Mass Incarceration in the US as the New Jim Crow - Case Study Example

Mass incarceration in United s as the new Jim Crow Introduction During the period between 1880’s and the 1960’s Most of the American regions were governed by the infamous Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws provided legal frameworks that abolished interaction among people from different races in America. Additionally, the laws outlined that the whites were more superior to people from other races. Because the black people were the majority of the minority groups in the country most of these laws targeted the black community. Therefore, most of the basic services and high quality services were restricted to the whites while the black people had no option but to live as second-class citizens. Nonetheless, based on vigorous efforts by the minority to facilitate the abolishment of these laws the laws were completely abolished in the 1960’s. This created an opportunity for the black people to integrate with people from other communities. However, in her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness; Michelle Alexander asserts that, despite the abolishment of the Jim Crow laws majority of the black people have been victims of mass incarceration which has eventually disoriented them form the society. This has been because the societal framework in the United States has facilitated the incarceration of most blacks as opposed to people from other communities. Therefore, the following analysis aims to establish the validity of Michelle’s assertions that regardless of the abolishment of the Jim Crow Laws, the social and legal framework of the United States has set up mass incarceration to be the new Jim Crow. Discussion In her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander observes that the basic constitutional rights of the black people have been denied based on the level of color branding in the society. For instance, Jarvious Cotton has been over the years branded a felon in a situation similar to most black people in the United States community. As a result, most black people who have fallen under the unfortunate generalization of being felons cannot take part in general elections (Alexander 2010). In this case, Michelle Alexander observes that the basic constitutional rights of the people for the have been denied based on a perception as opposed to a fact about their identity. Moreover, the perception of people from the black community has not always been positive in modern day America. Similarly, the perception of the black people during the Jim Crow laws era contributed greatly to the ill treatment of the people from the black community. The term Jim Crow Laws was derived from a white actor who portrayed the role of a black slave in the American society (Tischauser, 1). Therefore, based on the portrayal of the black man as a slave it is evident that the laws were structured based on a describing the blacks second-class citizen. This is because the role of slaves during the Jim Crow era was to work for the first class citizens, which in this case referred to the Whites. Hence, during the Jim Crow era the people from the black community were treated as inferior people in the society based on the perception that they were inferior beings who only deserved to work for the whites. Moreover, blacks were abolished to participate in basic social activities such as sports since the sports were meant for the white people who were considered more superior (Martin 1). On the other hand, based on the current situation of the black people Michelle Alexander observes that the perception of black people as inferior beings has been based on felony insinuations. Hence, whereas, the previous perception of blacks as slaves during the Jim Crow era has been fading away, the new perception of blacks as felons has slowly reinforced the image of blacks as the inferior people in the American community. On the other hand, the connection between the New Jim Crow and the original Jim Crow as observed by Michelle Alexander has been due to the legal structure in the United States. The current American legal system is deliberately structured to segregate the black people from the rest of the communities. During the Jim Crow era between the 1880’s and 1960’s the Laws were purposely structured to distinguish between the whites and people of color (National Park service). It is noteworthy, that the legal system was not only aimed at distinguishing people of color from the whites but was also aimed at highlighting the priorities that the white people had over the people of color legally. For instance, law did not recognize any marriage between the Black people and white people. Moreover, the Jim Crow laws outlined the basic infrastructure and social amenities were not to be shared. This segregation also created high quality infrastructure for the White people while the people of color had to contend with poor quality infrastructure (National park service). Similarly, the legal system in modern day America involves profiling crimes committed by the minority. In this case, the minority majorly consists of black people. Based on the level of incarcerations in the globe America leads with the highest number of incarceration. Nevertheless, based on statistics the level of the justice system in the United States has been structured to catch offenders that are likely to be committed by the people from the black community (Alexander 6). However, due to the justice system it is evident that people of color are the majority in jails due to drug related offences. This is despite the statistics showing that drug related offences are more prevalent in white communities as opposed to being prevalent in colored communities (Alexander 7). Therefore, the legal system has been structured on the presumption that taking people to prison would contribute to the decline of level of crimes in the society. However as Alexander notes, there is no correlation between taking people to prison and reducing the level of crimes in the society (Alexander 8). Therefore, the flaws of the legal system in the modern day era still contribute to the segregation of the black people from the society. Subsequently, the effect of mass incarceration with regard to contributing to similar conditions that existed during the Jim Crow era has been due to social acceptability. The social system In the United States still perceives the Black people in the society to be major contributors of societal issues while the white people are perceived to be the victims of the societal issues (Exum). Nevertheless, the social acceptability of the treatment of black people in the society only contributes to the aggravation of situation. The black people have been widely accepted to be the criminals in the United States. However, the incarceration of the black people actually turns most of the black people into criminals. This is because taking black people to prisons robs them off their ability to participate in critical social and economic projects (Alexander, 8). As a result, this produces a cycle, which eventually becomes acceptable for people in the society to view the treatment of black people to deserve that kind of treatment. This was also evident during the Jim Crow era. When the Jim Crow laws prohibited the black people from voting or marrying the White people, the white people gradually accepted the laws to be the appropriate treatment of the black people. Consequently, during that era the white people greatly frowned upon relationships with the black people (Tischauser 5). This form of acceptance has also gradually crept into the current society. As Alexander notes, whereas the rate of unwarranted incarceration of black people has been evident most civil society have overlooked this issue and focused on other societal issues (Alexander 5). Likewise, whereas Michelle Alexander points out the extent of mass incarceration to be a modern day Jim Crow, the level of black segregation can be perceived to be less severe in the modern day American society. For instance, Michelle points out that the election of Barrack Obama could highlight purported acceptance of the black people in the society (Alexander 14). This could be a large indication of the lack of credence on Alexander’s assertion. Nonetheless, this can still be established to be a secluded case based on the high rate of unwarranted incarcerated black people in the United States. Conclusion In conclusion, the mass incarceration in the United States has provided a new dimension towards the incarceration of the minority in the United States. With the intentional structuring of the justice system to capture the black people, there have been legal implications that have disoriented the black people from the society. Whereas, the abolishment of the Jim Crow Laws was achieved a long time ago the mass incarceration has had similar effects on the black people. As a result, mass incarceration can be perceived to be the new Jim Crow. Annotated bibliography Exum, Jelani Jefferson. "The Influence of Past Racism on Criminal Injustice: A Review of the New Jim Crow and the Condemnation of Blackness." American Studies 52.1 (2012): 143-154. The Ability to establish the level of the new Jim Crow laws can be achieved through analyzing the narratives that describe the timeline of events that led to the old Jim Crow and the current Jim Crow. The two significant narratives with regard to establishing the similarities between the current Jim Crow and the original Jim Crow are THE NEW JIM CROW: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander and THE CONDEMNATION OF BLACKNESS: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America by Khalil Gibran Muhammad. In the book The New Jim Crow the author analyses the current situation and the historical events during the Jim Crow era and establishes that racism is still rife In America. Alexander identifies that the modern day social structure relies on the justice system to segregate the blacks from the society by targeting the crimes that are presumed to be prevalent among the blacks. On the other hand, Muhammad draws his conclusions from various historical injustices and sociologists’ theory to prove that black criminalization began way before the Jim Crow era. Through statistical evidence and theories to back up his assertions Muhammad proves that blacks have over the years been branded through criminal activities. National Park service. Jim Crow Laws. Web. 4 December 2014. The separation of the black people from the whites in the society was implemented through the Jim Crow laws that were implemented between the 1880’s and 1960’s. These laws criminalized the association of people form different races. The laws ensured that all the infrastructure and social services were designated for people form white race or the colored race. Failure to adhere these rules was punishable under remedies outlined in the Jim Crow laws. In order to ensure that interaction was restricted to specific races, the Jim Crow laws also stipulated that the marriage between whites and people form colored races were void and could not be recognized under the Jim Crow laws. Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: The New Press. 2010. Print. The author of the book supposes that the legal institutions created during the Jim Crow era are similar to the mass incarceration in the United States with regard to segregating blacks through victimization. During the Jim Crow Era the segregation laws were used to create social policies that would reduce interaction among races which was perceived to be a crime during the period. On the other hand, mass incarceration in the United States is used to create social policies that will presumably reduce rate of crime in the United States. However, an analysis of both policies outlines that none of the laws is effective in reducing the social ills in the country. Moreover, the Jim Crow Laws and mass incarceration have both led to the denial of fundamental rights among the black people. Based on the detrimental effects of the mass incarceration among the blacks the author supposes that mass incarceration is deliberate since the authority does not seem to combat unwarranted arrests of black people. Boyd, Graham. "The Drug War is the New Jim Crow." NACLA Report on the Americas 35.1 (2001): 18-22. The methods used to implement the war on drugs in United States have been proven to be futile. Nevertheless, the government of the United States has insisted on employing the same methods in the fight against drugs. Moreover, the government of the United States has promised to incarcerate more drug offenders in the United States. Consequently, the war on drugs has provided the government the right to infringe the rights of American under the pretext of war on drugs. This has been due to random arrests and ability to access people’s property at any instance. Unlike normal crimes the war on drugs does not require witnesses or proof beyond reasonable doubt but only requires suspicion by the authority. Likewise, regardless of the fact that the rate of drug use is a similar among blacks and whites, the blacks are the majority of the victims of the war on drugs. This is despite the fact that most regions even have a significantly high rate of drug use among the white people. Godsil, Rachel D. "RACE NUISANCE: THE POLITICS OF LAW IN THE JIM CROW ERA." Michigan law review 105.3 (2006): 505-57. Whereas the Jim Crow laws were mainly used to promote white supremacy and inhibit the freedom of the black people, there have been instances where white people have been on the receiving ends of these laws. The Jim Crow laws were mainly structured to draw the line between White’s people property and black people property. In this case, the Jim Crow Laws essential created regions where only black people lived and other regions restricted to white people only. Therefore, most white people sought to enlist the help of The Jim Crow laws to portray the Black people as a nuisance or trespassers. The white people used the Jim Crow laws as a shield against the Black people. A case that highlighted this issue was the Falloon v. Schilling. The Accuser who was a white property owner used the Jim Crow laws to prevent a black neighbor from moving into the neighboring property. However, the court essentially ruled against the plaintiff. Therefore, regardless of the fact that these laws clearly promoted racial segregation the laws also depended on the legal system which at times would be extremely brutal to the blacks or would in rare cases come to their aid. Works Cited Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: The New Press. 2010. Print. Boyd, Graham. "The Drug War is the New Jim Crow." NACLA Report on the Americas 35.1 (2001): 18-22. Exum, Jelani Jefferson. "The Influence of Past Racism on Criminal Injustice: A Review of the New Jim Crow and the Condemnation of Blackness." American Studies 52.1 (2012): 143-154. Godsil, Rachel D. "RACE NUISANCE: THE POLITICS OF LAW IN THE JIM CROW ERA." Michigan law review 105.3 (2006): 505-57. Martin, Charles. Benching Jim Crow: The Rise and Fall of the Color Line in Southern College Sports, 1890-1980. Illinois: University of Illinois. 2010. Print. National Park service. Jim Crow Laws. Web. 4 December 2014. Tischauser, Leslie. Jim Crow Laws. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. 2012. Print. Read More