1. Michelle Alexander argues that the disproportionate mass incarceration of minorities from drug related crimes are unfair and that minorities receive longer jail time than their white counterparts. M. Alexander states that Ronald Regan announced a drug war in 1982 before crack was even a problem in black neighborhoods. This led to the Regan administration leading a media campaign to publicize the crack epidemic to build support on the war on drugs. Because of that many black people were painted as “crack dealers” and “crack babies” which tarnished the image of many black people and other minorities. Alexander argues that this was all a genocidal plan from the government to destroy black people across America by influencing the public to be on the governments side and to believe that black and brown people were drug dealers all while the government supplies these neighborhoods with drugs.
2. The racial disparities cannot be explained by drug crimes because people of all races use and sell drugs at similar rates and that young white people were more prone to engage in drug crime than people of color. However black men are admitted into prisons with drug offenses with higher sentences and at a higher rate than white men. This shows how the government penalized minorities way higher than white people and ruined their lives forcing black men and other minorities to live with criminal records and face legal discrimination and other hardships.
3. This phrase means that the American penal system is a system that is a very different form of oppression which is very prevalent even in todays society as the American penal system is based on race and class and is very flawed. This phrase shows how America incarcerates more people than any other country globally and a big majority of its prisoners are ethnic minorities which shows how the government treats minorities

1. Michelle Alexander argues that the prevalent belief attributing high incarceration rates in the U.S. to crime rates, particularly drug offenses, is flawed. She asserts that racial disparities in incarceration cannot solely be attributed to differences in drug crime rates because studies show similar drug use rates among racial groups, yet minority groups are disproportionately incarcerated. The examples she presents highlight systemic biases and discriminatory practices within law enforcement and the justice system.
2. Racial disparities in incarceration rates cannot be solely explained by rates of drug crimes because studies show similar levels of drug use among different racial groups, yet minority communities experience significantly higher rates of incarceration. This suggests that factors beyond drug offenses, such as systemic biases and discriminatory practices within the criminal justice system, contribute to these disparities.
3. The phrase implies that the American penal system serves as a powerful tool not only for punishment but also for regulating and subduing certain segments of society, particularly marginalized groups. It suggests that the extent and methods of societal control within the American penal system surpass those seen in any other historical or contemporary context, highlighting deep-seated inequalities and power imbalances within society.

1. Alexander argues that the explanation for mass incarceration was caused by crack cocaine . However, this is deeply wrong it is because of racial discrimination . “Almost overnight the media was saturated with images of black “crack whores, crack dealers , and crack babies “ images seemed to confirm the worst negative racial stereotypes about impoverished inner city residents “.
2. The rates of incarceration cannot be explained by drug crime rates because “the cia admitted in 1998 that guerrilla armies supported in Nicaragua were smuggling illegal drugs into the United States “.Crack cocaine being spreaded into black neighborhoods shows it was a set up for majority the black population to be imprisoned .
3. The American penalty system has became a system of unfair social control . For example southerners fought hard against black equality with job opportunities, education and etc.

1. Michelle Alexander argued that sentencing policies in the United States are unfair, leading to minority groups being sent to jail more often than other groups for the same crimes. She highlighted the significant impact of drug-related offenses on the high incarceration rates in the United States. Michelle Alexander pointed out that the War on Drugs, which President Ronald Reagan initiated in 1982, began before crack became a prominent issue in black neighborhoods. This challenged the widely held belief that the rise in mass incarceration is solely a result of the government’s efforts to address drug crime in minority communities. She argued that the government’s actions during the War on Drugs served as a cover for a racist agenda aimed at controlling minority groups. The media played a big part by spreading negative stereotypes. They made people scared and supporting tough drug laws that affected people of color more. The impact of these policies has been huge.
2. The reason racial disparities in incarceration rates cannot be explained by rates of drug crimes is that even though every racial groups did similar rates of drug use and distribution, people of color, especially Black individuals, face harsher punishment and imprisonment. This pointed out that the government’s policies favor superior race. 
3. My understanding of “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history.” is that the American penal system not only punishes people who break the law but also has a big influence on controlling and managing certain groups of people in society. The way the United States deals with crime has a big impact on how society is controlled. The penal system used mass incarceration as a substitute for segregation. 

1. According to Michelle Alexander, the primary explanation for the high number of people sent to prison in the United States today is because “sentencing policies are more one-sided.” This means that “minority” races are more likely to be sent to prison for the same crime than “elitist” races. In addition, “racial disparities in drug-related crimes and the number of people who are sent to prison say more than enough about how the government plans to treat people of color.” Politicians started using “coded anti black language” to get votes from white voters who were also opposed to segregation. Promises to “get rid of crime” meant “find a new Jim Crow” for people of color. This is another example of why it is wrong to send so many people to jail in the United States. First of all, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world.
2. Since drug use and acquisition are nearly universal among all racial groups, racial differences in incarceration rates cannot be attributed to differences in drug crime rates. This indicates that laws and government policies are to blame for the disparity in rates. When minorities use the same substances as more superior ethnicities, they face greater penalties.
3. According to my interpretation, the statement “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history” refers to the distinction between the penal system and other forms of oppression that our society has experienced. This could be the case since racist language is now very well camouflaged, making things that aren’t immediately apparent either invisible or ignored. The American prison system currently has stricter laws that favor one race over another.

1.   Michelle Alexander claims that the main explanation of why so many people are sent to jail in the U.S. today is deeply wrong because she believes that sentencing policies are more one sided. This means that minorities are more likely to go to jail than “elite” races for the same crime. Furthermore she believes that racial disparities in drug related crimes and people sent to prison said more than enough about the government’s plan against people of color. Politicians started “using coded anti black rhetoric” to gain votes from whites who were also against segregation. They started promising to get rid of crime which really meant they’ll find a way to deal with people of color or minorities, finding a new Jim Crow. This is another point that Alexander made as to why it is wrong that so many people are sent to jail in the U.S. Top top it of, the United States is the country with the highest incarceration rates. 
2.     Racial disparities in the rates of incarceration can not be explained by rates of drug crimes because essentially all races do drugs and acquire drugs the same. This means that the rates are unequal due to government policies and laws. Minorities get harsher punishment for the same drugs carried by other superior races. 
3.     I understand the phrase “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history” as meaning that the penal system is different from any other form of oppression we have faced. This may be because now racist language is very well hidden and things that aren’t obviously there go unseen or disregarded. Now policies are stronger and lean towards benefitting one race over the other in the American penal system. 

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)

• While reading Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow”, Alexander expresses that the reason a vast majority of the U.S. population is sent to jail is due to the rise in drug convictions due to the War on Drugs. Alexander emphasizes her argument by noting that “In less than thirty years, the U.S penal population exploded from around 300,000 to more than 2 million, with drug convictions accounting for the majority of the increase.” (Alexander 6)

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

• Alexander explains that the racial disparities in rates of incarceration “cannot be explained by rates of drug crimes” by communicating how studies show that people from all backgrounds and races intake and distribute drugs and if a particular group was noted as the most likely outlier in these studies, it would be young white youth.

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

• How I interpret the phrase “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history.” is with the meaning that the U.S. will use the penal system as a way to put fear into Americans with mass incarceration and enforce an agenda bigger than one person with the purpose to control the masses.

1. To  explain the fact that many people are sent to jail in the U.S today is deeply wrong, we firstly need to understand that as M. Alexander says in “the new Jim Crows” there was two reasons to the mass incarceration in the U.S. The first one, the commonly held believed, was deeply wrong  compared to the actual truth that was covered by the disclosure of false information.  M.Alexander explains that in fact the President Ronald Reagan announced the drug War in 1982, and that was before crack became an issue in poor black neighborhoods. This highlights the inconsistency of the commonly held belief, being that the explosion of mass incarceration in the U.S is due to the government’s endeavor to fight drug crime in poor minority neighborhoods. According to M. Alexander despite all the effort to stop Jim Crows  from being abolished the War on drugs, leading to the mass incarceration was used by politicians as a proxy for a racist conspiracy to put blacks “back in their place”.
2. Due to segregation, a lot of people ended up seeing a link between racial disparities in the rates of incarceration and the rates of drugs. This is due to the fact that since the beginning of the Drugs war prisons and jails were over- flowing with black and brown drug offender. In fact, it is more likely for black men to be admitted to prison on drug charges at rates twenty to fifty times greater than those of white men. We can also see that approximately 80 percent of young African American men now have criminal records. And this can be found in black communities across all the U.S. But as I said earlier, this mass incarceration is not truly related to the Drugs War. M. Alexander explains that the lack of correlation between crime and punishment can be highlighted by studies showing that people of all colors, use and sell illegal drugs approximately at the same rates. And If there is a difference to be found, they frequently suggest that whites, particularly white youth, are more likely to engage in drug crime than people of color. As a matter of fact, we can see that the rates of incarceration “cannot be explained by rates of drug crimes”.
3. The penal system used mass incarnation as a proxy to their segregation. As they needed a more political way to entertain a gap between what they called the races. Segregationists politician where so focused on this idea that they reached a point where no other country in the world imprisons so many of its racial or ethnic minorities than the U.S. Even South Africa at the height of apartheid imprisoned a tiny percentage of its black population. This makes me understand that even if Jim Crows was abolished, the American penal system managed to entertain a gap preventing the minorities from growing and getting their chance. All this hating has fed the American penal system to emerge “as a system of social control unparalleled in world history.”

1. In Michelle Alexander’s “The New Jim Crow”, Alexander claims that mass incarcerations in the United States are a direct result of the US government’s War on Drugs. She asserts that in 1985 a media campaign, led by then-president Ronald Reagan, saturated the media with images of black Americans struggling with crack addiction that led to panic amongst white citizens. The success of this campaign garnered public and legislative support for the War on Drugs. The War on Drugs, however, was not created as a response to the crack epidemic – it actually began several years earlier when illegal drug use in the US was on decline. This fact led to theories that the War on Drugs and Law and Order policies were actually a dogwhistle used by politicians to garner votes from Americans that sought to keep black Americans “in their place.” Perhaps as a replacement for the recently abolished Jim Crow laws. During the time of the War on Drugs, despite illegal drug use being in decline, drug related arrests and convictions skyrocketed notably amongst minority populations. Alexander notes that statistically, all races of people use and sell illegal drugs at remarkably similar rates and yet in some states black incarcerations are 20 to 50 times greater than white incarcerations.
2. Racial disparities in the rates of incarceration cannot be explained by rates of drug crimes because, as I touched on in my previous response, all races sell and use illegal drugs at similar rates.
3. the phrase: “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history” in my opinion, means that racist politicians were extremely successful in what they had set out to accomplish. By targeting minorities and impoverished citizens they are not only able to ensure that many people of color remain incarcerated and away from society for significant periods of their lives, if not the entirely of their lives, but even if these people are released from jail they are face with legal discrimination for the rest of their lives. the US has the highest incarceration rate in the world, surpassing those of highly oppressive regimes such as Russia, China, and Iran.

1. After reading M. Alexander’s ideas, I made a brief classification of the realities surrounding the United States’ practice of incarcerating people. This practice has its roots in negative and stereotypical media coverage of people of color, which has been fueled by the State Department’s extensive economic resources. As a result, poor people of color have been unfairly identified as the root cause of the societal crisis, particularly drug consumption. The impact of this advertising on society has been profound, with many accepting these images as real, true, and accurate to the present day. We have been surrounded by a growing tension of violence in the country due to racial division. Unfortunately, the media has played a significant role in promoting racial divisions and portraying the least privileged groups as the main originators of crime in the US society. Specifically, laws related to drug consumption and possession have been applied unfairly, with disproportionate penalties and incarcerations imposed on people of color and those belonging to underprivileged backgrounds. According to M. Alexander, “The impact of the drug war has been astounding. In less than thirty years, the U.S penal population exploded from around 300,000 to more than 2 million, with drug convictions accounting for the majority of the increase.” (The New Jim Crow, p. 2).
2. Doing a brief analysis, the Racial disparity cannot be attributed to crime rates because crimes are not solely related to the condition of a person’s skin color. Rather, crimes are the result of human conditions that lead individuals to commit them. For instance, the consumption of illegal drugs is observed in all sectors of society and is influenced by the availability of the product, the possibility of acquisition, and the emotional motivations for consumption. Similarly, the sale of drugs can be found in any racial sector of society, driven by the need for money or the desire for power. People of all skin colors use and sell goods in similar quantities. The reality of the exercise of discrimination in the US legal society has a direct impact on the lives of individuals who will be locked up or locked out. According to M. Alexander, “Michael Tonry, Thinking About Crime, Government decide how much punishment they want, and these decisions are in no simple way related to crime rates.” (The New Jim Crow, p. 5)
3. Comparing the US social order to other social orders around the world, we can perceive clearly how the American social order is deeply influenced by racial segregation. These factors have created unique gaps within American society in general, that also emerge into the American Penal System, and that are difficult to heal. Despite the government’s efforts to promote unity and equality, the country is still plagued by resentment between sectors generating victims and victimizes in all levels and sectors. Control of the social order is exerted by the same broken individuals of the society, who often release their resentment and take advantage of their positions of power to attack the population that is under their responsibility to defend. According to M. Alexander, “Sociologists have frequently observed that governments use punishment primarily as a tool of social control, and thus the extent or severity of punishment is often unrelated to actual crime patterns.” (The New Jim Crow, p. 5)