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Jeremiah asked this question about The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness:
Serious question: If blacks (and minorities in general) are disproportionately charged for drug offenses, why don't they stop using/selling drugs?
Jay Breeding Jeremiah, I’m sure you are not still reading answers to your two year old question but I’ll jump in anyway. My initial impressions of your question wa…moreJeremiah, I’m sure you are not still reading answers to your two year old question but I’ll jump in anyway. My initial impressions of your question was that you must not have read the book and—why don’t you read the book? My second impression was that the two parts of your question are unrelated. You are implying that unequal administration of justice is solved by the personal behavior of the victimized group. If the behavior of illegal drug use was ended the problem of unequal justice would still arise in some other form.

And while I am on this, another point made by the author that no one has yet brought up, one that you would read about if you would read the book, is that our choice to solve the problem of drug use is a questionable one. Punishment as a deterrent to drug use is ineffective. Punishment may make us feel good, but it does not address the roots of the behavior. When the War on Drugs was begun, so began also the transfer of budget monies away from prevention and treatment to militant enforcement and prisons. Just reading this book also helps one understand what is meant by the “Defund the Police” movement. It is really about returning back to the pre-80s era of policing.(less)
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The New Jim Crow
by Michelle Alexander
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