From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Chapter3: The Color of Justice

Section#0 The Introduction of The Chapter

In chapter 3, Michelle Alexander mainly discusses about how race works in the criminal justice system. How people of color, she argues, are treated unfairly throughout the entire system: the initial stop, search, arrest, and charging. In the introduction of this chapter, it is explained that African Americans and Latinos are the majority of the prisoners in the U.S. prison system, and Black people are 20~25 times more likely to be arrested for drug abusing at least 15 out of the 50 states, and 3/4 prisoners who are arrested for drug abuse are people of color. However, most drug users and dealers are white people, primarily youths, and illegal drug dealing is done everywhere in the U.S., not only in poorer areas. Alexander believes that this racial discrimination within the War on Drugs is done in two steps: allowing the U.S. criminal justice system to use more discretion and not allowing any claims toward court. [1]

Section#1 Picking and Choosing -The Role of Discretion-

In this section, Michelle Alexander argues that African American people are set up to be biased unconsciously and that they are more likely to commit drug related crimes than the other races. Drug related crimes are different from the other kinds of crimes, and it is impossible to arrest all the drug offenders. Thus, the criminal justice system has to decide the field they are mainly working on: black community. Also, the media plays an important role in it, which helps in making people biased against people of color as main drug abusers, Alexander believes. As a result, the majority of people now think of people of color when they are asked to imagine of drug users, which leads the discrimination in the criminal justice system "consciously" and "unconsciously." [1]

Section#2 Closing the Courthouse Doors -McCleskey v. Kemp-

Michelle Alexander says that the Court System in the U.S. is also biased against colored people, and the court allows judges to use it during a trial without offending the Fourteenth Amendment. McCleskey v. Kemp case is discussed to explain this. This case shows that there were racial biases and discrimination because the black man [[Warren McCleskey] was sentenced to the death penalty for killing a white police officer, and it was not a fair judgement; It actually offended his rights to the Fourteenth and Eighth Amendments. Answering his claim, Baldus study, in which more than two thousand murder cases were researched, was done. According to the study, murder cases with white victims ends up with death penalty sentence on the criminal 11 times more than the cases with black victims. Thus, Alexander believes that bias surely has an affect on the discretion in the criminal justice system. [1]

Race and The War on Drugs

Arrests/Imprisonment
According to Michelle Alexander, the author of The New Jim Crow and a professor of law at Stanford Law School, even though drug trading is equally done all over the U.S., but not only in black community, majority of criminals who are arrested for it are colored people. Bias, which spread widely by media, plays an important role in this: majority of people now think of colored people when they are asked the image of drug users, which leads the discrimination in the criminal justice system "consciously" and "unconsciously." Also, criminal justice system in the U.S. employs so many discretions during the steps, and because the officers are biased as other people are, colored people are more likely to be investigated compared to white people, Alexander claims. Thus, She strongly believes that racial bias in the War on Drugs is a huge problem because the majority of prisoner are arrested for drug related crime, and in at least 15 states, 3/4 of them are black or Latino people. Also, the courthouse is not willing to accept any claims about this. Thus, this situation, she says, is "the New Jim Crow." [2]

Second-class Status "burakumin"

Examples Burakumin (部落民) is a designation of Japanese Second-class status meaning the people who are from the place called "buraku." Buraku basically means a village or small district. Since a long time ago, people started to discriminate people from "buraku" even though they belonged to the same race, and there were no differences between ordinal Japanese people and people who are called burakumin. It is not clarified when and why this has been started, but it is said that it was most prospered in Edo period. [3] They are often called as " eta(穢多)" or " hinin(非人)" meaning polluted or not a human. Even though in Meiji 4 (1871), these discrimination was officially ended by kaihourei ( 解放令), many people resisted it and continued treating them as burakumin. Today, much less people are biased about burakumin, however, the term burakumin is still recognized as a discriminating word while there are certain amount of recent young generations who do not even know the term and idea of burakumin. Also, in some cases, people still happen to be discriminated especially when they get a job or get married. [4] These cases often reported as problems.

  1. ^ a b c The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, The New Press, New York 2010, ISBN  978-1-59558-103-7
  2. ^ West], Michelle Alexander ; [with a new foreword by Cornel (2012). The new Jim Crow : mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness (Rev. ed. ed.). New York: New Press. pp. Chapter3. ISBN  978-1-59558-643-8. {{ cite book}}: |edition= has extra text ( help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link)
  3. ^ Roth, Louis Frédéric ; translated by Käthe (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap. pp. 93–94. ISBN  9780674017535.{{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link)
  4. ^ Saito (齋藤), Naoko(直子). "部落出身者と結婚差別". http://synodos.jp/society/10900. {{ cite web}}: External link in |website= ( help); Missing or empty |url= ( help)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Chapter3: The Color of Justice

Section#0 The Introduction of The Chapter

In chapter 3, Michelle Alexander mainly discusses about how race works in the criminal justice system. How people of color, she argues, are treated unfairly throughout the entire system: the initial stop, search, arrest, and charging. In the introduction of this chapter, it is explained that African Americans and Latinos are the majority of the prisoners in the U.S. prison system, and Black people are 20~25 times more likely to be arrested for drug abusing at least 15 out of the 50 states, and 3/4 prisoners who are arrested for drug abuse are people of color. However, most drug users and dealers are white people, primarily youths, and illegal drug dealing is done everywhere in the U.S., not only in poorer areas. Alexander believes that this racial discrimination within the War on Drugs is done in two steps: allowing the U.S. criminal justice system to use more discretion and not allowing any claims toward court. [1]

Section#1 Picking and Choosing -The Role of Discretion-

In this section, Michelle Alexander argues that African American people are set up to be biased unconsciously and that they are more likely to commit drug related crimes than the other races. Drug related crimes are different from the other kinds of crimes, and it is impossible to arrest all the drug offenders. Thus, the criminal justice system has to decide the field they are mainly working on: black community. Also, the media plays an important role in it, which helps in making people biased against people of color as main drug abusers, Alexander believes. As a result, the majority of people now think of people of color when they are asked to imagine of drug users, which leads the discrimination in the criminal justice system "consciously" and "unconsciously." [1]

Section#2 Closing the Courthouse Doors -McCleskey v. Kemp-

Michelle Alexander says that the Court System in the U.S. is also biased against colored people, and the court allows judges to use it during a trial without offending the Fourteenth Amendment. McCleskey v. Kemp case is discussed to explain this. This case shows that there were racial biases and discrimination because the black man [[Warren McCleskey] was sentenced to the death penalty for killing a white police officer, and it was not a fair judgement; It actually offended his rights to the Fourteenth and Eighth Amendments. Answering his claim, Baldus study, in which more than two thousand murder cases were researched, was done. According to the study, murder cases with white victims ends up with death penalty sentence on the criminal 11 times more than the cases with black victims. Thus, Alexander believes that bias surely has an affect on the discretion in the criminal justice system. [1]

Race and The War on Drugs

Arrests/Imprisonment
According to Michelle Alexander, the author of The New Jim Crow and a professor of law at Stanford Law School, even though drug trading is equally done all over the U.S., but not only in black community, majority of criminals who are arrested for it are colored people. Bias, which spread widely by media, plays an important role in this: majority of people now think of colored people when they are asked the image of drug users, which leads the discrimination in the criminal justice system "consciously" and "unconsciously." Also, criminal justice system in the U.S. employs so many discretions during the steps, and because the officers are biased as other people are, colored people are more likely to be investigated compared to white people, Alexander claims. Thus, She strongly believes that racial bias in the War on Drugs is a huge problem because the majority of prisoner are arrested for drug related crime, and in at least 15 states, 3/4 of them are black or Latino people. Also, the courthouse is not willing to accept any claims about this. Thus, this situation, she says, is "the New Jim Crow." [2]

Second-class Status "burakumin"

Examples Burakumin (部落民) is a designation of Japanese Second-class status meaning the people who are from the place called "buraku." Buraku basically means a village or small district. Since a long time ago, people started to discriminate people from "buraku" even though they belonged to the same race, and there were no differences between ordinal Japanese people and people who are called burakumin. It is not clarified when and why this has been started, but it is said that it was most prospered in Edo period. [3] They are often called as " eta(穢多)" or " hinin(非人)" meaning polluted or not a human. Even though in Meiji 4 (1871), these discrimination was officially ended by kaihourei ( 解放令), many people resisted it and continued treating them as burakumin. Today, much less people are biased about burakumin, however, the term burakumin is still recognized as a discriminating word while there are certain amount of recent young generations who do not even know the term and idea of burakumin. Also, in some cases, people still happen to be discriminated especially when they get a job or get married. [4] These cases often reported as problems.

  1. ^ a b c The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, The New Press, New York 2010, ISBN  978-1-59558-103-7
  2. ^ West], Michelle Alexander ; [with a new foreword by Cornel (2012). The new Jim Crow : mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness (Rev. ed. ed.). New York: New Press. pp. Chapter3. ISBN  978-1-59558-643-8. {{ cite book}}: |edition= has extra text ( help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link)
  3. ^ Roth, Louis Frédéric ; translated by Käthe (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap. pp. 93–94. ISBN  9780674017535.{{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ( link)
  4. ^ Saito (齋藤), Naoko(直子). "部落出身者と結婚差別". http://synodos.jp/society/10900. {{ cite web}}: External link in |website= ( help); Missing or empty |url= ( help)

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