Black/White history

• Jim Crow: Late 1800s to 1960s– System of formal Black-White segregation• After ‘Reconstruction’ in the South

– Supreme Court: Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)• Plessy: ‘of seven-eighths Caucasian, and one-

eighth African blood’

• Denied a seat on a first class coach in Louisiana

• Court upheld ‘separate-but-equal’

Civil Rights era

• Civil Rights era– Supreme Court: Brown v. Board of Ed (1954)• Court overturned Plessy

• Rejected ‘separated-but-equal’

• School districts can’t segregate

– Social movement mobilization– Challenge to segregation, 1950s-1960s

Civil Rights Act (1964)

• Bans employer discrimination based on:– race– sex– religion– national origin

• Allows current inequalities to persist– Past discrimination affects qualifications

1884-1914: 3,600 lynchings

Murder of James Allen and John Littlefield, Marion, Indiana, 1930

Executions for rape, 1930-1967

50

405

Not BlackBlack

Source: BJS, "Prisoners in 2004."

Men in Prison, 2004

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

18-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-54 55+

Per

100

,000

Men

White Latino Black

The Rich Get Richerand the Poor Get Prison

U.S. v. the world: Incarceration

724564

344109

191145

120118116

978881

6031

USA

Russia

South Africa

Israel

Mexico

England

Australia

China

Canada

Germany

France

Sweden

Japan

India

Rates per 100,000 population: US 2004, others most recent. Source: sentencingproject.org.

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Correctional Surveys.

People in prison and jail

0

250,000

500,000

750,000

1,000,000

1,250,000

1,500,000

1,750,000

2,000,000

2,250,00019

80

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

Update: prison clock

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Correctional Surveys.

People without freedom

0

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

6,000,000

7,000,000

8,000,000

1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

ProbationParoleJailPrison

Chance of ever going to prison, men

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1974

1977

1980

1983

1986

1989

1992

1995

1998

2001

Per

cen

t

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35Black Latino White

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Prevalence of Imprisonment in the U.S. Population, 1974-2001.”

What the justice system does

• Maintain a visible ‘class’ of criminals

• Project an image– Threat of crime = threat from the poor

• A system designed to fail– Practices that lead to crime, not prevent it

• Turns the middle class against the poor– ideological function

And how it maintains crime

• Criminalizes victimless crimes– Crimes with no unwilling victim

• Arbitrary power for enforcers– Increases alienation, mistrust of the system

• Prisons are painful and demeaning– Overcomes any deterrent effect

And how it maintains crime (2)

• Failure to provide job training or jobs

• Life-long stigma– No voting rights for former felons– Registration laws and police records

• No legitimate means of success– No opportunity for ‘legitimate’ means

Update: Today’s NYT

Florida’s ex-felons in 2000

26,359

57,489

529,666

Non-votersRepublicanDemocrat

With 613,514 disenfranchised ex-felons:Assumes 14% would have voted, 69% of them for Gore.

Bush’s marginin Florida: 537 votes

If ex-felons could vote:Gore wins by 31,003

Failure to stop crime

• Recent declines– Partly the result of anti-crime policies?

• But still higher than 1960 rates– Same policies didn’t work for many years

• Other explanations– Stabilization of the drug trade– Fewer teenagers– Economic improvement

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics; Bureau of Labor

Statistics.

California, thousands in prison

480

050

100150200250300350400450500

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97

Imprisonment (left)

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics; Bureau of Labor

Statistics.

California prison, murder rate

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 970

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Imprisonment (left)

Murder (right)

Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics; Bureau of Labor

Statistics.

California prison, murder, jobs

050

100150200250300350400450500

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Imprisonment (left)

Unemployment (right)

Murder (right)

Reiman’s Pyrrhic defeat theory

Pyrrhic victory: victory at such a high cost, it’s

really defeat

Pyrrhic defeatFailure to stop crime benefits the powerful so

much it amounts to success.