After the end of the Civil War, many people, especially blacks, mistakenly thought it was the end of discrimination and the beginning of fairness, and an egalitarian society. Michelle Alexander in her book, “The New Jim Crow” argues that racial discrimination has been institutionalized, particularly by the United States justice system. The target group, as expected, is African Americans. Alexander gives an interesting account of a generation that has been discriminated against and denied the right to vote since the slavery period. She presents Jarvious Cotton, an African American, who cannot vote just like his great-great grandfather, great grandfather, grandfather, and father (Alexander, 2012). Cotton’s great-great grandfather could not vote because he was a slave, and did not have voting rights. His great-grandfather was beaten to death by the Ku Klux Klan for trying to vote, while his grandfather was stopped from voting by the group’s intimidation. His father was prevented from voting by the literacy tests and the poll taxes. Cotton himself, as Alexander mentions, cannot vote because he has been labeled a felon and is on parole. Agreeably, Alexander’s arguments about discrimination of African Americans through the biased justice system are valid, and there seemingly is a tacit attempt to control blacks by the justice system.
Most of the statistics compiled in regard to offending and incarcerations in the United States show that blacks are likely to commit crimes. According to Spalter-Roth (2007), African Americans, who were approximately 12.7 percent of the total United States population by 2003, were apprehended for 37 percent violent crimes. In this respect, violent crimes comprise of forcible rape, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, robbery and aggravated assault. On the same note, African Americans were arrested for 29 percent of property crimes in the same year. Spalter-Roth (2007) also observes that blacks are also victims of serious violent crimes at rates higher than whites. Specifically, Spalter-Roth posits that blacks are six times more likely to be killed than whites. Despite the high risk of blacks to murder, the justice system continues to label them as criminals, something that makes the black population to be a target of the various crime prevention policies.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The war on drugs from a rational perspective is important. There are individuals who are smuggling drugs into the United States and selling them mainly to young people. It is a justified war, which needs to be fought vehemently. However, it is suspicious to note that statistics throughout the years depict the blacks as those most likely to smuggle and sell drugs in the United States. A comparison between the criminal penalties for powder cocaine and crack cocaine offenses demystifies how the criminal justice system is unfair towards the black people. The federal statutes prescribe a five-year sentence for individuals caught with the possession of five grams of crack cocaine. Interestingly, under the same law, individuals caught with five hundred grams of powder cocaine serve for the same five-year prison term (Spalter-Roth, 2007). That implies that an individual caught with five grams of powder cocaine will serve a shorter prison term or won’t even be sentenced. On the contrary, an individual caught with five hundred grams of crack cocaine may never leave prison at all.
The tough policy on crack cocaine was founded on the belief that it caused a bigger threat to public safety, and was more addictive. However, Spalter-Roth (2007) opines that crack cocaine was associated with more economic competition in illicit street crack markets and caused violence among the minority communities (blacks), but not addiction. On the other hand, powder cocaine was mostly sold by wealthier communities indoors. There was less violence among the wealthier communities but the addiction was much higher. Evidently, the law emphasized more on the criminal than on public health. In this case, a black found with five grams of crack cocaine would be incarcerated while a white found with the same quantity of powder cocaine would likely be released or receive a lighter sentence. Besides, the war on drugs is supposed to cushion the public from harmful effects of the drugs. Therefore, if the intention of the justice system was to prevent drug abuse, then smuggling and selling crack and powder cocaine need to carry the same prison term.
In regard to bailouts, it has been increasingly difficult for blacks to be released. Authorities defend the process by saying that being freed depends on computer algorithms, and not through personal opinions. Nevertheless, it is also questionable on how those algorithms are derived. Since the public cannot see how those algorithms are achieved, it is possible for malicious individuals to interfere with them. Currently, many states are considering releasing some offenders on bail terms but continue to monitor them. However, the surveillance mainly targets the minority groups, blacks in this case. According to the bail terms, those on parole cannot move past a certain radius, cannot participate in some activities, and cannot enjoy some rights and freedoms. Any breach of the set terms triggers police response, a situation that creates more justification for the justice system to detain the blacks longer (Alexander, 2018). Therefore, to avoid such scenarios, those released on parole have to stay indoors. Consequently, it becomes difficult for the blacks to seek for jobs, go to school, or access other crucial services. Someone who cannot access such services is likely to languish in more poverty.
It is also common to find more police surveillance in black neighborhoods. Admittedly, these neighborhoods experience more poverty than areas where the whites are a majority. It seems the police automatically know that since the blacks live in poor conditions, they will always engage in violence and other criminal activities. The police presence, therefore, is anticipatory, rather than genuine maintenance of law and order. Their overwhelming presence also demonstrates that they already knowingly label places with concentration of blacks as crime centers (Braga, & Brunson, 2015). The treatment of blacks in these places by the police also shows the determination of the justice system to infringe on the rights of the blacks. For instance, young black males are mostly the targets and are often subjected to impromptu searches (Butler, 2017). Any attempt to refuse the police searches results into brutal treatment such being handcuffed forcefully, being beaten, and even shot. Populist politicians usually support this treatment in the disguise of keeping the country safe. The black people try to resist the discrimination through demonstrations, but it seems such methods work to their disadvantage because the police respond by spraying pepper at them, shoot teargas, rubber or even live bullets. Therefore, the blacks find themselves cornered.
In conclusion, it is increasingly becoming evident that black people are being controlled by the justice system as well as other law enforcement agencies. Statistics continually show that blacks have high incarceration rates, and are likely to offend, even though they are only a minority group. As seen by the disparities in the penalties for crack and powder cocaine offenses, it is possible that most of the laws and policies target the blacks more than the whites. Overwhelming police surveillance around black communities also shows that there is stereotyping of blacks as criminals, and the huge police presence is meant to intimidate, arrest, and imprison them. Therefore, this is a new Jim Crow system, which is meant to control the blacks and lock them out of various opportunities.
References
Alexander, M. (2012). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness . The New Press.
Alexander, M. (2018). The Newest Jim Crow: Recent criminal justice reforms contain the seeds of a frightening system of “e-carceration.” The New York Times . https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/opinion/sunday/criminal-justice-reforms-race-technology.html
Braga, A. A., & Brunson, R. (2015). The Police and Public Discourse on" black-on-black" Violence . US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.
Butler, P. (2017). US justice is built to humiliate and oppress black men. The Guardian . https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/11/chokehold-police-black-men-paul-butler-race-america
Spalter-Roth, R. (2007). Race, Ethnicity, and the Criminal Justice System. American Sociological Association. http://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/savvy/images/press/docs/pdf/ASARaceCrime.pdf
