It was the transformation of petty thievery into a felony that relegated substantial numbers of black people to the “involuntary servitude” legalized by the Thirteenth Amendment. What Curtin suggests is that these charges of theft were frequently fabricated outright. They “also served as subterfuge for political revenge. After emancipation the courtroom became an ideal place to exact racial retribution.” 30 In this sense, the work of the criminal justice system was intimately related to the extralegal work of lynching.
