Kaylee’s Reviews > The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness > Status Update

I’m glad we’re finally starting to hold some police officers accountable for their lethal brutality - not nearly enough but it’s a bit more than the extremely limited legal recourse victims from past decades had. The cases described are disgustingly similar to far too many recent cases that have not received the justice they deserve. We still have a long way to go & a very corrupt system to dismantle.

“A study sponsored by U.S. Justice Department & several of the nation’s leading foundations, published in 2007, found ... African American youth account for 16% of all youth, 28% of all juvenile arrests, 35% of the youth waived to adult criminal court, & 58% of youth admitted to state adult prison.” 😡

“Though the law itself be fair on its face, & impartial in appearance, yet, if it is applied & administered by public authority with an evil eye & an unequal hand, so as practically to make unjust & illegal discriminations, between persons in similar circumstances ... the denial of equal justice is still within the prohibition of the Constitution.” - Supreme Court, Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 1886.

“The presumption of innocence is now a legal myth. The 100-to-1 ratio, coupled with mandatory minimum sentencing provided by federal statute, has created a situation that reeks with inhumanity and injustice... If young white males were being incarcerated at the same rate as young black males, the statute would have been amended long ago.” - Judge Clyde Cahill, Federal District of Missouri.

“The Baldus study found that defendants charged with killing white victims received the death penalty 11x more often than defendants charged with killing black victims. GA prosecutors sought the death penalty in 70% of cases involving black defendants & white victims, but only 19% of cases involving white defendants & black victims.”

“There are certain code words that allow you never to have to say ‘race’ but everybody knows that’s what you mean and ‘crime’ is one of those ... So when we talk about locking up more and more people, what we’re really talking about is locking up more and more black men.” - Jerome Miller, former executive director of the National Center for Institutions and Alternatives

In 2000, the number of African Americans admitted to prisons was 26x higher than in 1983, with Latinos 22x higher and white people only 8x higher. “Three fourths of all people imprisoned for drug offenses have been black or Latino.”

This chapter clearly depicted how trapped those with drug felony convictions really are: “barred from public housing by law, discriminated against by private landlords, ineligible for food stamps, forced to admit felony convictions on employment applications...& denied licenses for a wide range of professions.” It’s no coincidence that so many end up back in jail / prison.

The mandatory minimum sentencing laws for drug offenses have been condemned by both liberal and conservative federal judges - including those notorious for being harsh sentencers. Some retired or refused to take on new drug cases, others have simply spoken publicly on their distaste for such laws. Good for them taking a stand against this BS. Too bad it hasn’t changed anything.

“In 1986, Congress passed The Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which established extremely long mandatory minimum prison terms for low level drug dealing & possession of crack cocaine. The typical mandatory sentence for a first-time drug offense in federal court is 5 or 10 years.” Ridiculous. People commit violent crimes like rape & get 6 months (looking at you Brock Turner) but possession lands you 5 to 10 years?! 😡