalent today than it was in the 1850s. Author Michelle Alexander dives into the justice system and explains how a lot of practices and beliefs from slavery times are just labeled differently now. The labeling creates legal discrimination, but most people over look it because it is hidden with words such as â€Å"criminals† or â€Å"felon† in order to legally enslave and segregate a certainRead MoreConsequences Of The New Jim Crow866 Words   |  4 PagesLane The New Jim Crow 11/3/17 Please answer each essay in approximately 450 to 500 words. 1. The Old Jim Crow was color-minded. The New Jim Crow claims itself as colorblinded. Show how the New Jim Crow is color-minded and leads to greater unjust consequences. Include in your answer how the New Jim Crow is more dangerous than the Old Jim Crow. In The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, author Michelle Alexander claims that the new racial caste system (New Jim Crow) in theRead MoreAnalysis Of New Jim Crow 1364 Words   |  6 Pagesthe facts that Alexander present in The New Jim Crow clashed with my view of the world in that although I appreciated the facts presented as the reality of what goes on in the world, it showed me that the through the laws enacted and through institutions, the society plays a role in creating and perpetuating the new caste system. This is evident when Alexander (2012) explains that the social racial control not only manifests itself through the justice system but also in the structure of the societyRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration1370 Words   |  6 PagesAmericans. 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 w hether the high rates of incarceration in the United States is an attempt to maintain blacks as an underclass. Michelle Alexander makes the assertion that â€Å"[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