The Impact of US Criminal Justice System on Black Men

This paper analyzes the diverse effect that U.S. criminal justice system have had on black men, past and present, by referring to ‘The New Jim Crow’ by Michelle Alexander, ‘Slavery By Another Name’ by Douglas A. Blackmon and the work of Philippe Bourgois. It discusses the history of criminalization and imprisonment of black men, the Thirteenth Amendment, the impact of drug laws, and the privatization of prisons. The paper concludes that the norm of bulk confinement is a serious act of inequality, which will always exist in the veins of the United States pertaining to the lives of black men.

Running head: CRIMINAL LAW
Criminal Law
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The freedom of the black men was short-lived in the new post-civil war era on account of
the advent of criminalization and imprisonment in bulk in replacement of chattel slavery. This
paper will strive to analyze the diverse effect that U.S. criminal justice system have had on black
men, past and present, by referring to ‘The New Jim Crow’ by Michelle Alexander, ‘Slavery By
Another Name’ by Douglas A. Blackmon and the work of Philippe Bourgois (Graff, 2016). The
state government of the United States includes a set of departments, institutions, agencies and
political authorities which holds a significant value in the socio-political scenario of the nation.
Historically, the minority section of the population has been compartmentalized and categorized
by the US government’s politicians. The government and the quasi-government have always
influenced the behavior towards the black men who have endured discrimination in terms of
social, political and institutional bias, which is crueler and harsh than any other minority section
of the nation. With an intention to marginalize the strength of black men and to make benefit on
their imprisonment, the US government have always encouraged mass incarceration of black
men which is a degrading act of injustice. Hence, to curb such practices, the Thirteenth
Amendment to the US Constitution was given effect to restrict and remove the system of chattel
slavery in the country. The section 1 of the Thirteenth Amendment says that slavery and
involuntary servitude, other than legal sanctions, shall not exist in the nation or at any other place
within the jurisdiction of the Unites States.

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As pointed out by Coates in the article ‘Slavery Made America’ that the southern planters
had made huge wealth by dealing in chattel slavery. He stated that the trade involving around 4
million American slaves, worth $3.5 billion makes chattel slavery the largest single financial
asset in the United States (Ettinger, 2018). The southern states had the vigorous tendency to
implement forced labor codes; in response to which Douglas A. Blackmon stated in his journal
that there was a wide range of interlocking laws that intended to jeopardize and criminalize black
men (Blackmon, 2009). It is evident that the implementation of the Thirteenth Amendment was
sublet, evasive and infested with ambiguity so that the process of exploiting African Americans
and making capital out of is not hindered and the capitalist class could keep on reaping the
benefits of slavery and forced labor.
Mississippi being the first to enact legal codes for targeting and criminalizing African
American in case they refused to enter into work agreements with the white farmers. Evidently,
free black workers were forced to work under white people and on refusal, they were falsely
sentenced for petty theft, selling cotton post sunset or for using profane language. Sheriffs were
incentivized to arrest as many black men as they could irrespective of their guilt. On account of
the post-civil war situation, the southern states had passed vagrancy laws that were enforced
against black men who were not protected by their employer. These black men arrested for valid
reasons were bought and sold as slaves to work on factories, farms, quarries, mines and lumber

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camps. The newly freed black men from the prison were repeatedly arrested on account of
loitering free without being engaged in an employment.
There were various social taboos for the black men like standing in the public or enjoying
the taste of freedom or even socializing. These taboos led to repeated enslavement of the black
men and they were required to perform physical labour in construction, building infrastructure
for highway or Railway without proper food and rest. It is known from the old recorded journals
and articles that the prisoners were fed as meagerly as possible so that the sheriff could earn a
wider range of profit. As there were no shortage of slaves and black men the US government
exploited the slave labour for capital gain. Different slaves were sanctioned again by way of false
allegations and were marked as habitual offenders or seasoned criminals.
In order to attend the American dream as noted in ‘Crack in Spanish Harlem’ by Philippe
Bourgois, the black men had a irresistible tendency to sell drugs as a means of making money
(Bourgois, 1989).. The black community found it easier to earn fast cash by dealing in crack
cocaine in the City. Drug peddling became a means of livelihood among the black communities
as referred in ‘Crack in America: Demon Drugs and Social Justice’ by Craig Reinarman and
Harry G Levine (Reinarman & Levine, 1997). They mentioned that the inexpensive and dramatic
‘high’ from the crack was considered better for the finances and interest for an immediate escape
than the expensive and more ‘subtle high’ of the powdered cocaine. Cocaine was a celebrated

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drug in the 80’s as it was considered as a sophisticated drug, specially crafted for the ones who
could afford it for $75 to $100 per gram compared to crack cocaine which was available for $3 to
$20 per vial (Reinarman & Levine, 1997). The black men not only indulged in drug peddling but
accidentally got associated with its usage with an excuse to escape the pain and turmoil of the
harsh reality. Political leaders from the ruling and opposition parties took charge against the
motion and called for a ‘War on drugs’. This paved the way for implementations of law that
targeted black drug dealers and users within the cities primarily.
The Thirteenth Amendment of US Constitution prescribed the Anti Drug Abuse Act
1986. The black men were charged unsympathetically more for holding smaller quantities of
crack cocaine than that of white men who could afford cocaine powder. Scientifically proven
that crack cannot be distinguished from cocaine, still the former was treated in a harsher way
than the latter for unknown reasons. As pointed out by Alyssa L. Beaver in Fix on Cocaine
Sentencing Policy: Reforming the Sentencing Scheme of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, she
wrote that the infamous ‘War on drugs’ campaign of 1980s paved the way for the adoption of the
Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 which has a provision of one hundred to one sentencing ratio of
cocaine and crack. This gave the authority to sentence non-violent offenders for decades for
possessing, selling or consuming crack. As an aftermath of the situation, young black men today
still suffers discrimination in the fields of housing, public benefits, employment and jury service

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for being a black man along with a prison inmate. The social, political and legal scenario violated
the standard of fairness and sympathy on the convictions of the black men. During the period
when crack cocaine and cocaine powder was being sold in abundance the government sprang up
with initiatives to bring charges against such black drug dealers as the government was more
interested in making money than locking up black drug dealers and spending national funds on
them. The national and the state Government owns a large stake in the media, specifically TV
and radio and through these media resources the government disseminated fear in the mind of
citizens who believed that drug usage was an affair of the inner city and black communities.
In addition the general public was influenced by the media for getting rid of the black
drug dealers with the help of state and local law enforcement. Michele Alexander on her article
‘The New Jim Crow: How the War on Drugs Gave Birth to a Permanent American Undercaste’
highlighted the concern (Penn, 2011). The law enforcement body along with the support of the
general public had an advantage and upper hand over the black men. The time bracket of 1986 to
1982 is the scariest time in the history of the United States pertaining to drug related issues in the
20th century. Prison became a field and mass incarceration became a profitable business within a
few years.
Over the 1980s the prison system was primarily privatized and the investors of the prison
believed on the notion of the Thirteenth Amendment which required keeping the prison filled. It

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is evident that more African American adults could be found in the correctional homes, prison,
and probation or parole than were ever enslaved in 1850. The owners and shareholders of the
privatized prison made use of the detained prisoners by renting them to retail companies where
the prisoners worked hard yet earned no profit. Owning or co-sharing a prison became a lucrative
business for the wealth corporate executives which degraded the position of black men
continuously throughout the history. Kevin R. Johnson, writer and activist incarcerated for a
long time came out with an article at length regarding selling of drugs during the 1990 where he
mentioned the inhuman and animal like conditions of the black inmates in the prison. His
outrageous defiance of the slave labour system cost him to spend most of his days in the prison
in solitary confinement. The article saw the light of the day and was published by The Guardian
newspaper with the title ‘Prison Labour Is Modern Slavery'. In the article, he mentioned that the
prisoners were provided no healthcare, proper clothing and nutritious food which are the basic
necessities for human survival (Novick & Action-LA, 2015). The prisoners were treated like
animals. Such blatant degradation & disregard for human lives was kept away from public
scrutiny as the consumers were highly dependent on the fruit of labour of the slave prisoners.
It can be argued that the black men and other individuals who were held for buying and
selling drugs are returning favors to the community by working for it instead of abusing it further
by selling drugs. It can also be added as an argument that the prisoners are being brought through

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the scanner of reformation by way of imprisonment which actually bring reformative changes in
the prisoners. A current example of the contribution of prison inmates can be seen in the case of
Wildfire in California where the prison inmates are walking along with the firefighters to
suppress the wild forest fire. The article ‘Serving Time, And Fighting California Wildfires For $2
A Day’ by Lakshmi Singh talks about a former prison inmate Daniel Erickson who spent 5 long
years fighting fire for the state while he served a sentence for possessing drugs ("Serving time,
and fighting California wildfires for $2 a day", 2018). Erickson now works with Mount
Redwood Fences as a productive and contributive member of the society. He states that the
profession of firefighting is underpaid however can be compared as far better than slave labor. It
is evident that it is not easy to be a criminal but to be a black and a criminal involves undoubted
racial outcast along with social and economic exclusion (Alexander, 2012). It is a tendency of
the society to mark Black inmates as suspects and criminals even before it is proved that they are
guilty. With a sense of disbelief it is to be reported that there are more prisons in the United
States for enslaving black men than there are adequate housing accommodations made available
to them once they are free from the prison. There is a notion and a stigma that black criminals
will eventually return to prison paves the way for slashing the funding for public housing, which
makes the Black inmates homeless once they are free.

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To conclude, it can be deduced that the norm of bulk confinement is a serious act of
inequality, which will always exist in the veins of the United States pertaining to the lives of
black men. The lucrative business opportunity by imprisoning black man and reaping benefits
from it would also continue to be a tradition. There is a lack of justice within the judicial system
when it can be found that a black man who has paid his part for the crime that he had committed
yet carries the burden of the crime even after being freed. The chances of the black man to live a
clean and respectful life are limited because the society brands black inmates as a criminal
forever.

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References
“The 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.” National Constitution Center –
Constitutioncenter.org, National Constitution Center,
Alexander, M. (2012). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. The
New Press.
Bourgois, P. (1989). Crack in Spanish Harlem: Culture and economy in the inner
city. Anthropology Today, 5(4), 6-11.
Ettinger, M. C. (2018). Coming Home: The New Economy and Honoring the Inherent
Sacredness of All Life. Tikkun, 33(3), 18-23.
Graff, G. (2016). Post Civil War African American History: Brief Periods of Triumph, and Then
Despair. Journal of Psychohistory, 43(4).
Novick, M., & Action-LA, A. R. (2015). Building a Culture and Communities of Solidarity,
Resistance and Liberation. Turning the Tide, 28(2), 1.

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Penn, G. (2011). The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander: A Book Review. Law Raza, 2(1),
4.
Reinarman, C., & Levine, H. G. (Eds.). (1997). Crack in America: Demon drugs and social
justice. Univ of California Press.
Serving time, and fighting California wildfires for $2 a day. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/11/18/serving-time-fighting-california-wildfires