American - Writer | October 7, 1967 -
The greatest myth about mass incarceration is that it has been driven by crime and crime rates. It's just not true.
Michelle Alexander
TrueCrimeDrivenGreatestMyth
The fact that our legal system has become so tolerant of police lying indicates how corrupted our criminal justice system has become by declarations of war, 'get tough' mantras, and a seemingly insatiable appetite for locking up and locking out the poorest and darkest among us.
JusticePoliceWarToughLegalOut
My experience and research has led me to the regrettable conclusion that our system of mass incarceration functions more like a caste system than a system of crime prevention or control.
ExperienceMeResearchControlCrime
Prosecutors frequently overcharge, load up charges on individual defendants, knowing that three strikes laws and harsh mandatory minimum sentences will force people to plea bargain and essentially convict themselves because they're terrified of doing a life sentence for a relatively minor crime.
LifePeopleDoingThreeKnowingUp
Incarceration rates, especially black incarceration rates, have soared regardless of whether crime is going up or down in any given community or the nation as a whole.
CommunityBlackDownCrimeNation
We cannot 'fix' the police without a revolution of values and radical change to the basic structure of our society.
ChangePoliceSocietyRevolutionFix
If there is any hope that we in America might one day overcome our own history of genocide, slavery, discrimination, and oppression and create a justice system that is truly a source of international pride rather than shame, I suspect Rwanda may have as much to teach us about what is required as any tour of a Norwegian prison.
HopeHistoryJusticeDaySlavery
When we pull back the curtain and take a look at what our 'colorblind' society creates without affirmative action, we see a familiar social, political, and economic structure - the structure of racial caste. The entrance into this new caste system can be found at the prison gate.
SocietyActionPrisonPoliticalLook
The U.S. Supreme Court has eviscerated Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, giving the police license to sweep communities, to conduct 'stop and frisk' operations.
PoliceGivingStopAmendmentAgainst
Our criminal-justice system has for decades been infected with a mindset that views black boys and men in particular as a problem to be dealt with, managed, and controlled.
MenBlackMindsetProblemSystem
I have spent years representing victims of racial profiling and police brutality and investigating patterns of drug law enforcement in poor communities of color - and attempting to help people who have been released from prison attempting to 're-enter' into a society that never seemed to have much use to them in the first place.
PolicePeopleLawLaw Enforcement
We have to stop thinking of criminals as 'them' and admit to ourselves, 'There but for the grace of God go I.'
GodGraceThinkingAdmitStopGo
Copyright © 2024 QuotesDict Michelle Alexander quotes