Michelle Alexander
The United States has the world's largest prison population, with more than two million behind bars. Alexander says this is mainly due to America's 'war on drugs,' launched in 1982. In The New Jim Crow, she explains how this government initiative has led to America's black citizens being imprisoned on a colossal scale. She compares this mass detention—with black men up to 50 times more likely to be jailed than white men—to the
...With a new afterword from the authors, the critically praised indictment of widely embraced "alternatives to incarceration"
"But what does it mean—really—to celebrate reforms that convert your home into your prison?" —Michelle Alexander, from the foreword
Electronic monitoring. Locked-down drug treatment centers. House arrest. Mandated psychiatric treatment. Data driven surveillance. Extended
...In Faces at the Bottom of the Well, civil rights activist and legal scholar Derrick Bell uses allegory and historical example—including the classic story "The Space Traders"—to argue that racism is an integral and permanent...