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 back up her point. (See p. 1-2)

Most people believe the War on Drugs was started in response to the crack cocaine issue in inner-city areas, and minorities being incarcerated is nothing but the government plan. M. Alexander claims that the main explanation of why so many people are sent to jail in the U.S. today is deeply wrong because the government targets poor, minority neighborhoods and people of color. I believe that Michelle Alexander claims that the government racially discriminates against black or poor, minority neighborhoods to have control over them, and that’s why they are being charged with drug crimes. You can see this when Michelle Alexander states “This view holds that the racial disparities in drug convictions and sentences, as well as the rapid explosion of the prison population, reflect nothing more than the government’s zealous—but benign—efforts to address rampant drug crime in poor, minority neighborhoods.”

2. Why is it that racial disparities in the rates of incarceration “cannot be explained by rates of drug crimes”?

The criminal justice system purposely attacks communities of color. The rater of drug crimes cannot explain it because even if a white person were being charged with the same crime as a black person, the white person has the privilege to get fewer years in prison than a black person would receive. For example, “In some states, black men have been admitted to prison on drug charges at rates twenty to fifty times greater than those of white men.” This demonstrates how racial disparities in incarceration rates “cannot be explained by rates of drug crimes” because of the discrimination against black people.

3. How do you understand the phrase: “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history.”?

The phrase “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history.”? Translates to in world history, the American prison system has developed as a mechanism of social control unequaled.