Lindsey

“When I sat down to write The New Jim Crow, I wanted to expose the literal war that has been waged against our communities, a drug war in which millions were taken prisoner and tens of millions were criminalized, placed on probation or parole, and then released into a permanent second-class status often for simple possession of marijuana or some other drug for personal use.”
― Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

“If we want to reduce violence in our communities, we need to hold people accountable in ways that aim to repair and prevent harm rather than simply inflicting more harm and trauma and calling it justice.”
― Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

“it is the “prison label, not the prison time” that matters most if we are to understand the true scope and impact of mass incarceration.”
― Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

“I also believed—and I still believe—that the prevailing view that mass incarceration has been driven by arrests and convictions for violent crime is simply wrong. It is a lie that has been invoked to excuse and rationalize the intentional infliction of suffering on millions of people.”
― Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness