AFRAM 370 Midterm
Crack cocaine/hundred to one ration/discriminatory sentencing
100:1 ratio between crack and powder cocaine One gram of crack was equivalent to 100 grams of powder cocaine for sentencing purposes The 100:1 ratio had long been acknowledged by many in the legal system to be unjustified and adopted without empirical support
PoC
A collective term for men and women of Asian, African, Latin and Native American backgrounds; as opposed to the collective "White" for those of European ancestry
Doing Time on the Outside
A compelling account of the unintended social, financial, and personal consequences of incarceration on the families of prisoners
Privilege
A group of unearned cultural, legal, social, and institutional rights extended to a group based on their social group membership. Individuals with privilege are considered to be the normative group, leaving those without access to this privilege invisible, unnatural, deviant, or just plain wrong. Most of the time, these privileges are automatic and most individuals in the privileged group are unaware of them. Some people who can "pass" as members of the privileged group might have access to some levels of privilege.
Prejudice
A pre-judgment or unjustifiable, and usually negative, attitude of one type of individual or groups toward another group and its members. Such negative attitudes are typically based on unsupported generalizations (or stereotypes) that deny the right of individual members of certain groups to be recognized and treated as individuals with individual characteristics
The Baldus Study and Death Penalty
A study that found defendants charged with killing white victims receive the death penalty eleven times more often than defendants charged with killing black victims . Looked primarily at the race of the victim in each murder case in order to evaluate the presence of racial discrimination in the sentencing process
Racial bribe/how does it work?
Alexander claims that even though affirmative action has done some good, she believes just as MLK does that with special treatment to the African Americans would be looked down upon This is a way that the government pits poor white against poor blacks- they are at the same level economically, but what sets white people above blacks is the fact that white people own their white skin which is seen as valuable At every level and round of the racial caste system,
Congressional Black Caucus
An organization representing the black members of the US Congress Membership is exclusive to African American
Reagan administration/crack cocaine/financial incentives/legislation/campaign rhetoric
Began an escalation of the "War on Drugs" purportedly as a response to a crack cocaine crisis in black ghettos This escalation was announced well before crack cocaine arrived in most inner-city neighborhoods During the 1980s, as the use of crack cocaine increased to epidemic levels in these neighborhoods, federal drug authorities publicized the problem, using scare tactics to generate support for their already-declared escalation Crime and welfare were the major themes in his campaign By waging a war on drug users/dealers, Reagan made good on his promise to crack down on the racially defined "others" the undeserving Overnight the budgets of federal law enforcement agencies soared Launched a media offensive to justify the War on Drugs
Sentencing Project
Changes in sentencing law and policy and not an increase in crime rates is what explains the six fold increase in the national prison population These changes have significantly impacted racial disparities in sentencing, as well as increased the use of 'one size fits all' mandatory minimum sentences that allow little consideration for individual characteristics Works for a fair and effective US criminal justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing policy, addressing unjust racial disparities and practices, and advocating for alternatives to incarceration
System of Oppression
Conscious and unconscious, non‐random, and organized harassment, discrimination , exploitation, discrimination, prejudice and other forms of unequal treatment that impact different groups.
Liberal and conservative philosophy of race relations during the Reconstruction era
Conservatism, as practiced by politicians such as Wade Hampton, was "an aristocratic philosophy of paternalism and noblesse oblige" that argued that African Americans should be aided and educated as a bulwark against the lower classes of whites: Conservatives "believed that the Negro was inferior, but denied that it followed that inferiors must be segregated or publicly humiliated". The liberal philosophy of race relations emphasized the stigma of segregation and the hypocrisy of a government that celebrates freedom and equality yet denies both on account of race
McClesky v. Kemp; Neal v. Delaware
Court declared that racial bias in sentencing, even if shown through credible statistic evidence, couldn't be challenged under the 14th amendment in the absence of clear evidence of conscious discriminatory intent Real issue of the case at hand was whether- and to what extent- the Supreme Court would tolerate racial bias in the criminal justice system as a whole Court decided that racial bias would be tolerated so long as no one admitted it McCleskey challenged his death sentence on the grounds that Georgia's death penalty scheme was infected with racial bias and thus violated the 14th and 8th amendments The court rejected McCleskey's claims by a 1-vote margin, insisting that unless McClesky could prove that the prosecutor sought the death penalty because of race or that the jury had imposed it for racial reasons Neal v Nelaware is the only case the Supreme court overturned on the grounds of exclusion.
Ruffin v. Commonwealth of VA
Court stated that convicts were not legally distinguishable from slaves Rather limit to those who had been convicted of a crime, black slaves that were freed after the Civil War found themselves 'duly convicted' of crimes and in state prisons where they labored without getting paid This situation led the VA Supreme Court to remark in an 1871 case that prisoners were slaves of the state
DEA/ antidrug spending/cash grants/drug courier profiles
DEA antidrug spending grew from 86 to 1026 million Drug Courier Profiles: Used by DEA for drug sweeps on highways as well as in airports and train stations, are notoriously unreliable Essentially allows them to stop anyone anywhere and gives them a reason to excuse them for stopping whoever
Whren v. United States
Declared that any traffic offense committed by a driver was a legitimate legal basis for a stop Police officers are free to use minor traffic violations as an excuse to stop motorists for drug investigations- even when there is no evidence whatsoever that the motorist has engaged in drug crimes
Human Rights Watch - statistics and findings
Documented that although African Americans comprise only 13% of the US population, they disproportionately take up 35% of incarcerated drug users Reported that in 2000, in 7 states African Americans constitute 80-90% of all drug offenders sent to prison In at least 15 states, blacks are admitted to prison on drug charges at a rate from 20-57 times more than white Nationwide rate of incarceration from black drug offenders dwarf rates for whites
War on Drugs - Southern Strategy/Reagan/H.W. Bush/Clinton/media/drug forfeiture laws Drug forfeiture
Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act included a civil forfeiture provision authorizing the government to seize and forfeit drugs, drug manufacturing and storage equipment and conveyances used to transport drugs Justified as an effort to forestall the spread of drugs in a way criminal penalties could not, by striking at the economic roots
14th Amendment
Equal treatment under the law
Eighth Amendment
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines impose, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted
Law and Order show portrayals
Gives people the wrong impression of the criminal justice system Things aren't solved that fast and everything isn't always fair People don't always get a trial or a lawyer or are read their rights
National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals/recommendations
Goals to diminish crime rates The growing consensus among experts was reflected in this, which was a recommendation in 1973 that 'no new institutions for adults should be built and existing institutions for juveniles should be closed' This was based off of their findings that prison and jail created crime rather than preventing
"Birdcage" metaphor
If one thinks about racism by only examining one wire of the cage, it's hard to understand how and why the bird is trapped. Only a large number of wires arranged in a specific way, and all interconnected, serve to enclose the bird and to make sure it can't escape Any given wire of the cage may or may not be made specifically to trap the bird, but it operates together with other wires to restrict the bird's freedom This is the same with the racial caste system- not every aspect has been developed to trap black people, but together with laws, institutions, and practices, they are trapped at the bottom of the racial hierarchy We live in mass incarceration, a vast array of laws, institutions, and practices that trap black people in a virtual and real cage
Batson v. Kentucky
In a criminal case, the dismissal of jurors without stating a valid cause for doing so may not be used to exclude jurors based solely on their race The court held that the 14th Amendment prohibits prosecutors from discriminating on the basis of race when selecting juries, which was a ruling hailed as an important safeguard against all-white juries that locked up black people based on their racial biases and stereotypes
California v. Acevedo
Interpreted the Carroll doctrine to provide one rule to govern all automobile searches The Court states that "the police may search an automobile and the containers within it where they have probably cause to believe contraband or evidence is contained."
Pretext stops - discretion causing various racial disparities
It is a traffic stop motivated not by any desire to enforce traffic laws but instead motivated by a desire to hunt for drugs in the absence of any evidence of illegal drug activity In other words, police officers use minor traffic violations as an excuse to search for drugs, even though there is no evidence suggesting the motorist is violating drug laws
Jim Crow system/birth of/disenfranchisement
Laws that oppress black people
Obama/Byrne grant program/crack sentencing and death penalty
Obama promised to revive the Byrne Grant program claiming it is critical to creating the anti-drug task forces our communities need He increased money for it despite its abysmal track record Byrne JAG's hallmark is its flexibility it supports all components of the criminal justice system from multijurisdictional drug and gang task forces to crime prevention and domestic violence programs, courts, corrections, treatment, and justice information sharing initiatives States, localities and tribal nations are able to deploy Byrne JAG funding against their most pressing public safety challenges
The prison (felon) label - Prison admission for drug use
Once labeled a felon, they are ushered into a parallel universe in which discrimination, stigma, and exclusion are perfectly legal, and privileges of citizenship such as voting and jury service are off-limits Most people labeled as a felon end up back in prison Inmate population has grown substantially during the last few decades and the increase is driven primarily by the imposition of longer prison terms, fewer opportunities for inmates to be released early, higher conviction rates, and increased enforcement efforts Outside life becomes almost impossible with a felon label
Florida v. Bostick
Overturned a rule imposed by the Florida Supreme court that held consensual searches of passengers on buses are unreasonable The Supreme Court rules that the fact that the search would take place on a bus is one factor in determining whether or not a suspect feels free to decline the search and walk away from the officers First major sign that the Supreme Court would not allow the 4th Amendment to interfere with the prosecution of the War on Drugs Terrance Bostick, a 28-year-old black man, was sleeping in the back of a Greyhound bus on the way from Miami to Atlanta. Two police officers in bright green "raid" jackets with badges woke him up because they had stopped the bus to look for someone who could be carrying drugs. Bostick gave them his ID and they asked to search his bag. He agreed knowing there was a pound of cocaine in there. The officers got lucky even though they had no reason to be suspicious of him, other than the fact that he was black. This was an increasingly common tactic in the War on Drugs; police sweeping buses while lacking suspicion to do so They usually get consent following the interviews of these passengers, but the officers never inform them of their Miranda rights The hit rates were very low The Florida Supreme Court ruled in this case that the police officer's conduct violated the 4th amendment regarding prohibition of unreasonable search and seizures, which forbids the police from seizing people and searching them without some individualized suspicion that they committed a crime Bostick's case was overturned because the Court ruled that the cocaine was obtained illegally and condemned further bus sweeps The case was then reversed when the Court ruled that the encounter was voluntary and he wasn't really "seized"
Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act
Passed in 2000 This was an act that was meant to address many of the egregious examples of abuse of civil forfeiture Some of the most widely cited examples involved wealthy whites whose property was seized Bill Clinton reformed the original Civil Asset Forfeiture due to the changing times
Wacquant Loic - "closed circuit of perpetual marginality"
People that are arrested and released find themselves locked out of the mainstream society and economy, so most eventually end up back in prison Democrats and Republicans have colluded in the escalation of mass incarceration Bill Clinton's ending of welfare, rather than lowering government spending for the needy, reallocated monies to punitive programs like prison Subject to long-term restrictions on their citizenship and opportunity, felons have been trapped forever in what Loic Wacquant, a sociologist quoted by Alexander, terms a "closed circuit of perpetual marginality"
Parole and probation violations/ incarceration
Probationers and parolees are at an increased risk of arrest because their lives are governed by additional rules that do not apply to everyone else There has been an extraordinary increase in prison admissions due to parole and probation violations almost entirely due to the War on Drugs A probation officer may imprison a probationer and petition the court for a violation of probation The court will request that the defendant prove his or her innocence at an order to show cause hearing If the defendant is unable to challenge the presumption of guilt at the hearing, the officer or prosecutor may request that additional conditions of probation be imposed, that the duration be extended, or that a period of incarceration be ordered, followed by a return to probation There is no invariant rule as to what circumstances warrant a violation hearing, although conviction of a subsequent offense, or failure to report to the officer are nearly universal
18th Amendment
Prohibition of alcoholic bev in the US by declaring illegal the production, transport, and sale of it
Voting Rights Act
Prohibits racial discrimination in voting Signed into law by President Johnson during the height of the American Civil Rights Movement on August 6, 1965 Aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment to the Constitution of the US
Racial caste system/colorblindness/convict leasing/get tough on crime policies/Southern Redemption
Racial caste system: A system where black people are continually oppressed and forced at the bottom wrung of society through legislature, government, and individual action Continuation of slavery Colorblindness: Colorblind rhetoric surrounding laws that target black people disproportionately Convict leasing: Prisoners were contracted out as laborers to the highest private bidder Continuation of slavery Black people arrested for long sentences for petty crimes and then forced to do things that were basically like slavery Get Tough on Crime: Refers to a set of policies that emphasize punishments as a primary and often sole response to crime Mandatory sentencing, 3 strikes zero tolerance Southern Redemption: The return of white supremacy and removal of rights for blacks instead of "reconstruction"
Colorblindness and implicit racism
Rather than using race explicitly as a justification for discrimination and exclusion, we now use our criminal justice system to label people of color as "criminals" and then engage in all the practices we supposedly left behind A sociological term for the disregard of racial characteristics when selecting which individuals will participate in some activity or receive some service Implicit racism contrastingly includes non-conscious biases, expectations, or tendencies that exist within an individual, regardless of any wrongdoing or self-aware prejudices the person may or may not hold.
Drug law enforcement/SWAT and paramilitary teams/sociological research/Supreme Ct.
SWAT and paramilitary teams were increasingly used during the War on Drugs. This exemplifies the literal "war" that waged and the intensity of the criminalization of drug use.
Discretion at different point in the criminal justice system
The ability to choose where, how, and with what severity to act, here in terms of sentencing A person chooses to utilize his or her options and decides which to use, whether arresting a person off the street for a criminal offense, or evicting someone from an apartment (civil) or anywhere in between There are some arguments that implementing discretion overrules or weakens the rule of law
Mass incarceration/ Jim Crow Systems/parallels and differences/absence of Black fathers/rates of
The absence of Black fathers is largely due to the fact that so many black men are taken away through the criminal justice system Mass incarceration affects the black community and breaks up black families Mass incarceration is similar to Jim Crow in the sense that once swept into the system, criminals, who are often people of color, are dragged into a world where blatant discrimination and exploitation is okay.
Mandatory minimum sentencing/Anti-Drug Abuse Act
The anti-drug abuse act of 1986 authorized public housing authorities to evict any tenant who allows any form of drug-related criminal activity to occur on or near public housing premises and eliminated many federal benefits, including student loans, for anyone convicted of a drug offense The act also expanded use of the death penalty for serious drug related offenses and imposed new mandatory minimums for drug offenses, including 5-year mandatory minimum for simple possession of cocaine base with no evidence of intent to sell Law under the War on Drugs
White Privilege
The concrete benefits of access to resources and social rewards and the power to share the norms and values of society that Whites receive, tacitly or explicitly, by virtue of their position in a racist society. (
Silencing
The conscious or unconscious processes by which the voice or participation of particular social identities is exclude or inhibited.
Southern/ Strategy/Manifesto
The first time since Nixon's divisive 'Southern Strategy' that sent whites to the Republican party and blacks to the Democrats
Eleventh Amendment
The judicial power of the US shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the states by citizens of another state or by citizens or subjects of a foreign state
White Supremacy
The normalization and legitimization of an array of dynamics - historical, cultural, institutional and interpersonal - that routinely advantage Whites while producing cumulative and chronic adverse outcomes for people of color. It is structural racism which encompasses the entire system of White domination, diffused and infused in all aspects of society including its history, culture, politics, economics and entire social fabric. It is the most profound and pervasive form of racism.
Worldview
The perspective though which individuals view the world; comprised of their personal or group history, experiences, culture, and other influences such as ones privilege and power associated with their societal positionality, based on class, gender, race, ethnicity or religion.
Affirmative action
The policy of favoring members of a disadvantaged group who suffer from discrimination within a culture, especially in relation to employment or education; positive discrimination
Posse Comitatus Act
The purpose of the act, in association with the Insurrection Act of 1807- it to limit the powers of the federal government in using its military personnel to act as domestic law enforcement personnel Law prohibiting the use of the military for civilian policing
4th Amendment
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issues, but upon probably cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Protection against unreasonable searches and seizures by the police
Oppression
The systemic and pervasive nature of social inequality woven throughout social institutions as well as embedded within individual consciousness. Oppression fuses institutional and systemic discrimination, personal bias, bigotry, and social prejudice in a complex web of relationships and structures that saturate most aspects of life in our society. • Oppression denotes structural and material constraints that significantly shape a person's life chances • and sense of possibility. • Oppression also signifies a hierarchical relationship in which dominant or privilege groups benefit, • often in unconscious ways, from the disempowerment of subordinated or targeted groups. • Oppression resides not only in external social institutions and norms but also within the human psyche as well (internalized oppression). • Eradicating oppression ultimately requires struggle against all its forms, and building meaningful coalitions among diverse people offers the most promising strategies for challenging oppression systematically.
Sentencing/juveniles/mandatory minimum/plea bargaining
There are discrepancies when a black kid commits a crime and when a white one does Mandatory minimum of 5 years for crack and a day for drunk driving Alexander points out that those arrested seldom receive meaningful legal representation and are pressured into plea bargain deals that involve extended control by the penal system Juveniles can be transferred to adult court and tried as an adult Youth of color are more likely to be arrested, detained, formally charged, transferred to adult court, and confined to secure residential facilities than whites White are more successful than blacks and Latinos when it comes to getting plea bargains and the process
Crack cocaine 100:1 and 18:1 ratios
This law reduced the disparity between the amount of crack cocaine versus powder cocaine needed to trigger certain US federal criminal penalties from a 100:1 ratio to 18:1, and eliminated the 5 year mandatory minimum sentence for possession of crack cocaine, among other things People were told that the War on Drugs was launched in response to the crisis caused by crack cocaine in inner city neighborhoods
Civil Rights Act 1964
This outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or nationality Ended unequal application of voter registration requirements and racial segregation in schools, at the workplace, and by public facilities Considered one of the crowning legislative achievements of the civil rights movement
Illegal drug usage
This war has been waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color, even though studies consistently show that everyone uses and sells drugs at similar rates Some studies show that white outh are more likely to engage in illegal drug dealing or use than blacks
University of Washington research on racial profiling and discrimination
UW conducted a study about the relationship between drug and law enforcement in the Seattle Police department They discovered that the police, as expected, concentrated their enforcement in colored neighborhoods, one with lower illegal activity Critics complained that drug activities mainly come from a residence that is predominantly white, "closed-air" drug markets
Crime reduction and incarceration rates
We do not know with precision what caused the crime decline, but the growth in incarceration played nay a minor role and now has a negligible impact
Justice Policy Institute
Working to reduce the use of incarceration and the justice system and promote policies that improve the well-being of all people and communities Observed that the Clinton Administration's 'tough on crime' policies resulted in the largest increases in federal and state prison inmates of any president in American history
Social Justice
a process and a goal. A commitment to a socially just world and the committed actions to make that world a reality. Or, "The goal of social justice is full and equal participation of all groups in a society that is mutually shaped to meet their needs. Social justice includes a vision of society in which the distribution of resources is equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure... Social justice involves social actors who have a sense of their own agency as well as a sense of social responsibility toward and with others, their society, and the broader world in which we live."
Sexism
a system of oppression that privileges men, subordinates women, and devalues practices associated with women.
Racism
a system of oppression that targets and subordinates individuals or groups based on their actual or perceived racial identity.
Consent searches and stops
searches made by US law enforcement personnel based on the consent of the individual whose person or property is being searched
Racial Bribe
term used to describe the strategic and deliberate effort of elite whites to extend racial privileges to other, especially poor, classes of Whites to create in them a personal stake in maintaining a racial hierarchy.
Power
the ability to get what you want and determine opportunities and access to resources for others
Xenophobia
the fear and hatred of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange. Please note that many of these definitions have been influenced by multiple sources. Some terms have specific roots in communities of color, the LGBTQ communities, and other marginalized groups. We thank everyone out there who does social justice work and has contributed to our understanding of the above terms.
