As we have now studied many theories of crime, please watch the following documentary on Netflix – 13th - an in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality. Throughout the documentary you will clearly see examples of social control theory, labeling and stigma theories and how these labels and stigmas impact the African American community.
- What is the 13th Amendment of the Constitution?
- How did the film Birth of a Nation, portray African Americans?
- What are Jim Crow Laws?
- What was the Southern Strategy?
- How did you feel about the statement that Nixon admitted -- “the War on Drugs was all about throwing black people in jail.”
- We see President Reagan put more police on the streets, expand construction of jails and prisons, implement mandatory sentence minimums, defund education, and decrease public health services – what did these mean for the African American community? (Think of some of the theories we have talked about and some of the programs and policies that we discussed that could decrease the likelihood of delinquency and crime.)
- What does the term Super Predator mean?
Think about the power of the media and the power of words (labeling). Discuss how the media and words impact the perception and criminalization of people of color, both in the past and the present. Give at least 4 well explained examples. - Prisons for Profit:
a. Were you aware of the Prison Industrial Complex and how corporations are profiting from incarceration?
b. Were you surprised to know about ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) – a committee of politicians and corporations influencing laws that benefit its corporate founders and pushing forth policies to increase the number of people in prison and increase sentences? – think about control theories and the power of ALEC
c. Talk about CCA (Corrections Corporation of American, leader in private prisons that is required to keep prison beds filled – the leading corporation responsible for the rapid increase in criminalization) and how that impacts our communities (think about who is working for the prison, who is putting inmates into the prison, how is that impacting families, communities, etc.) - “So many aspects of the old Jim Crow are suddenly legal again once you’ve been branded a felon. And so it seems that in America we haven’t so much ended racial caste, but simply redesigned it.” -- Michelle Alexander. The impact of incarceration does not end when one returns to society. As stated, there are over 40,000 collateral consequences that follow the returning citizen (from prison to the community). How does this labeling effect released offenders (citizens)? How does this impact the community?