The book focuses on exploring the social status of African Americans, in the context of the judicial and mass incarceration system. The socio-economic status quo and political policy forced a whole race into poverty, and subsequent crime and arrest. Law enforcement is given a carte blanche in combatting crime that is supposedly not racially based. Once incarcerated, African Americans are relegated to a second-class status in which they are continuously locked in the vicious cycle of the judicial system and oftentimes denied basic rights that are guaranteed by the Civil Rights Act and other laws. Judicial systems are prevalent with racism in jury selection, while once released from jail, most felons have neither the ability nor access to rights to rehabilitate into society. All this combined, create a system of ‘racialized social control’ similar to the oppressive Jim Crow laws of the pre-Civil Rights era, in a social and government system that openly states that it is neutral and colorblind.
Dependent origination is directly evident in the context of the justice system as African American individuals are essentially forced into a system that is racially prejudiced and unfair. It no longer becomes a matter of choice as the public is made to believe, but rather a method of control. Alexander (2010) states, “The nature of the criminal justice system has changed. It is no longer primarily concerned with the prevention and punishment of crime, but rather with the management and control of the dispossessed” (p. 183). The Law of Dependent Origination states that there is a principle of cause and effect in place which determines one’s condition. In the context of mass incarceration, it is a similar pattern of cause and effect, but with the cause often determined by political or social aspects of racialized bias that is out of control for an individual and leaves little opportunity for successful rehabilitation during or after incarceration. It was surprising to see the extent of institutionalized racism in the justice system.
References
Alexander, M. (2010). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York, NY: The New Press.