1. History
1.1. Prison labor and for-profit prisons
1.1.1. Criminalization of black people
1.1.1.1. The 13th amendment
1.1.1.1.1. Slavery and plantations in the US
1.1.1.2. Abolished slavery except for imprisoned people
1.1.1.3. "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
1.1.2. Slave patrols (white militias devoted to tracking down and capturing escaped slaves) transformed into police departments
1.1.3. In the 1870s, 95% of the prison population of the South was black
1.1.4. The Black Codes made non-criminal and common activities illegal for black people, forcing many into prison
1.1.5. For instance, black people could be arrested for “walking without a purpose” or "walking at night" in some southern states
1.1.6. In the North, black people were portrayed and stereotyped as dangerous criminals
1.1.7. The media spread the idea that black people who migrated from the south to north during the early 1900s were causing a wave of crime and threatening northern cities
1.1.8. In the 1960s, the “law and order” political rhetoric with racial undertones became widely adopted as a way to further criminalize black people
1.1.9. The "War on Crime" targeted predominantly black urban centers which tightened the link between black neighborhoods and crime in the public's mind
1.1.10. All these actions made it possible to arrest black people at disproportionately high rates, brutalize them, and imprison them for much longer than white people, all within the mechanisms of the state
1.2. The Virginia supreme court declared in 1871 that an incarcerated person is "a slave of the state"
1.3. After the Civil War, plantations continued to exist, but the people who worked on them as slaves were convicts
1.4. Convict leasing and prison farms became the legal means for white people to continue enslavement of black people
1.5. The conditions on these prison farms were extremely bad and the death rate of prisoners was 16-25%
1.6. Prison farms and convict leasing ended and were replaced by industrial, for-profit prisons
1.7. The prison system has been designed to maximize profit and entirely disregard the basic value of convicted individuals' lives
2. After Incarceration
2.1. Issues
2.1.1. Voting
2.1.1.1. In many states, felons are disenfranchised either permanently or for a certain period of time. Only two states and D.C. allow felons to vote even while they are in prison.
2.1.1.2. Due to the disproportionate incarceration of black people, this leads to black people also being disenfranchised at higher rates
2.1.1.3. An estimated 1 in 13 black adults are disenfranchised and this increases to 1 in 5 in certain states
2.1.1.4. Over 7.4% of black people of voting age are disenfranchised nationally compared to 1.8% of white people
2.1.1.5. This mass disenfranchisement leads to under-representation of the rights of black people in the political agenda and lower voting turnouts for black candidates
2.1.1.6. Ultimately, the system of mass incarceration is designed to reduce the political power of black populations and maintain white domination
2.1.2. Other disadvantages
2.1.2.1. Ex-convicts face many disadvantages after they've served their time
2.1.2.2. Many companies won't employ ex cons and it is sometimes illegal for ex cons to hold certain jobs such as teaching and public service
2.1.2.3. Ex cons may also have more difficulty accessing public resources and housing
2.1.2.4. All of these factors trap ex cons in a cycle of poverty
2.1.2.5. They trap a disproportionate number of black people in a cycle of poverty
2.1.2.6. Mass incarceration also tears apart families because it forces children into foster care and strips their parents of parental rights
3. Prison System
3.1. Issues
3.1.1. Prison populations
3.1.1.1. Every step of the criminal justice process, from criminalization starting in early education, to unfair policing, to unequal juries and sentencing leads to a large black over-representation in prison populations
3.1.1.2. Even after adjusting to crime rates of black populations, black people are over- represented in prisons
3.1.1.3. An estimates 63% of black people have had a family member incarcerated, compared to 42% of white people
3.1.1.4. According to The Sentencing Project, 1 in 3 black men will spend time incarcerated during their lifetimes versus 1 in 17 white men
3.1.2. Time spent in prison
3.1.2.1. Black men spend an average of 20% longer in prison than white men
3.1.3. Solitary confinement
3.1.3.1. Black people are more likely to receive solitary confinement
3.1.4. Forced Labor
3.1.4.1. Slave labor or labor at extremely low wages is widespread in the prison system. The most egregious example is in private prisons, but it is also common in public prisons. Prisoners are forced to work without pay to maintain the prison, farm, and manufacture goods in inhumane conditions. Under the law, prisoners are considered "slaves of the state" and have very few legal rights. Inmates are essentially seen as commodities for profit.
3.1.4.2. For example, during the COVID pandemic prisoners were forced to produce face masks and hand sanitizer without pay to address the shortage. The work conditions in prisons did not allow workers to maintain social distance and caused large COVID outbreaks in the prisons, which killed many people
3.1.4.3. Prisoners who refuse to work are punished by being sent to solitary confinement or dangerous living situations
3.1.5. Private Prisons
3.1.5.1. The US has seen a large increase in privatization of prisons over the last two decades. Private prisons are for-profit prisons run by large corporations including CoreCivic. Public prisons transfer inmates to these prisons where they are forced to work for the corporations at little to no pay. The conditions in private prisons are considerably worse than pubic prisons because the corporations will go to any legal measure to increase profit.
3.1.5.2. A reporter who went under cover as a guard at a CoreCivic prison explained their experience there: "Private prisons, according to a 2016 Department of Justice Study, are consistently more violent than their already-dismal public counterparts. Yet while we went through training to become guards, we were taught that, if we saw inmates stab each other, we were not to intervene. “We are not going to pay you that much,” our instructor told us. Our job was simply to shout the words “stop fighting,” thus protecting the company’s liability and avoiding any potentially costly harm to ourselves. Our job, after all, was to “deliver value to our shareholders.” “If them fools want to cut each other,” the instructor said, “well, happy cutting.”"
3.1.5.3. Prisoners are provided with much worse mental and health care in private prisons because the corporations don't want to pay for it
3.1.5.4. Assault and violence rates are much higher in private prisons
3.1.5.5. Young black people are even more over-represented in private prisons
3.1.5.6. Additionally, over 70% of detained immigrants are held in private prisons and forced into slave labor
3.1.6. Inhumane Living Conditions
3.1.6.1. Inmates are subjected to inhumane working and living conditions, denied health care, abused physically and mentally, and not granted basic human rights
3.1.6.2. An inmate and human rights activist named Kevin Rashid Johnson writes "In the past three decades I have been endured every level of abuse they have to offer: I have been starved, beaten, dehydrated, put in freezing cold cells, attacked with attack dogs, rendered unconscious, chained to a wall for weeks. There’s nothing left to fear."
3.2. Economic stakeholders
3.2.1. Corporations that profit off prisons labor
3.2.1.1. CoreCivic and GEO Group are the two largest owners of private prisons in the US
3.2.1.2. Companies including McDonalds, Victoria's Secret, J.C. Penny, Kmart, American Airlines, Avis car rental, Sprint, Verizon, Wendy's, Walmart, and Starbucks use prison labor for production
3.2.2. The federal prison industry (UNICOR)
3.2.2.1. UNICOR (also known as the the federal prison industry) makes nearly half a billion a year from prison labor. About 50% of products are sold to the Department of Defense, and the other half is sold to other governmental organizations and certain private companies
3.2.3. The state owned prison industry
3.2.3.1. State owned prisons also make millions per year in profits off prison labor
3.3. Sources of power/change
3.3.1. Legislatures and writers of laws
3.3.1.1. Laws are important because they can secure for or deny prisoners rights and de-privatize or privatize prisons
3.3.2. Congress
3.3.2.1. Congress has the power to revise the 13th amendment and ban all forms of slavery
3.3.3. The judicial process
3.3.3.1. The judicial process is what sends people to prison and so has immense power over prison populations
3.3.4. Individual state and federal prisons
3.3.4.1. Individual prisons have the power to change living conditions for inmates
3.3.5. Executive state and federal officials
3.3.5.1. Executive officials such as governors and the president have the power to grant prisoners clemency
3.3.5.2. Executive orders can also be used to reform prisons
3.3.6. Pardon and parole boards
3.3.6.1. Parole and pardon boards are able to decide who can be released from prison and who must stay in
3.3.7. Policy research organizations and state and national agencies
3.3.7.1. These organizations collect data and do research to identify and expose trends and issues in the system
3.3.8. Citizens
3.3.8.1. Inmates can go on strike to demand change
3.3.8.2. Other citizens and activist groups can also push for change through protest and activism
3.3.8.3. Citizens can lobby representatives for reform
4. Education System
4.1. Issues
4.1.1. Black students are far more likely to be disciplined in school than their white counterparts
4.1.2. A study done in Chicago from 2013-2014, which adjusted for the academic level and social disadvantages, found that black male students are five times more likely to be suspended than their white counterparts and black female students are thirteen times more likely
4.1.3. Nationally, black students are suspended at 3 times the rate of white students
4.1.4. The zero tolerance policy in the public school system has increased suspensions and penalties
4.1.5. Many schools have been staffed with police officers to "protect students," but this has instead led to increased in school arrests, mainly for misdemeanors or civic violations
4.1.6. 92,000 students were arrested in school from 2011-2012
4.1.7. After adjusting for poverty level, schools with law enforcement had five times as many arrests for disorderly conduct as schools without one
4.1.8. This essentially forces thousands of students into the juvenile justice system for small offenses, which can be put on their criminal record permanently
4.1.9. Black youth are also transferred from juvenile court to adult court at higher rates than white youth
4.1.10. Black students are disciplined at much higher rates and so, from a young age, are forced to engage with the criminal justice system
4.1.11. Several studies found that black students do not actually misbehave at higher rates than white children
4.1.12. White students are more likely to be disciplined for documentable or provable offenses such as smoking and vandalism while black students tend to be disciplined for subjective offenses such as "disrespect""insubordination" or "willful defiance"
4.1.13. Arrests of black students are also often attributed to vague reasons such as "resisting arrest" or "obstructing governmental administration"
4.1.14. Even when a law enforcement officer isn't present in school, suspensions are not linked to better behavior, but instead a higher likelihood that the student will interact with the law enforcement system in their life and drop out of school before graduation
4.1.15. Racial discrimination in school discipline criminalizes black people from a young age and increases the likelihood that they will be incarcerated later in their lives
4.2. Sources of power/change
4.2.1. School boards
4.2.1.1. School and education boards have the power to reform school policies and push for greater equity in discipline
4.2.2. Government officials
4.2.2.1. Executive and legislative officials have the power to pass education and discipline reform
4.2.3. School officials
4.2.3.1. Principals and other school officials can discipline students and employ more fair policies in their schools
4.2.4. Parents and students
4.2.4.1. Parents and students have the power to push school boards for reform and change
4.2.5. Police departments
4.2.5.1. Police departments can better train police officers in schools or push to have them removed
4.2.6. Juvenile courts
4.2.6.1. The court system can reform the way they treat black youth, give them more fair trials, and stop sending them adult court
5. Judicial Process
5.1. Issues
5.1.1. Juries
5.1.1.1. It is technically illegal to strike out a juror based on race, but this law is not enforced and courts will strike out black jurors based on flimsy excuses
5.1.1.2. Black jurors are excluded from juries at substantially higher rates than white ones
5.1.1.3. This often leads to primarily or entirely white juries deciding cases where the defendant is black
5.1.2. Prosecutors
5.1.2.1. 95% of prosecutors in the United States are white
5.1.3. Judges
5.1.3.1. 83% of state trial court judges and 80% of state appellate court judges are white
5.1.4. Charges
5.1.4.1. White people are more likely to have misdemeanor charges dismissed/decreased than black people
5.1.4.2. White people are also more likely to have serious charges reduced to a plea deal while black people are more likely to receive jail time
5.1.5. Sentencing
5.1.5.1. Black people consistently receive longer sentences for the same crime
5.1.5.2. They are also more likely to receive sentence "enhancements"
5.1.5.3. A 2015 study of first time felons found that black men receive sentences of 270 days longer than white men and dark skinned black men receive 400 days longer than whites
5.1.5.4. Black people receive sentences that are 4.25% higher than white people for similar crimes
5.1.5.5. The death sentence is unequally assigned based on the race of the victim and murderer. Black people who kill other black people rarely get the death sentence. White people who kill black people even more rarely get the death sentence. Black people who kill white people are most commonly assigned the death sentence. The most common murder to get the death sentence is of a white woman by a black person
5.1.5.6. Less than half of the murders in the US are of white people while 80% of the people on death row are convicted of killing a white person
5.1.6. Bail and Pretrial Detention
5.1.6.1. Black people are given substantially higher bail amounts than whites and are less likely to be able to pay them, which results in black people being held for pretrial detention at disproportionately high rates. This discrimination is based on the idea that black people are more dangerous to the public because of the color of their skin
5.1.6.2. Survey from 2018 of bail practices in Philadelphia and Miami found that "bail judges are racially biased against black defendants, with substantially more racial bias among both inexperienced and part-time judges. We find suggestive evidence that this racial bias is driven by bail judges relying on inaccurate stereotypes that exaggerate the relative danger of releasing black defendants."
5.1.6.3. A review by the Prison Policy Initiative found that nationally black men were 50% more likely to be detained pretrial and given and average of twice as high bail amounts
5.1.6.4. The Massachusetts Sentencing Commission found that black people are 8 times as likely to be incarcerated as white people in the state
5.1.6.5. Another study found that black people receive, on average, $13,000 higher bail for drug related crimes than whites, $7,000 higher for violent crimes, and $10,000 higher for public order related crimes
5.1.6.6. Black defendants also spend consistently longer in detention awaiting their trial than white defendants
5.2. Sources of power/change
5.2.1. Legislatures and writers of laws
5.2.1.1. Laws are the basis of the judicial process and changing laws also changes how people are prosecuted and sentenced
5.2.1.2. Legislatures can also reform how courts work and push for bail reform
5.2.2. Prosecutors
5.2.2.1. Prosecutors have gained increasing power over the judicial process through making plea deals and brining charges, which has decreased the use of trial juries
5.2.2.2. Fewer than 1 in 40 felony cases go to trial and most are resolved by prosecutors through plea deals and bargaining. There is also a "trial tax" where defendants will risk getting worse sentences if they take the case to trial
5.2.3. Lawyers and Public Defendants
5.2.3.1. Lawyers and public defendants are key to ensuring that defendants have a fair trial and know their options
5.2.4. Judges and Juries
5.2.4.1. Judges and juries have power in sentencing and sending people to prison
5.2.5. Executive officials
5.2.5.1. Executive officials including the president and state governors have the power to appoint judges and can choose to appoint ones with less racial bias on their record
5.2.6. Citizens and Lobbyists
5.2.6.1. People can lobby their representatives for change and reform, and vote for officials who will support the change they want
5.2.6.2. Citizens also have power through juries and can judge defendants more fairly
6. Policing
6.1. Stakeholders/Actors
6.1.1. Police unions
6.1.1.1. Police unions negotiate CBAs (collective bargaining agreements) which protect officers and create a major obstacle in police accountability
6.1.1.2. Police unions also fund political campaigns so that those elected officials will protect their interests and prevent police reform
6.1.2. City and state legislatures
6.1.2.1. City and state legislators have the most power to pass bills and laws to reform police departments and policies
6.1.3. Police departments
6.1.3.1. Police departments can make internal changes and train their police officers, all affecting the way they police communities
6.1.4. Individual police officers
6.1.4.1. Individual officers have the power to improve their own practices but often when officers try to hold other ones accountable or defy the department, they are shut down, punished, or fired. This is because the institution of policing tends to protect itself over public safety
6.1.5. Media
6.1.5.1. The media is powerful in this situation because it has the ability to influence the public viewpoint and cultural narrative. New sources consistently criminalize black victims while humanizing white criminals. They have the power to break this stereotype and change the cultural narrative
6.1.6. Activist groups
6.1.6.1. Activist groups such as the Black Lives Matter movement have organized millions of people and demand change
6.1.7. Citizens
6.1.7.1. Citizens can protest unfair treatment and join activist groups
6.1.7.2. Citizens also can change their own actions. For instance, white people can stop calling the police on non-dangerous black people, because this can quickly escalate the situation
6.2. Issues
6.2.1. Racial profiling
6.2.1.1. A 2020 study of 95 million traffic stops found that black people are pulled over at a higher rate than white people but that this disparity decreases at night when it is more difficult to tell a driver's race. It also found that black people are more likely to be searched after being stopped, even though white people are more likely to be found illicit drugs
6.2.1.2. Black drivers are much more likely to be pulled over for violations which aren't noticeable, such as driving without a seat belt or with a suspended license
6.2.2. Use of force
6.2.2.1. From 2013-2018, black men were 2.5 times more likely to be killed by police than white men and black women were 1.4 times more likely to be killed than white women
6.2.2.2. Black men have a 1 in 1000 chance of being killed by a police officer
6.2.2.3. In Columbus, Ohio, black people make up 28% of the population but about half of the use of force incidents
6.2.3. Arrests
6.2.3.1. The black arrest rate for disorderly conduct, drug possession, simple assault, theft, vagrancy, and vandalism is twice as high as the white one. The black arrest rate for gambling is ten times as high and the prostitution arrest rate is five times as high
6.2.3.2. Black and latino people are 51% of New York City's population but 80% of its misdemeanor arrests and summonses
6.2.3.3. A study by ACLU of four cities in New Jersey found that black people are 2.6 to 9.6 times more likely to be arrested for low level offenses than white people
6.2.3.4. Black people are four times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession
6.2.3.5. Black people are much more likely to be arrested for drug use or selling than white people even though studies find that black and white people use and sell drugs at about the same rate
6.2.4. Qualified Immunity
6.2.4.1. When police officers hurt innocent civilians or use excessive force, they participate in qualified immunity. This means that they are rarely prosecuted or punished for their crimes, especially when they are against black citizens and black victims rarely get justice.