1. M. Alexander claims that the main explanation of why so many people are sent to jail in the U.S. today is deeply wrong. Explain her argument by referring to the various examples she mentions to backup her point. (see p. 1-2)
Michelle Alexander claims that the conventional rationale for the United States’ high incarceration rates—which centers on the country’s war on drugs and growing rates of crime—is invalid. According to her, this narrative ignores historical context and systematic injustices, which results in an excessive number of Black and Brown populations being incarcerated. Alexander cites the effects of “get-tough” strategies, racial inequities in drug law enforcement, and discriminatory sentencing rules as examples of structural unfairness in the criminal justice system.
2. Why is it that racial disparities in the rates of incarceration “cannot be explained by rates of drug crimes”?
Studies regularly show that people of different races use and sell drugs at equal rates, consequently it is impossible to attribute racial differences in imprisonment rates to differences in drug crime rates alone. Despite this, compared to their white counterparts, Black people are disproportionately targeted for arrest and imprisoned for drug charges. People of color are unfairly incarcerated as a result of the criminal justice system’s systematic prejudices and structural inequities, which are exposed by the selective enforcement and unequal treatment.
3. How do you understand the phrase: “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history.”?
I understand that the phrase meant that the extent and influence of the American imprisonment policy surpass those of any other system in history. It suggests that the American criminal justice system has grown extremely large and powerful in controlling and governing social conduct, with far-reaching effects on both people and communities. This description conveys a level of monitoring and control over certain population groups that is unheard of in other nations or historical eras.
