The system of mass incarceration depends almost entirely on the cooperation of those it seeks to control. — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
In this era of mass incarceration, the police shouldn't be trusted any more than any other witness, perhaps less so. — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“People of color are actually no more likely to be guilty of drug crimes and many other offenses than whites.” — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Until 1988, one year of imprisonment had been the maximum for possession of any amount of any drug.” — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Mass incarceration is a massive system of racial and social control. — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The greatest myth about mass incarceration is that it has been driven by crime and crime rates. It's just not true. — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Black men with criminal records are the most severely disadvantaged group in the labor market. — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“Ex-offenders are expected to pay fines and court costs, and submit paperwork to multiple agencies in an effort to win back a… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Incarceration rates - especially black incarceration rates - have soared regardless of whether crime has been going up or down in any… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
There are more African Americans under correctional control, in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850 a… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
In this country, we force millions of people - who are largely black and brown - into a permanent second-class status simply… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
As described in 'The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness,' the cyclical rebirth of caste in America is… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Like Jim Crow (and slavery), mass incarceration operates as a tightly networked system of laws, policies, customs, and institutions that operate collectively… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
I am still committed to building a movement to end mass incarceration, but I will not do it with blinders on. If… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Nationwide, 1 in 3 black men can expect to serve time behind bars, but the rates are far higher in segregated and… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The war on drugs has been the engine of mass incarceration. Drug convictions alone constituted about two-thirds of the increase in the… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The United States does have the highest rate of incarceration in the world dwarfing the rates of even highly repressive regimes like… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Middle-class white children, children of privilege, are afforded the opportunity to make a lot of mistakes and still go on to college,… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
I think it's critically important for people to understand that this system of mass incarceration governs not just those who find themselves… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Today there are more African-Americans under correctional control — in prison or jail, on probation or parole — than were enslaved in… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
The great gift of 'Incarceration Nations' is that, by introducing a wide range of approaches to crime, punishment, and questions of justice… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
For those who say that the war on drugs and the system of mass incarceration really isn't about race, I say there… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Just providing information about how bad things are, or the statistics and data on incarceration by themselves, does lead to more depression… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“What this book intended to do - the only thing it is intended to do - is to stimulate a much-needed conversation… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“It is not possible to write a relatively short book that explores all aspects of the phenomenon of mass incarceration and its… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“If the movement that emerges to challenge mass incarceration fails to confront squarely the critical role of race in the basic structure… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
I think this mythology - that we're all beyond race, of course our police officers aren't racist, of course our politicians don't… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“This book argues that mass incarceration is, metaphorically, the New Jim Crow and that all those who care about social justice should… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Arguably the most important parallel between mass incarceration and Jim Crow is that both have served to define the meaning and significance… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The state of Mississippi eventually moved from hiring convict labor to organizing its own convict labor camp, known as Parchman Farm. It… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Today there are more African-Americans under correctional control, in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850, a… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The notion that a vast gulf exists between "criminals" and those of us who have never served time in prison is a… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The impact of the new caste system is most tragically felt among the young. In Chicago (as in other cities across the… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The racial dimension of mass incarceration is its most striking feature. No other country in the world imprisons so many of its… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
“The process occurs in two stages. The first step is to grant law enforcement officials extraordinary discretion regarding whom to stop, search,… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Nothing has contributed more to the systematic mass incarceration of people of color in the United States than the War on Drugs — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Mass incarceration is the most pressing racial justice issue of our time. — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
Most criminologists today will acknowledge that crime rates and incarceration rates in the United States have had relatively little to do with… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
For those interested in learning more about corporations and private individuals profiting from the caging of human beings, I highly recommend the… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share Image
If you ask for good schools, you aren't likely to get them. If you ask for jobs or economic investment, you won't get that… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
The uncomfortable reality we must face is that California, like the nation as a whole, has treated generations of African Americans and Latinos as… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
“Seeing race is not the problem. Refusing to care for the people we see is the problem. The fact that the meaning of race… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
Since the nations founding, African Americans repeatedly have been controlled through institutions such as slavery and Jim Crow, which appear to die but then… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
“Felon disenfranchisement laws have been more effective in eliminating black voters in the age of mass incarceration than they were under Jim Crow…These figures… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
“That was King’s dream—a society that is capable of seeing each of us, as we are, with love. That is a goal worth fighting… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
Activists take the risks, while advocates are professional tinkerers with the system. What's necessary is for those who are advocates to support those who… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
“Civil rights protests were frequently depicted as criminal rather than political in nature, and federal courts were accused of excessive “lenience” toward lawlessness, thereby… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
We cannot 'fix' the police without a revolution of values and radical change to the basic structure of our society. — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
If we continue to tell ourselves the popular myths about racial progress or, worse yet, if we say to ourselves that the problem of… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
The mass incarceration of poor people of color, particularly black men, has emerged as a new caste system, one specifically designed to address the… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
“[T]he slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery. —W.E.B Du Bois, Black Reconstruction in America… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
If you take into account prisoners, a large majority of African American men in some urban areas, like Chicago, have been labeled felons for… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
“A new civil rights movement cannot be organized around the relics of the earlier system of control if it is to address meaningfully the… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
The rules and reasons the political system employs to enforce status relations of any kind, including racial hierarchy, evolve and change as they are… — Michelle Alexander Copy Share
