Mass Incarceration in
the Age of Colorblindness
The New Jim Crow?
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2012
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Michelle Alexander at Northwestern University
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762
531
323
153
119
63 58
USA Cuba Ukraine England China Japan Syria
Prisoners per 100,000 citizens
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1970 - 2000
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Why?
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The War on Drugs
“Public enemy number one…is drug abuse.”
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The War on Drugs
October, 1982
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The War on Drugs
September, 1989
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759
7965
457 825
98,082
12,423
5785
20,483
1545 80
7477
13,427
32,088
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
Federal Bureau of Prisons - OFFENSES
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DRUGS
IMMIGRATION
WEAPONS
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
Federal Bureau of Prisons - OFFENSES
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The War on Drugs
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“White Girl to be Tried as a Black Man” (The Onion)
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Who’s the target?
What’s the “low-hanging fruit”?
RACIAL INEQUALITIES
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45% of non-whites are frisked when pulled over
compared to only 29% of whites, even though whites
are 70% more likely to carry a weapon. (NY Times)
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Whites are 2.5 times less likely to have their car
searched when pulled over than non-whites. (IDOT)
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LINK
CAUTION: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE
10:50 excerpt
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Why?
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CAUTION: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE
Sources: 2017 Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances, U.S. Census; annotations from towns’ fiscal year 2019 financial audits.
Cities and towns that receive significant revenue from fines and fees
· More than 10 percent of revenue from fines and fees
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Who’s Behind Bars?
White men, ages 18 or older
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Who’s Behind Bars?
White men, ages 18 or older
1 in 106
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Who’s Behind Bars?
African-American men, ages 18 or older
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Who’s Behind Bars?
African-American men, ages 18 or older
1 in 15
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Who’s Behind Bars?
African-American men, ages 20 to 34
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Who’s Behind Bars?
African-American men, ages 20 to 34
1 in 9
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MYTH:
Nearly half of all US prisoners are
incarcerated for drug offenses.
FACT:
the most common offenses are
violent crimes (like murder,
assault, and robbery), which
nearly 40 percent of the prison
population is in for.
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Danielle Sered
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The Core Drivers of VIOLENCE:
1) Shame
2) Isolation
3) Exposure to violence
4) Inability to meet one’s economic needs
Danielle Sered
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The Core Features of PRISON:
1) Shame
2) Isolation
3) Exposure to violence
4) Inability to meet one’s economic needs
Danielle Sered
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“And so we’ve baked into our
central response to violence exactly
the things that generate it.”
Danielle Sered
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What’s your ACE score?
ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES
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As the number of ACEs increases, so does the RISK for the following:
(Risk for) intimate partner violence Multiple sexual partners
Alcoholism and alcohol abuse Sexually transmitted diseases
Chronic pulmonary disease Smoking
Depression Suicide attempts
Fetal death Unintended pregnancies
Health-related quality of life Early initiation of smoking
Illicit drug use Early initiation of sexual activity
Ischemic heart disease Adolescent pregnancy
Liver disease (Risk for) sexual violence
Poor work performance Poor academic achievement
Financial stress
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Frontline / 7:50
Rob Sullivan’s Story
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#cut50 movement
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#cut50
activity
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Opportunity costs
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“The Beast” / 2:02
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“All people make mistakes. All of us are sinners. All
of us are criminals. All of us violate the law at some
point in our lives. In fact, if the worst thing you have
ever done is speed ten miles over the speed limit on
the freeway, you have put yourself and others at
more risk of harm than someone smoking
marijuana in the privacy of his or her living room.
Yet there are people in the United States serving life
sentences for first-time drug offenses, something
virtually unheard of anywhere else in the world.”
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Incarceration Stigma: “Think Outside the Cell”
VII Magazine / 2:52
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Incarceration Stigma: “Think Outside the Cell”
VII Magazine / 10:48
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Can people change? Project RE:
“RE_DEMPTION: A Wall That Unites” / 4:00