The American legal system has been quite notorious for some of its obvious loopholes and flaws, yet a more detailed assessment of it reveals that it, in fact, needs an urgent reconsideration. Representing the direct opposition to the 13th Amendment, which prohibits and condemns slavery, imprisonment can be seen as the ultimate attempt at dehumanizing people. Although it is important to ensure that criminals pay the community for their wrongdoings, the movie has proven that the opportunity to become rehabilitated is a much more important goal, which most U.S. prisons fail to meet.
It is important to note that the sentencing regulations often lack fairness and the understanding of the sociocultural problems within American society. Namely, the current standards for mass incarceration, particularly, in regard to the issue of race. For instance, the movie makes a point that men soliciting drugs encourage women with whom they live to try drugs as well (DuVernay, 2016). As a result, women in question, who may also fall into the trap of being trafficked and sexually abused, are afterward imprisoned for drug misuse and possession (DuVernay, 2016). Since the problem of drug peddling affects African American communities specifically, African American women remain the most vulnerable category in the described scenario (DuVernay, 2016).
Another vital point that the documentary makes concerns the unfairness of the sentencing approach. Namely, the presence of the mandatory sentence concept does not allow for the fair assessment of the extent of an individual’s guilt but, instead, forces a criminal into the incarceration system. As a result, the number of prisoners that American jails hold is increasing in a geometric progression. Furthermore, with the rise in the number of criminal cases compared to the number of civil ones, the workload has been increasing for judges, which means that the threat of a misjudgment or a mismanaged court case with the resulting increased sentence becomes especially probable.
Additionally, the documentary invites further reflections regarding the opportunities that former prisoners have after being released. Although they are not prevented from reentering their communities and can even explore some job opportunities, the legal system does nothing to help them abandon the connections that they made when participating in criminal activities (DuVernay, 2016). As a result, getting sucked back into the criminal realm becomes increasingly more plausible for former prisoners. Finally, the fact that most of the U.S. prosecutors are represented by the white population implies that African American people facing a trial are likely to face racial profiling and be judged not only on the merit of their crimes but also on the basis of their race. The described trend is truly atrocious since it represents an instance of unambiguous and undiluted racism (DuVernay, 2016). Therefore, the current justice system needs to be changed in order to address the rise in mass incarceration.
Therefore, the documentary encourages its viewers to think about the opportunities for former prisoners to remove themselves from the context of the criminal world into which they had entered. Specifically, strategies for supporting people as they are released from prison, including the opportunity for getting a new job and the chance to develop new social connections must be provided. Introducing the notion of incarceration as the one that approaches the definition of slavery, the documentary supports the idea of revisiting the existing standards for providing legal punishment and persecuting crimes.
Reference
DuVernay, A. (Director) & Barish, H. (Producer). (2017). 13th [Motion picture]. Kandoo Films.