The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration as a System of Racialized Social Control

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration as a System of Racialized Social Control –The rate of incarceration in the US has soared, while American crime rates have generally remained similar to those of other Western countries, where incarceration rates have remained stable. This panel discussion focuses on the claim that the U.S. criminal justice system uses the “War on Drugs” as a primary tool for enforcing traditional, as well as new, modes of discrimination and repression. One of every three black American males born today can expect to go to prison in his lifetime (Sentencing Project report, 2013). According to Michelle Alexander in her seminal work The New Jim Crow, were present trends to continue, the United States will imprison one-third of its African American population. This incredible number implies that the war on drugs has long left its premises as a crime fighting strategy and become a human and civil rights violation. We will further discuss the costly, destructive and long-term effects of mass incarceration on our cities and communities and the permanent marginalization of families, men and youth that it creates. Featuring panelists Liz Allen, B.A. and Gary Horton, moderated by Rev. Charles Brock, M. Litt.