This has unfortunately become a viscous cycle because the war on drugs are so strict its become a slavery or cast system that has taken so much of the black race and incarcerated them for drug crimes for as long as murder crimes. This system is dehumanizing and should be looked over and lifted. Every race uses and sells drugs, it is unjust to use drug laws just to control the black race under imprisonment for small crimes.
Currently the United States denies felons the right to vote. The problem with this is that the mass incarceration of African-Americans (specifically relating to the drug war) leads to an inaccurate representation of the African-American versus white vote. Because blacks are more likely to be arrested and suffer more severe punishments than whites for similar crimes leads to a larger percent of white people voting. With a disproportional amount of white people versus black people who have the right to vote it leads
She claims that politicians like Nixon and Reagan first used racially coded language to sway voters which would lead to the drug war (Alexander 47). Alexander argues that the War on Drugs ignited this trend despite many people disputing her claim (102), blaming it on the decade on rampant violent crime. Her most venomous argument focuses on the racial bias in the legal system at all levels; she claims that the discretion of law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges allow for the mass incarceration of African Americans. The mass incarceration paired with racial bias and discretion allow for a segregation that affects impoverished African Americans most drastically by locking them in ghettos or prisons (Alexander 122). The most profound effect of this system is the metaphorical segregation of African Americans.
This War on Drugs targets black men in many ways including in the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, more serious punishments were implemented for crack distribution (associated more with Black people) than pure cocaine (associated more commonly with upper class White people). Civil penalties as well, like not being able to live in public housing or get student loans, accompany the harsh prison sentences. Michelle Alexander writes of the effects of mass incarceration on Black Americans in the United States. Michelle Alexander explains that the Jim Crow laws from before are functionally equivalent to todays mass incarceration practices. There is a racial disproportion impact of the War on Drugs, which drove the increase of incarceration rates.
Despite the civil rights victories of thirty years ago, racial prejudice is still reflected throughout the criminal justice system. Police started using this racism to clear neighborhoods of drug related offenses caused by African-Americans. The use of race to determine which ... ... middle of paper ... ... more drug arrests and are partly to blame for this. There are many effects of racial profiling that police use as an excuse to demonstrate racism against minorities. These racist acts often leave everlasting effects on people in horrible ways and sometimes leave them struggling for their lives.
Instead of being racist, America uses its criminal justice system to label people of color "criminals.” While some races use drugs at similar rates, there is still a disparity in jails: they are mostly filled with people of color. The New Jim Crow makes it possible that the African Americans labeled as criminals lose basic rights, and consequentially, the whites maintain superiority over the blacks. Outside of prison, free prisone... ... middle of paper ... ...under the weight of logical fallacies and lack of research. In conclusion, Michelle Alexander depicts the grim reality for many young African American men in the era of mass incarceration and exposes the truth of racial injustice in the system of mass incarceration. She reveals how race plays an important role in the American Justice System and mass incarceration.
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 ... ... middle of paper ... ...1.
All Americans have heard stories about police planting drugs on black people and charging them with a crime they did not commit. To make matters worse, due to the aforementioned issues of higher conviction rates, longer sentences, and catastrophic bail policies, those who can not afford a lawyer to represent them have little chance of convincing anyone of their innocence. To many Americans, this may sound outlandish, the kind of thing that only happens on television, however, this is a very real and legitimate fear within black communities. And indeed, many former police officers have admitted the practice of planting drugs does happen. For instance, in nearby Dothan, AL, anonymous active police officers leaked documents that provide "irrefutable evidence of criminal activity at the highest levels of the Dothan Police Department" (Innocence).
She notes that despite “the majority of illegal drug users and dealers nationwide are white, three-fourths of all people imprisoned for drug offenses have been black or Latino”(pg. 98). By presenting facts such as this, she attempts to dispel the notion that the reason for this disparity is that minorities are committing more crimes. Next, police forces, Alexander states, are incentivised monetarily to keep high levels of arrests as part of the drug war, so the police are thus encouraged to target the ghettos and minority communities, as “tactics that would be political suicide in an upscale white suburb are not even newsworthy in poor black and brown communities” and that “so long as the number of drug arrests increases or at least remains high, federal dollars continue to flow in and fill the department 's coffers”(pg. 124).
How have race and class influenced the functioning of the criminal justice system, especially in relation to policing, the enforcement of drug laws, and sentencing? Do you agree or disagree with Alexander’s contention that the current criminal justice system has resulted in a “New Jim Crow”? Why or why not? How has the War in Drugs impacted low-income people and communities of color, particularly African Americans? The war on drugs have made it difficulties for people to find jobs and be able to survive.