It sheds light on the fact that our criminal justice system is far from perfect.
It sheds light on the fact that our criminal justice system is far from perfect.
The movie 13th which is directed by Ava DuVernay and is featured on netflix primarily focuses on how the thirteenth amendment in the constitution has allowed for mass incarceration and criminalization to occur. Furthermore, the documentary demonstrates how the loophole in the thirteenth amendment was abused after the Civil War since many African Americans were arrested for minor crimes such as lottering. The documentary also argues that this was often used as a tactic to ensure that economic system in the South would remain the same. Additionally, the documentary examines how Nixon's proposal was really an effort to discriminate black communities and please the white voters.…
While working for the American Civil Liberties Union, Michelle Alexander’s perspective changed as she gained insight on the racial bias in our criminal justice system and how it has been altered throughout time. In The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindless, Alexander compares our current justice system to the Jim Crow laws of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which enforced racial segregation, by calling our system “The New Jim Crow.” Alexander describes America’s racial history in depth by covering slavery, the Civil War, reconstruction, and the Civil Rights Movement. The author also explains that The War on Drugs in the 1980s was not based on correct statistics about drug use, but rather to satisfy white…
In her film 13th, Ava DuVernay details the injustice of mass incarcerations and violence perpetuated by the Criminal Justice system of the United States. In her documentary, she sets the tone with a staggering statistic: a country with five percent of the world’s population hold twenty-five percent of all of the world’s prisoners. DuVernay creates a timeline to show the linear progression of African American’s movement into mass incarceration. DuVernay does this by starting at the end of slavery when black men and women were supposed to be made free. According to Khalil Muhammad, this left 4 million who were formerly slaves and an integral part of the southern economy free. In order to maintain the southern economy, the United…
Today, the number of deaths including black people in custody has continued and black people are disproportionally stopped and searched on streets. After the case of Macpherson life for the black community was expected to change, however to some it is known that the changes have been extremely disappointing. Black people feel they are less likely to get a decent job, they feel they are treated disproportionally by police, by being stopped and searched and within communities (Janet et al,…
While working for the American Civil Liberties Union, Michelle Alexander’s perspective changed as she gained insight on the racial bias in our criminal justice system and how it has been altered throughout time. In The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindless, Alexander compares our current justice system to the Jim Crow laws of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which enforced racial segregation, by calling our system “The New Jim Crow.”…
The film 13th explores race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States. The film mainly focuses on the history of how racial inequality came to be in the United States. Also the film mentions that in the United States’ prisons there are inordinate amount of African-Americans. Additionally a variety of different political activists and public figures from different backgrounds gave their view from Angela Davis, Bryan Stevenson, Van Jones, Newt Gingrich, Cory Booker, and many others.…
The film 13th by Ava DuVernay empowers and alerts the audience to the majority of the discrimination against people of color and especially black people that are victims of extreme predigest against them in so many different parts of life. The film does not signal out one or two individuals but singles out dozens of people in power, people who we think of as leaders, and huge organization that make laws for our country. DuVernays claims that we have not moved past the days of slavery and Jim Crow laws, instead we have just shifted and keep rewriting laws that have people of color in the crosshairs of a loaded gun. The United states claims to be the land of the free, yet we have 25% of the worlds prisoners, with only five percent of the world’s population. Among all the people who live in America black men make about 6.5%, however they represent over 40 percent of our prison system. The minority will always have to fight for equally…
In the prison system today, there has been an explosion of minorities being incarcerated for offenses that may not have gotten jail time if they had not been of a certain race. Although the overall numbers of incarcerations may have dropped just slightly for the first time in over 35 years, the amount of inmates remains to be a topic of concern. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, in 2003 almost 10.4 percent of black males who were between the ages of 25 to 29 were in prison compared to the rate of 2.4 percent for Hispanic males and a rate of 1.2 percent for white men. Why is there such a difference in these numbers? This paper will take a look at the growing trend. The last figures have shown that these figures have grown to 12 percent for black males, 3.7 percent for Hispanic males, and 1.6 percent for white males. This is a concern for the states that have prisons since the statistics show that by the end of 2002 most were operating at an average of 1 to 17 percent above their rated operating capacity. In 1990 the number of felony convictions in state courts was about 829,000. That number has grown to over 1,132,290 in 2006. The most current statistics (as of January 2010) have put the figure of people in state prison at about 1,404,053. Of all of the convictions that send a person to prison, the U.S. Bureau of Statistics has reported that about 69 percent of those have had prior convictions. That means that almost 20 percent of those in prison are repeat offenders. When studies were done asking the general public what reasons they…
Alexander, who for many years worked as a civil rights lawyer, uses her vast experience and knowledge concerning the criminal justice system to craft a meticulously researched argument that “colorblindness” is this generation’s most important civil rights issue. As the title indicates, she makes the bold claim that mass incarceration is the 21st century version of Jim Crow. This era in our racial history was one in which brutally devastating laws discriminated and segregated black populations. During Jim Crow, the idea of justice did not exist for black people within law enforcement or court systems. Though her argument is daring, Alexander successfully proves it by analyzing the criminal justice system. She discusses multiple ideas to formulate a case for individuals who are interested in social justice that refocus efforts to tackle the issue of over-populated prisons. In the books introduction, Alexander asserts that she is writing for an audience that cares deeply about racial justice, but also, she wants to empower individuals who have a impression that our nation’s criminal justice system is flawed, but do not have the data or evidence to back up their assumptions.…
Growing up in America, , as a black male in Philadelphia, Pa, throughout my life I have seen many of my ethnic group arrested and convicted for various crimes and offences. This has had a profound effect on my perspective of the Pennsylvania Judicial system, including police, courts and prison. Being in an environment that glorified violence, I saw young men fall victim to the delusion that we could avoid the consequences of crime. But I have also seen the unfairness of the system and the bad results of incarceration for individual and families. Since attending Community College of Philadelphia, I have taken two classes that have given me a better insight into this subject. Academic work for History 101 and English 102 have shown me the nation we live in has been built off the exploitation of lower class citizens, who as a result live in environments cut off from mainstream society. These citizens often experience discrimination as well.…
I had intended on going to the vigil Wednesday night (2/8) but much to my dismay, there was no vigil (or I missed it). So instead of attending a diversity event for this paper, I watched a documentary on Netflix called 13th. This film discusses the issue of racism in the United States criminal justice system; specifically relating to how the 13th amendment transformed the view of African Americans from slaves to criminals.…
Porter’s academic article, the author discusses the collective impact of justice involvement on communities of color and how recent social movements are challenging the issue of mass incarceration. Nicole D. Porter’s background includes managing The Sentencing Project’s state and local advocacy efforts on sentencing reform, voting rights, and eliminating racial disparities in the criminal justice system. The article stresses that the purpose of the movement is not to ignore or excuse criminal offences, but rather offers a new view of justice and how marginalized communities are disproportionately affected by the criminal justice system. Porter emphasizes that the movement “offers an opportunity to deepen the organizing narrative that will hopefully reverse harsh criminal justice practices and policies and shift public spending to social interventions that reduce law enforcement contact in the first place.” Her argument is centered around how mass incarceration has impacted the youth and how social movement like Black Lives Matter have influenced a push for social justice. Porter continues with her argument highlighting the disparities communities of color face as a result of mass incarceration including the inequities present within these areas and its collective impact on the…
Through a macroscopic lens, oppression is viewed as a systematic disconnect that is detrimental to those groups who are affected. The criminal justice system’s perspective on crime and victimization would be an astonishing point to describe the macroscopic oppression that occurs with incarcerate African American men. However, systematically, the overall goal of the criminal justice system is to protect society from harmful people who hinder improvement within the community. In regards to society, there is a bigger picture that is painted to reveal African Americans as being…
The shameful history of the United States is a burden that is currently affecting everything from education to legal policy. Racial segregation has taken a toll on society and the lives of many minorities. The American judicial system lacks the understanding of human potential by targeting low income minorities and subjugating them for petty misdemeanors. Due to racial discrimination, false allegations towards minorities have resulted in wrongfully incarcerated people for petty crimes; more than likely, they will serve longer sentences for these offenses than a Caucasian person would. Without the necessary resources provided, lack of social capital can inflict damage to their reputation and the overall racial perception society has on minorities.…
Since the year 1980 the numbers for incarcerated minorities has been staggering but for some reason they have always been higher than the whites. According to the new Census data, “In 1980, the number of blacks living in college dorms was roughly equal to the number in prison.” Following the years after 1980, minorities began to get a higher percentage each year, and these results are shown in the most recent census. Minorities and whites got treated differently when it came to suspecting crime and giving punishments for the crime especially after the war on drugs started. Throughout the years minorities in the U.S. are receiving high incarceration rates because of the drug war that eventually failed. People only blame the drug war to the reason why minorities have a high incarceration rate but there are more possible, exceptional reasons.…