Ava DuVernay, a movie director and screenwriter, produced the film 13th to inform her audience how the 13th amendment has affected America’s criminal justice system.Taking a serious approach, DuVernay covers historical events, such as slavery, to present day events that have played a key role in the creation of America’s criminal justice system. This visual presentation demonstrates how corrupt the system is through the interviews, the background music and statistics. She utilizes interviewees from both the White and African American community in order to receive both perspectives. The source is organized by a timeline. She begins by doing a brief overview of slavery and the passing of the 13th amendments. Then, she discusses how these events…
In class, we discussed the role of the criminal justice system and that the law does not bring justice to all. This relates to 13th in that the majority of American citizens manipulated the law to unfairly demonize minorities and expand the prison population. This expansion in prison population began with a loophole for slavery and has continued through today as a means to maintain the corporate interests in the prison system. The documentary continues with describing the labels minority youths experience as a result of these years of discrimination in the criminal justice…
In the documentary, 13th, the director, Ava DuVernay, conducts a detailed analysis of the system of mass incarceration in America. More specifically, how the prison structure of America affects people of color. The 13th amendment may have physically removed the shackles that enslaved African Americans, but replaced them with “mass incarceration, police brutality and policies that have continually disenfranchised people of color.”…
On April 19, 1989 a white female jogger was attacked and raped in Center Park, NY. The jogger was twenty-eight-year-old investment banker, Trisha Meili. The attack on the female jogger left her in a coma for 12 days. Five juvenile males—four black and one of Hispanic descent—were wrongfully convicted of the attack, each one sentence ranged from five to fifteen years. Five years prior to the Central Park Five another individual by the name of Ronald Cotton was wrongful convicted of the rape of twenty-two year-old college senior Jennifer Thompson Cannino. Ronald Cotton spent over ten years in prison before DNA evidence pardoned him of any and all wrong doing. Ronald was thirty-two upon his release. Were these wrongful conviction of these individuals…
In his article, “On Death Row, but Is He Innocent,” Kristof argues that the Justice system is broken and Kevin Cooper was framed because of his race. He supports his opinion with quotes from the judge, William A. Fletcher, along with Fletcher’s dissent of points to Copper’s innocence and quotes from Cooper’s lawyers asking for another DNA testing. Kristof and I share similar opinions. From my point of view, the justice system has always been racially biased. Not all Police Officers are biased but the majority of black people are convicted of felonies they did not commit. Many blacks are even killed for being near the crime scene. For Example, in June a black man named Dylan Noble was killed. Officers were told that someone was walking down…
The death of Trayvon Martin sparked a fire. It caused individuals not only in the Florida community but throughout the land to ask for social change within the legal system. An innocent boy’s murdering has been compared to the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955. Trayvon Martin’s death has moved societal groups in a way that has not been seen in over forty years. Many individuals across the nation are angered that a young man who supposedly was just minding his business has been shoot by a man in his twenties because of a set suspicion. This man, now arrested, had been walking free for weeks. This anger instilled in people has caused millions of people to sign petitions, organize rallies, and hold vigils. NBA players have…
"An institution or reform movement that is not selfish, must originate in the recognition of some evil that is adding to the sum of human suffering, or diminishing the sum of happiness." This quote by suffragist and philanthropist Clara Barton so eloquently describes the issues within the United States prison system and its desperate need to for reformation. Chapter four of The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander brought forth the gaspingly oppressive sector of prison (via the judicial branch). Alexander illuminated the reader to the realities of the United States prison system and the covert nuances of racism, discrimination, and the mechanisms brought forth to perpetuate 'legal slavery' in America. In regards to the major points of the chapter, the author described: the effect of prison on society, African Americans relationship in regards to prison- i.e. their chances to go and the societal influences that make African Americans disproportionately susceptible to the prison system- as well as the person's role in society after they are released from prison.…
Who knew that an uprising that occurred in the fall of 1971 at a New York correctional facility would help change the American penal system forever? It was the culmination of a storm that had been brewing for months. There was a tension between the guards and inmates that had not gone unnoticed. With little to no attention given to the circumstances of the inmates, they had had enough.…
At the age of twenty, most are still learning to grow up and figure their lives out. But what they don’t expect, is to spend the next twenty- one years of their life on death row. Unfortunately, this was the reality for Nick Yarris. Based on his novel, “The Fear of 13”, is a documentary which tells the chilling story of Yarris’s life and the mistreatment he faced against the Pennsylvania Prison (2015). Yarris spent two decades on death row, on the charges of the abduction, rape and murder of Linda Mae Craig, a woman he had never met (The Fear of 13 2015). This documentary shows how the labelling theory and low self-control theory can perpetuate deviant behaviour. And Nick Yarris’s story is the reality that continues to haunt the American justice system.…
In the book, A place to Stand, by Jimmy Santiago Baca, Baca writes about prison and how being incarcerated can have impact on a person and their family. With the most beautiful, strong and poetic language, Baca tells us the story of all the people who faces difficult times in order to find their place in the world. Baca always felt like he had no place to stand in society because, all of his life he was put down by his family and friends. From the age of five Baca experienced his dad and uncles going in and out of jail from being addicted to alcohol. Baca knew he would eventually end up in jail sooner or later because that’s what he had experienced all of his life. Baca writes, “Whether I was approaching it or seeking escape from it, jail always defined in some way the measure of my life” (3). Baca felt that his life would always head in the wrong direction because of his family issues. Baca shows being in prison can cause a lot of emotional impact on a person’s life, as well as affect the community.…
You covered a lot of the main struggles of long incarcerations. I also agree that the person being incarcerated not only affects them, but also the family. I also agree that this leads to the mother having all the responsibility, and could put them the family into proverty. Long incarcerations definelty has a negative…
prison (Lee 235). Some African Americans think that the justice system is still not fair…
“I am convinced that imprisonment is a way of pretending to solve the problem of crime. It does nothing for the victims of crime, but perpetuates the idea of retribution, thus maintaining the endless cycle of violence in our culture. It is a cruel and useless substitute for the elimination of those conditions--poverty, unemployment, homelessness, desperation, racism, and greed--which are at the root of most punished crime. The crimes of the rich and powerful go mostly unpunished.” (Howard Zinn) This quote simplifies my evolved awareness of the issue concerning crime and the criminal justice system has grown. Beginning this unit I had a basic…
Primary Text: One day I was listening to the radio station 106.5 in the morning, and they were talking about a woman who was petitioning to have her son have a parole hearing. She stated that her son had received a life sentence at the age of 10 in which he was charged as an adult, he was now 27. I couldn’t believe that our justice system would take a child’s life away from them.…
Prison is a long and lonely road to go down and with some of the craziest laws in the country, it's not always clear why people go to prison or if the reasoning is even valid. The best thing that you could do to help pass the time is to write a letter to someone that desperately needs it. Things You'll Need: * pen * paper * envelope * stamp * photos Step 1: There are a lot of things to remember when writing to a prisoner. The first thing is that you cannot talk about anything that is illegal. You can't give them escape plans, tell them how to build a bomb from toothpaste and you cannot talk to them about committing crimes or crimes that you have committed. Also when you are writing your letters, you can't write in code or another language, this is…