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The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Paperback – January 16, 2012

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Michelle Alexander (Author)
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Michelle Alexander (Author), Cornel West (Introduction)
4.7 out of 5 stars 2,299 customer reviews
#1 Best Sellerin Criminology
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: The New Press (January 16, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1595586431
  • ISBN-13: 978-1595586438
  • Product Dimensions: 1 x 6.2 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2,299 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 starsImportant, Eye Opening Work
By Middle-aged Professor on February 14, 2010
Format: Hardcover
Thirty years ago, fewer than 350,000 people were held in prisons and jails in the United States. Today, the number of inmates in the United States exceeds 2,000,000. In this book, Alexander argues that this system of mass incarceration "operates as a tightly networked system of laws, policies, customs, and institutions that operate collectively to ensure the subordinate status of a group defined largely by race." The War on Drugs, the book contends, has created "a lower caste of individuals who are permanently barred by law and custom from mainstream society." Mass incarceration, and the disabilities that come with the label "felon," serve, metaphorically, as the new Jim Crow.

The book develops this argument with systematic care. The first chapter provides context with a brief history of the rise, fall and interrelation of the first two racial caste systems in the United States, slavery and Jim Crow. Subsequent chapters provide close scrutiny of the system of mass incarceration that has arisen over the past thirty years, examining each stage of the process (e.g., criminalization, investigation, prosecution, sentencing) and the many collateral consequences of a felony conviction (entirely apart from any prison time) and how and why each of these has operated to the detriment of African-Americans. The book also explores how the caste system Alexander identifies is different and not-so-different from Jim Crow, the many political and economic forces now invested in sustaining it, and how it has been rendered virtually immune to challenge through litigation.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsCan we start talking about race?
By Randall L. Wilson on May 3, 2010
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I'm a white man and I carry with me the cultural legacy of racism. I know I'm not alone but I don't find many other white people who are willing to venture into this uncomfortable territory and own up to our own racism. And while I've had a few conversations about race with black men, I must say I feel like I'm venturing into dangerous territory - how do I transcend the privilege I've had as an socio-econonmically advantaged white man to connect to those who rightly see me and my kind as an oppressor?

This was a hard book to read. I said that about "Slavery by Another Name" as well which is the companion book to this one as they both address a white power structure that uses prisons to humiliate, degrade, diminish and control black people. "Slavery by Another Name" addresses this phenomenon during Jim Crow and "The New Jim Crow" addresses how we've been doing this for the past thirty years.

To the extent white people and non-black minorities I know talk about race, its about why blacks continue to languish at the bottom of the American barrel. If other ethnic groups that have experienced discrimination manage to overcome it and prosper as Americans, what is wrong with blacks? I've always said it was slavery and its legacy, the Jim Crow era and its deprivations but now I realize that the story is even more complex, black men have been disproportionately single out for prison time, causing entire families to suffer the economic loss, the social stigma and family shame that accompanies such imprisonment.

I remember the O.J. trial and how whites were "shocked" that blacks had such a different take on the police and criminal justice.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsA BALANCED PERSPECTIVE
By Cheryl M. Toles on June 4, 2012
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Ms. Alexander provides an excellent historical background in the history of America's war on drugs and it's impact upon the police agencies, the African-American community, and particularly the African-American male. However, what is missing from her review of the Criminal Justice system is clarification that her focus is on drug related crimes. As a African-American who has worked in the Criminal Justice system over 30 years I can attest that drug arrests are only a percentage of offenses for which African-American males are incarcerted. Other offenses well represented in incarcerated males are property and violent crimes. In addition some facts were mistated including the representation of clients in court. For example Ms Alexander states clients are sent to jail without legal representation or rehabilitation programs. In the State of Illinois and I'm sure other states it is illegal to bring a defendant before the court without legal representation and a Public Defender is appointed. Within the stucture of the Criminal Justice system there is focus and treatment referral for drug addiction, domestic violence, sex abuse, and others.

I reviewed the references and did not see who or what agencies were contacted or observed to obtain the skewed statistics. There was an absence of review of actual case records which would demonstrate that subjects usually return to court many times before actually receiving even a short jail term. Also, missing from this assessment is the acknowledgement that many African-Americans work in the Criminal Justice system, come from the same community as subjects, and work hard to rehabilitate them prior to returning them to court. As a social researcher I have found in my study that African-American males need intervention at the primary school level; long before they enter the Criminal Justice system. I hope in Ms. Alexander's next book she will take a more wholistic look at the problem of African-American male incarceration.
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