When the 13th amendment was ratified in 1865, its drafters left themselves a very exploitable loophole of an easily missed clause in its definition. That clause, converts slavery from a legal business model to an equally legal method of punishment for criminals. This is exactly the subject of the documentary “13th.” by Ava DuVernay. Throughout the film a few people in particular are interviewed, including liberal scholars and activists for the cause like Angela Davis, Henry Louis Gates, Van Jones, and even conservatives like Newt Gingrich and Grover Norquist. Each interviewee is shot in a location that replicates an industrial setting, this visually supports the theme of prison as a factory churning out the free labor that the 13th Amendment …show more content…
DuVernay examines this cycle in each of its evolving iterations; when one method of just simple pure evil is abolished, another takes its place. DuVernay also talks about Nixon’s presidential campaign, Reagan’s War on Drugs, Bill Clinton’s Three Strikes and mandatory sentencing laws. Once Jim Crow Laws were banned as you would guess the cycle continued, African Americans started being portrayed as criminals and sent to jail for no reason but being black. The government started coming up with laws that targeted the poor and mostly African Americans because they were usually poor. These laws included selling and having possession of crack far worst then having/selling cocaine even though they were the same drug. They did this because crack was much cheaper than cocaine and therefore more accessible to African Americans. They also treated drug addictions as a crime rather than a health issue. Another law was the three strikes and you are out law which meant that no matter what the crime if you are convicted for three felonies the you are put into jail for life. Two other laws they came up with were the stand your ground law which meant anyone who looked suspicious you could shoot and also the law and crime bill which greatly increased funding for police. Many African Americans were convicted for crimes they did not commit and if they went to trial there jail term would be greatly increased so there only choice was to stay in jail for many years for a crime they did not even commit or admit the are guilty for something they did not do. ⅓ African American men go to jail in there life time when only 1/17 white males go. A measly 6.5% of African American men make up the US population and 42% of prison population which is just unbelievable. Jails also started finding anyone they thought were an immigrant and unfairly putting African Americans into jails because if the jails were not full they would be closed. With all of
The Author transitions the past and present signatures of Jim Crow and the New Jim Crow with the suggestion that the New Jim Crow, by mass incarceration and racism as a whole, marginalizes and relegates Blacks to residential, educational and constitutionally endowed service to the Country. The final chapter of The New Jim Crow reviews the manner in which the Black community might respond to the racism that exists today. Some research implies that we in America have reached a point of attrition as to incarceration, and the positive effects outweigh the negative effects of marginalization and collateral damage to the community. By some research, the "War on Drugs" procreates poverty, joblessness, family breakdown, and crime.
Adolescence is the time of development and mental advancement that happens between the onset of puberty and the fulfillment of physical and emotional development. Despite the fact that young ladies experience more dramatic physical change throughout adolescence than do young men, they have a tendency to achieve puberty prior and take less time to achieve development. Immaturity in girls start around the age of eleven and proceeds through about age sixteen. In youthful men, the same period starts about the age of thirteen and proceeds through about age eighteen. After about age fourteen, guys are,normal, heavier and taller than females. The motion picture film Thirteen, directed by Catherine Hardwicke introduces a correct and important point of view on the post-millennial adolescent experience and also displays many issues teens face in today’s society such as peer pressure, teenage sexuality, and drug use,
Human rights experts have reported that in the 70s, African Americans in the U.S were already being overrepresented in drug arrests, with twice as many arrests as Caucasians (Fellner, 2009). Since the war on drugs began, African
Many citizens in the United States were led to believe that after the Civil War, the United States and its’ territories had indeed freed all slaves from their masters but, what many did not see coming was a loophole in the 13th Amendment that would leave a major footprint in U.S history. The thirteenth amendment states, “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". However, the key phrase in this amendment was “except as a punishment for crime”. Since slavery was illegal because of the 13th amendment, many individuals and large corporations found a new and legal method to continue
One policy one could examine to see its implications on incarceration rates in the United States is the “War on Drugs.” This war has taken place since the Nixon administration in the 1970s, and aims to eliminate the possession, importation, and solicitation of illegal substances. This war has multiple fronts in which people are currently fighting, but the domestic theatre of war is a culprit for this rise of incarceration rates. Bobo and Thompson examined this phenomenon and found, “rapid increase in incarceration rates can be traced to the "War on Drugs" and associated sentencing practices” (451). The “War on Drugs” can be seen taking place in predominately urban impoverished African-American communities. As a result, more African-Americans are being arrested for drug crimes, whether they be petty possession misdemeanor crimes or more serious felony solicitation of illegal substance crimes. Further, since these areas are more impoverished, individuals will look for other ways in order to generate income in order to support themselves and their
This quote shows what a study found in Seattle, that the population in Seattle is seventy percent but most of the people in jail are blacks. Seattle has a problem where cocaine and crack are the main drugs being abused and sold, but the people who sell it the most are whites, but the majority who end up in jail for cocaine or crack charges are African Americans. Well this happens because black people do drugs but also white people, but the ones who are the victims of incarceration are blacks, this mainly due to the way the law enforcements act towards the poor colored communities. The issue arose from people that are non white abusing certain drugs, the drugs got outlawed every time a certain race abused it.
“Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men's skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact.”(Lyndon Johnson). For generations in the United Stated, ethnic minorities have been discriminated against and denied fair opportunity and equal rights. In the beginning there was slavery, and thereafter came an era of racism which directly impacted millions of minorities lives. This period called Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system up in till mid 1960s. Jim Crow was more than just a series of severe anti-Black laws, it became a way of life. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were positioned to the status of second class citizens. What Jim Crow did is represented the anti-Black racism. Further on, In 1970’s the term “War on Drugs” was coined by President Richard Nixon . Later President Ronald Reagan officially declared the current drug war. In reality the war had little to do with drug crime and a lot to do with racial politics. The drug war was part of a strategy of used by the government. The President identified drug abuse as national threat. Therefore, they called for a national anti-drug policy, the policy began pushing for the involvement of the police force and military in drug prohibition efforts. The government did believe that blacks or minorities were a cause of the drug problem. They concentrated on inner city poor neighborhoods, drug related violence, they wanted to publicize the drug war which lead Congress to devote millions of dollars in additional funding to it. The war on drugs targeted and criminalized disproportionably urban minorities. There for, “War on Drugs” results in the incarceration of one million Americans ...
Another reason racialized mass incarceration takes place is because of the high rates of poverty and unemployment for inner city African Americans, especially those with low-education and low skill levels. Urban ghettos have been associated with the problem of social disorganization and crime. The biggest reason for this is the war on drugs. There is no substantial proof that verifies African Americans are more involved in illegal drug consumptions than other groups are. However they are arrested more than other groups. Bobo and Thompson stated that blacks are almost 34% involved in drug-related arrests though only 14% of those are among regular illegal drug users. Among drug related convictions, African Americans make up half of the cases whereas only 26% of the white population is convicted. As Bobo and Thompson stated, “Illegal drug consumption seems to know no race. Incarceration for drug-related charges, however, is something visited in a heavily biased manner on African Americans.”
Many would argue that the reason why the incarceration rate for African Americans is sustainably higher compared to white American is because of economic situations, and because of past arrest patterns. While it is true that the economic opportunity someone has will affect their decisions, this argument doesn’t fully explain the real reason of why the rates are higher. To fully understand the reason why one must look back on America’s history and how African Americans were treated. The past arrest patterns do not explain why the gap continues to increase, however it is clear that the past arrest patterns is more an indicator of institutional racism that exists in this country. One study found that African Americans believe the reason for the high incarceration rates is becau...
The rise of mass incarceration further eroded civil rights progress by destabilizing urban communities. The “war on drugs” ensnared countless African Americans in the criminal justice system at significantly higher rates than whites, at a time when drug crimes as a whole were declining. Felon disfranchisement laws and, in some states, the use of gerrymandering techniques that treat prisoners as residents of the prison’s jurisdiction, rather than as residents of their home communities, continue to undermine African Americans’ political power and
Some of the most important historical developments that Beckett (1997) attributed to the politicization of criminal justice practices and policies were beginning with the civil rights movement. There was a tremendous amount of discourse occurring during this time about whether or not African Americans should have the same rights as whites. As well as, the thought that many African Americans were responsible for the increase in crime. Therefore, in the political sector we saw a power struggle between the Democrats and the Republicans. The Republicans wanted to portray the issues that crime and drug use were increasing rapidly due to the way the African Americans were raised.
13th to bring the issue of systematic racism and the unfair treatment of prisoners. The trailer argues that there is a “loophole” within the thirteenth amendment that allows for slavery to exist, despite its supposed abolishment. “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”. The loophole within the exception of “punishment for crime” deems the enslavement of prisoners lawful. By creating a theoretical toolbox with Weberian and Durkhemian concepts, the existence of exploitation can be explained within an American context. Weber’s concepts describe the material world as it exists in
These stories were riddled with stereotypes and bias and because of these stories there has been a government lead war on drugs that is racially fueled towards Black Americans. In 1971 President Nixon declared War on Drugs in the United States of America. With the War on Drugs cam e hefty prison sentences and a racial bias towards the Black American public. Black Americans were coming off the tail end of the Civil Rights movements, only to be segregated again in the statistics that were coming out about drugs and the fallacy of highest population of
The movie I decided to analyze for this course was American History X (1998), which stars Edward Norton. Though this movie isn’t widely known, it is one of the more interesting movies I have seen. It’s probably one of the best films that depict the Neo Nazi plague on American culture. The film takes place from the mid to late 1990’s during the Internet boom, and touches on subjects from affirmative action to Rodney King. One of the highlights of this movie that really relates to one of the key aspects of this course is the deterrence of capital punishment. Edward Norton’s portrayal as the grief stricken older brother who turns to racist ideologies and violence to cope with his fathers death, completely disregards the consequences of his actions as he brutally murders someone in front of his family for trying to steal his car. The unstable mentality that he developed after his father’s death really goes hand-to-hand specifically with Isaac Ehrlich’s study of capital punishment and deterrence. Although this movie is entirely fictional, a lot of the central themes (racism, crime punishment, gang pervasiveness, and one’s own vulnerability) are accurate representations of the very problems that essentially afflict us as a society.
Shelden, R. G. (1999). The Prison Industrial Complex. Retrieved November 16, 2013, from www.populist.com: http://www.populist.com/99.11.prison.html