Dakota Dickey – Mass Incarceration

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.

She explains that the main reasons for people to be sent to Jail in modern day American society is mainly due to the “war on drugs”. Which in many ways is a continuation of the persecution of blacks due to slavery then during the civil rights area and “law and order” (which is from our second reading “the new Jim Crow”). The problem and the deeply wrong thing is the policies that are targeting the poor communities.

My Comment on Dakota’s Questions:

I think that this is a good first attempt but it needs much more work. Alexander states in her text that the common belief why so many people, in the US, are sent to jail is wrong. You need to provide a reason why Alexander thinks so based on her book. Please re-read the passage. Professor Artinian has given a good explanation in a video. The video is useful. Listen to it. 

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

A segment that left an impression from “the new Jim Crow” pg 5 speaks about how the Reagan administration hired many staffers to publicize the emergence of crack in the community in 1985. This was all in an effort to build support for predicting people in the name of the “drug war” the issues was focused on crack. As we read in this passage but also we know from real life that all people do drugs and commit drug related crimes.

My Comments on Dakota’s Question

Please also redo question #2 after reading the text and then provide an answer.  Ensure that your answer reflects what Michelle Alexander is saying in the text. You mention the following: “This was all in an effort to build support for predicting people………”, please explain? 

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

The system has related more to social control because it has kept a group of people down in the society. I understand this because you see it in the planning of the system of residential infrastructure. The social control has manifested in many ways but the policies persecuting certain groups of people for drug related crimes. Even though all social groups participate in these illicit activities.  Similar to in England, how they outlawed gin by whiskey legal.  Whiskey was a drink of the high class and gin was a drink of the working class or a lower class of people. 

My Comment on Dakota’s Question:

Please read and study the text and then re-answer the question. Please also read the question, again. You have made an analogy about “Whiskey” but try to focus on the question and provide an answer to the best of your ability.

Ronald C Hinds May 31, 2025

POL 100 A0506

Discussion Board 2.1:  Thinking about Mass Incarceration and Politics

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 various examples she mentions to back up her point. (see p. 1-2).

Michelle Alexander makes the point that the commonly held view that the prison population is so high is not because of the over zealousness of the government’s crackdown on drugs.  It is actually more about the government’s War on Drugs, which was launched in 1982. She says that “an illegal drug crisis suddenly appeared in the black community after-not before-a drug war was declared”. She also posits an admission from the vaunted Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that drug networks were helping to fund a covert pro-Contra war in Nicaragua, Central America. CIA supported guerrilla armies were smuggling illegal drugs into the US. These drugs found their way into the ghettos. President Ronald Reagan’s anti-communist/anti-Soviet stance included an effort to defeat the Sandinistas and their hold in Nicaragua. In the United States the War on Drugs resulted in the incarceration of thousands of black people and people of color. The War on Drugs became an actual war in the black ghettos. Alexander also mentions that the “crack crisis” fueled speculation, in the black community, that this war was a plan to destroy blacks in the US.

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

In racist America where whites and blacks use and sell illegal drugs, and, where studies show that white youth are more likely to engage in drug crimes than blacks, there can only be one logical explanation as to the racial disparities in the rates of incarceration of blacks. By way of comparison, statistics show that between 1960 and 1990, in Finland, Northern Europe, the rate of incarceration fell by 60%, but in the US, the rate quadrupled. The black population, in Finland, between 1960 and 1990, was quite tiny.

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 the phrase to be a truism because in capitalist America black and Hispanic people are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. Blacks make up 14.4% of the total population and Hispanics 19.1%. In major cities where there is the devastation of the population because of the drug war, 80% of blacks, have criminal records. This locks them out of meaningful participation in the society and is a form of social control to keep blacks in their place. Just as slavery was a drastic form of social control, the current American penal system has emerged as a new system of social control.

1- Michelle Alexander believes that the reason why so many people are sent to jail in the U.S. today is deeply wrong and thinks that the system is set up in a way to keep young black and brown people. An example that Michelle Alexander explains is that politicians used something called “law and order” which was a term that politicians said to crack down on crime and make the streets safer. For example, “Southern governors and law enforcement officials often characterized these tactics as criminal and argued that the rise of the Civil Rights Movement was indicative of a breakdown of law and order”.

2- Racial disparities in the rates of incarceration “cannot be explained by rates of drug crimes because all types of races use drugs, but mostly black and brown races get incarcerated than other white races. I think this is an issue because black minorities neighborhoods get more policed than white neighborhoods.

3. The way I understand the phrase “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history” is how they social groups like black and Latino men incarcerated to control them and not actual keep them there because of the crime they committed.

“

1. M. Alexander points out that the common explanation for why so many people go to jail in the U.S. is because theres more crime and drug use happening. But she argues that the system is really designed to control Black conmmunities through things like the War on Drugs and tough sentencing laws. For example, she talks about how even though drug use is similar across races, Black people get arrested and punished way more. So, it’s less about crime itself and more about racial control and social control built into the system.

2. Racial disparities in incarceration rates can’t be explained by drug crime rates because Black and white people use and sell drugs at similar rates. So, even though drug crimes happen at about the same level across races, Black people are arrested and sentenced much more often. This shows that the difference in incarceration isn’t about who commits more drug crimes but about unfair targeting and punishment in the justice system.

3. This phrase means that the U.S. prison system works as a unique and massive way to control and restrict mainly Black people, beyond just punishing crimes. According to Alexander, it’s a new kind of social control that keeps people caught up in the justice system in a way that’s never happened before anywhere else.

1) Michelle Alexander argues that the usal explanaion for why so many people are in jail in the U.S today is wrong. Many people believe it is because there is more crime or because people are committing more crimes. However, Alexander explains that the criminal justice system that is set up in a way that unfairly targets certain groups of people, especially Black Americans. The system is not just about stopping crime, but also about controlling specific populations. This means that people are sent to jail not only because of their actions but because of how the laws are enforced and how the system treats different groups differently.

2)Michelle Alexander argues that racial disparities in incarceration especially for drug offenses cannot be explained simply by who is using or selling drugs. Research has shown that people of all races use and sell drugs at roughly the same rates. Despite this, Black and brown individuals are arrested and imprisoned at far higher rates than white people. This suggests that the issue is not about the actual behavior of different racial groups, but about how the criminal justice system operates. The system does not treat everyone equally. Law enforcement policies, court practices, and sentencing laws are often applied in ways that disproportionately affect communities of color. Police are more likely to patrol and target poor neighborhoods where people of color live, even though drug use happens in all communities, including wealthy or predominantly white ones. Once someone is arrested, they often face harsher penalties if they are Black or Latino, and they are more likely to be convicted or sentenced to longer prison terms.

3) This phrase means that the prison system in the United States is not just about locking up people who break the law, it is also being used as a powerful tool to control certain groups of people, especially Black and brown communities. Michelle Alexander argues that the criminal justice system has become so massive and widespread that it now serves a much larger purpose than just crime prevention or public safety. The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and this did not happen by accident. Policies like the War on Drugs, tough on crime laws, and harsh sentencing rules have led to the imprisonment of huge numbers of people, most who are poor and people of color. After they are released, many continue to be controlled through probation, parole, and laws that take away their rights like the right to vote, get certain jobs, or receive public assistance.

In The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander challenges the common belief that high incarceration rates in the U.S. are due to high crime rates, especially drug crime. Instead, she argues that mass incarceration is largely the result of targeted political policies specifically, the War on Drugs which disproportionately affect poor communities of color. According to Alexander, this “war” has been used as a tool for social control, continuing a long legacy of racial oppression that began with slavery, continued through Jim Crow segregation, and was rebranded during the Civil Rights era with calls for “law and order.”

She highlights that the Reagan administration, in particular, played a key role in shaping public perception. On page 5, she explains how officials hired media staff to intentionally hype the emergence of crack cocaine in inner-city neighborhoods. This campaign helped generate public fear and support for harsh drug laws. But Alexander points out that drug use occurs across all racial groups at similar rates—yet people of color, especially Black Americans, are far more likely to be arrested, convicted, and sentenced.

This is why she argues that racial disparities in incarceration rates cannot be explained by drug crime rates. The real issue is not who uses or sells drugs, but how law enforcement chooses to respond—and who they choose to police most aggressively. The system was designed to criminalize certain communities while appearing colorblind on the surface.

When Alexander says the American penal system has become a form of social control “unparalleled in world history,” I understand this to mean that the scale and structure of U.S. incarceration is not just about punishing crime. It’s about managing and marginalizing a specific population mainly poor Black and Brown Americans. Much like the example from British history where gin (a drink of the poor) was outlawed while whiskey (a drink of the wealthy) was not, drug laws in the U.S. criminalize behaviors most associated with disadvantaged groups while allowing similar behaviors among the privileged to go unpunished.

Alexander’s work made me think critically about how laws are written and enforced and who they are really designed to serve or control.

1.Alexander says its deeply wrong because it locks them into a caste system forever just like the Jim Crow laws. That even some people who have family that have felonies on their record are impacted even if they don’t have any crime record. As the Jim crows were being thrown away the government could only laugh nervously about incarcerating black and brown due to their disparity. They are covering up and taking something that is seen as bad in society because the government/ conservatives don’t feel in control.
2. Racial disparites cannot be explained by drug rate crimes because all people of color were doing the same amount of drugs because it was more accessible.
3. I understand this phrase as while other countries were declining in incarceration United States went 4 times higher because of different motivations to control the minority.

1. Michelle Alexander argues that the main reason why so many people are sent to jail today is rooted in the belief that increased drug use in black and brown areas was the result of their high incarceration rates. She believes that this view is wrong due to the fact that the War on Drugs was launched in 1982 by Ronald Reagan and his administration — 3 whole years before crack cocaine began to spread in poor black neigborhoods. She argued that the war on drugs began during an era when drug use was facing a decline. The CIA later came out in 1988 that “guerrilleare armies it actively supported in Nicaragua were smuggling illegal drugs into the U.S — drugs that were making their way onto the streets of inner city black neighborhoods — The CIA also admitted that in the midst of the war on drugs it blocked law enforcement efforts to investigate illegal drug networks that were helping fund its covert war in Nicaragua.”’
2. Racial disparities in incarceration rates cannot be explained solely by drug crime rates because studies reveal that people of all races use and sell drugs at similar rates. To back up this claim Michelle Alexander states “If there are significant differences in the surveys to be found, they frequently suggest that whites, particularly white youth, are more likely to engage in drug crime than people of color.”
3. The phrase “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history” suggests to me that the U.S. penal system has become an unjust  mechanism for managing and controlling a significant portion of the population. The scale of incarceration, particularly among minority communities, indicates that this penal system functions not only as a means of punishment but also as a tool to regulate and maintain social order. “Governments decide how much punishment they want, and these decisions are in no simple way related to crime rates”.

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)

She explains that the main reasons for people to be sent to Jail in modern day American society is mainly due to the “war on drugs”. Which in many ways is a continuation of the persecution of blacks due to slavery then during the civil rights area and “law and order” (which is from our second reading “the new Jim Crow”). The problem and the deeply wrong thing is the policies that are targeting the poor communities.  

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

A segment that left an impression from “the new Jim Crow” pg 5 speaks about how the Reagan administration hired many staffers to publicize the emergence of crack in the community in 1985. This was all in an effort to build support for predicting people in the name of the “drug war” the issues was focused on crack. As we read in this passage but also we know from real life that all people do drugs and commit drug related crimes. 

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

The system has related more to social control because it has kept a group of people down in the society. I understand this because you see it in the planning of the system of residential infrastructure. The social control has manifested in many ways but the policies persecuting certain groups of people for drug related crimes. Even though all social groups participate in these illicit activities.  Similar to in England, how they outlawed gin by whiskey legal.  Whiskey was a drink of the high class and gin was a drink of the working class or a lower class of people.