Monika Fitts

17 September 2017

English 123

Annotated Bibliography

Prof. Flores

The War on Drugs and Mass Incarceration: An Annotated Bibliography

Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.

New York : [Jackson, Tenn.] :New Press ; Distributed by Perseus Distribution, 2010.

Print. Accessed 11 Sept. 2017.

The world-renowned book written by Michelle Alexander is a powerful analysis

of why our prisons are so overpopulated and why The War on Drugs is to blame. In the

opening of the book, Michelle immediately stuns the reader with information about

Jarvious Cotton an African American man who like his ancestors, has been denied the

right to vote. It is said that in each generation, new tactics have been used but the more

things change, the more stay the same (Alexander 1). While discussing Alexanders

experiences with Civil Rights, she realized that she was ignorant to what was happening

amongst the black community. In fact, this realization was a turning point indicating that

we are still living in a Jim Crow era. The War on Drugs began in 1982, during a time

when illegal drug use was declining. Following the announcement of a war on drugs, The

Raegan administration hired staff to publicize the negative effects of drugs in an attempt

to build public and legislative support for the war. Stereotypes arose almost overnight and
 black people became crack whores and drug dealers. The up rise of Reagan led

people to believe that this war on drugs was a part of a genocidal plan initiated by the

government to keep black people from obtaining anything more than a second-class

citizenship. America, the home of the free began to use military style tactics during

arrests which led to fear and retaliation amongst African Americans. Moving forward and

digging deeper into each individual chapter, Alexander talked about the structure of our

prison system, the role that race plays in which can be described as a method to

madness, the prison cycle that prevents criminals from living an equal life, tough on

crime policies and lastly, what we can do to help society specifically through a social

movement.

This source was the most beneficial out of all nine that I have found so far. By

reading this book, I learned more about my topic, the history of incarceration, statistics

and the layout of a successful/ knowledgeable text. In the introduction, Alexander

introduced herself, spoke briefly about what made her choose this topic and identified

what she was going to talk about in each chapter. The flow of this book has a consistent

sentence-to-sentence structure that kept my attention from beginning to end. I am hoping

to manipulate her organization in my text and keep my reader wanting to read. I will also

use this book to prove my thesis while also having the ability to include credible and

valuable information.

Burch, Traci. Review of Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes

Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse. Law & Society Review, vol. 43, no. 3, Sept. 2009,

pp. 716718. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.

 This article was written in 2009 by Northwestern University scholar, Traci Burch.

As the article progresses, it goes on to explain how mass incarceration is contributing to

the increase in crime in troubled neighborhoods. Burch uses statistics taken from both

high crime and low crime areas to compare and contrast the neighborhoods. During the

interviews, it is discussed that in the high crime areas, marriages dont tend to last and

inmates children and neighborhood children suffer from an absence of a parent/role

model. Because of these negative effects of incarceration, it can be argued that low crime

areas have a better family life. In comparison to both areas, some people are sad that a

person is imprisoned and some are glad that they are off the streets (Burch 717). It also

is discussed that limiting the amount of people that are taken to jail for drug crimes such

as having a small amount of Marijuana would mean fewer struggling families, higher

employment rates and an improved prison system. In conclusion, the more people that are

being incarcerated, the more money the government is wasting.

This article did a great job at getting firsthand information about the pros and cons

of The War on Drugs and what the effects of it are in different neighborhoods. Although

this article is a review of a book, it is still a credible source because the information given

was taken from a text and proven in real life scenarios. I do believe that I will be using

statistics from this article in my final paper to get my audience to visualize what The War

on Drugs is doing to our society. I can also use information obtained to talk about

neighborhood crime control, racial differences and how we can go about reviving

disadvantaged neighborhoods.

De Giorgi, Alessandro. Five Theses on Mass Incarceration. Social Justice, vol. 42, no. 2, 5

Dec. 2015, pp. 530. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.

 The article written by Alessandro Giorgi talks about what is under the umbrella of

mass incarceration. According to the Bureau of Justice, the current population of those

who are under penal control is more than 7 million, that is almost 3% of the US

population (Giorgi 1). The article goes on to explain the differences in race, class and

how the differences stem back to the social movements of the 1960s. For instance,

politics have a lot to do with the way the criminal justice system is ran because 8 times

out of 10, jails are funded from the government. Politics are also a big part of

incarceration because of each persons individual rights that are protected by the laws of

the land. It is said that incarcerating high rates of minorities was and is still being used as

a political strategy. Giorgi also uses state and federal prison rates to show the difference

in a white man versus a black mans time spent behind bars. Throughout the article,

multiple theses are mentioned that point out the problems and how we can move forward

with making society and our criminal justice system better.

This article helps me with my research paper because although it is generally

speaking about mass incarceration, it talks about the many different elements of this huge

problem. This article has helped me pick out my research topic which is The War on

Drugs being a failure to our society. As mentioned on page 5, mass incarceration is a

struggle against equality. I am hoping to use Thesis number two as a way to connect with

my audience and explain why we as one need to stick up and raise awareness to the fact

that our leaders are targeting our colored brothers and sisters. It is a shame that instead of

helping the poor communities, we are making these problems worse by continually

punishing people for little crimes.

Drug Policy Alliance. A Brief History of the Drug War. DrugPolicy.Org, Drug Policy

Alliance, www.drugpolicy.org/facts/new-solutions-drug-policy/brief-history-drug-war-0.

Accessed 11 Sept. 2017.

This video and article released by the Drug Police Alliance discusses the early

stages of drugs and prohibition. The historical timeline shows that the first anti opium

laws were directed at Chinese immigrants in 1870. Fast forward 30 years, the first anti-

cocaine laws were directed at black men. These drug laws both targeted a specific race,

coincidence? I think not. The article points out that during Nixons presidential

campaign, he had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. He stated that you

cannot make it illegal to be black so he used propaganda to make the public associate

hippies and black people with drug use and abuse. In 1981, The Raegans took office and

began a highly publicized anti-drug campaign encouraging people to Just Say No, in

which led to the implementation of zero tolerance policies. For instance, Los Angeles

police chief Daryl Gates believed that drug users should be taken out and shot. These

Harsh beliefs contributed to the increase in the prison population. Surprisingly, the

number of people behind bars for nonviolent drug offenses increased from 50,000 in

1980 to half a million in 1997. The rapid increase of people getting thrown behind bars

seemed to be beneficial to the safety of others so the government increased funding for

this man on man war. Concluding this article, it is said that although progress is slow,

there is still time to stand up for opposition to the drug war and prevent the new

administration from supporting The War on Drugs.

Although this article was supported by credible sources I do believe that it was

slightly biased. I say this because the creators of this website feel strongly about drug
 issues that are related to racial inequality. With that being said, it seems like some

information was exaggerated in order to prove the correlation between drugs, mass

incarceration and discrimination. In all honesty, this article is similar to the length that

our rhetorical paper will be so I think that it did a great job at briefly going over certain

topics but putting as much information possible in each paragraph. I also love that the

author included a video of Jay Z summarizing the article. If I had a program that enabled

me to make cartoons and videos I would summarize my paper and produce a video to

attract more people to want to read and hear about my topic.

Haney Lpez, Ian F. Post-Racial Racism: Racial Stratification and Mass Incarceration in the

Age of Obama. California Law Review, no. 3, 2010, p. 1023. Jstor, EBSCOhost,

http://www.jstor.org.libproxy.calbaptist.edu/stable/27896699. Accessed 13 Sept. 2017

This California Law Review written by Ian Haney Lopez talks about the racial

politics and how racialized mass incarceration stems from the backlash to the civil rights

movement. In 2008, the election of Obama, our first African American president gave

hope to society that we were stepping in the right direction towards racial equality, but

facts show otherwise. The text has a huge emphasis on post-racial racism in the age of

Obama because of the shocking racial differences that have stuck around for decades at

every level. During the time of the civil rights movements in the 1960s Nixon was also

running for president. Facts prove that racism was indeed a part of Nixons Southern

Strategy. In an attempt to gain the votes from the southern whites, Nixon initiated a war

on drugs that targeted minorities in a way that was violent, degrading and unfair. Fifty

years later, The War on Drugs continues to gain support and funding. In the United States

today, almost one in thirty of its residents are under correctional control in a racial pattern
 that generates state prison populations that are two-thirds black and Latino (Haney Lopez

1025). Haney Lopez dives into the prison systems and describes life behind bars,

sentencing, gangs, working while being incarcerated and life after prison.

This text explored a different side of mass incarceration that people are often

times scared to speak about. The government does not like to receive backlash nor do

people like to go against it because of fear, fear that a person will be locked up for

speaking their mind. Structural racism continues to operate throughout society which

contribute to the differences in a low crime area and a high crime area. I will use this

Review as evidence when speaking of the failure of The War on Drugs.

Kilgore, James William. Understanding Mass Incarceration : a People's Guide to the Key Civil

Rights Struggle of Our Time. New York, New York ; London, England : The New

Press, 2015., 2015. Accessed 5 Sept. 2017.

The controversial book written by James Kilgore in 2015, digs deep into The

Basics of mass incarceration and identifies the causes and effects of The War on Drugs.

Throughout this text, Kilgore not only presents the reader with valuable information but

he makes you feel like he is speaking to you individually about the importance of this

topic in our day and age. In the introduction, Kilgore states that understanding mass

incarceration means getting to the root of it. One by one the chapters discuss particular

elements like the rise of mass incarceration, The War on Drugs, immigration,

rehabilitation, the school to prison pipeline and how to end mass incarceration. In chapter

four, it is stated that Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan used The War on Drugs as a way

to gain political support among the white community. As a result of this crooked political

strategy, The Raegan administration began to release footage taken from poor
 neighborhoods in an attempt to make society believe that the typical drug user/ dealer

was African American or Latino. As the footage shown gained publicity, The War on

Drugs gained more funding. Officials and law enforcers believed that since they were at

war casual drug users should be locked up and/or shot. The book points out that sadly

The War on Drugs wasnt solely about drugs, it was a targeted mission against minorities

which led to overpopulation in our current system.

This book fully lays out the reasons why mass incarceration is such a huge

widespread failure. As I start picking out information and begin to construct my final

paper I believe that it is important to use facts and experiences to engage the audience

about the failure of The War on Drugs and why I feel so strongly about it. The War on

Drugs is a mission that is dehumanizing minorities and it must stop. It is discussed that

statistics are repeatedly showing that drug users arent just one color. Whites are likely to

buy, sell, or use prohibited drugs just like any other person. I believe that this book

opened my mind and gave me a better understanding supported by facts. James Kilgores

text is a gem and it will play a big role in supporting my thesis.

Martensen, Kayla. The Price That US Minority Communities Pay: Mass Incarceration and the

Ideologies That Fuel Them. Contemporary Justice Review: Issues in Criminal, Social,

and Restorative Justice, vol. 15, no. 2, Jan. 2012, pp. 211222. Accessed 4 Sept. 2017.

This academic journal talks about the literal and metaphorical price minorities pay

in regard to mass incarceration. The author Kayla Martensen indicates that mass

imprisonment is an alarming concern that specifically affects poor, uneducated black

men. Martensen proves this concern by pointing out that imprisons a larger percentage of

its black population than South Africa did at the height of the apartheid (Martensen 212).
 In this academic journal it is argued that if middle class whites were being affected by

these situations, it would be disrupted immediately. The term minority has its own

definition in the text defined as a person who maintains a minimal amount of power

compares to persons of the majority group. (Martensen 212). The tactics used to

separate blacks from whites can be compared to a form of genocide that guarantees a

social divide. The article also goes on to explain the criminalblackman stereotype and

how incarceration leads to psychological damage that goes unnoticed because of the bad

reputation the media has given African Americans. Martensen also elaborates on family

structures, unemployment, loss of welfare, loss of voting rights, financial debt and other

struggles that occur in high crime neighborhoods. In conclusion, it can be inferred that

life behind bars is easier than life after prison because of the title a person will forever

hold to their name.

This source will be very useful throughout my paper because of the many topics

that it covers under the umbrella of mass incarceration. Because the article is so long and

resourceful, I dont think that I will be using all of the information, but I will be using a

big chunk. The facts given will help me elaborate and develop my paragraphs better.

Steiker, Carol s. Introduction. Symposium: mass incarceration: causes, consequences, and exit

strategies, vol. 9, no. 1, 2011, pp. 16.,

moritzlaw.osu.edu/students/groups/osjcl/files/2012/05/Steiker.pdf. Accessed 11 Sept.

2017.

This article gives us a glimpse into the life of Professor Carol S. Steiker, a

Harvard Law School first year criminal justice teacher. This introduction to mass

incarceration explains the lack of knowledge that people have pertaining to this important
topic. For example, Steiker advised her class that The United States has the highest rate

of incarceration in the world, many times higher than most European countries and that

the incarceration rate of a black male is higher than a white man before the civil rights

movement (Steiker 1). In response to the shocking facts, much of the students said

really? The article continues with an experiment conducted by Steiker among six

diverse scholars. The first Professor, Michelle Alexander, focuses on effects of mass

incarceration in the African American community. Secondly Professor Cole talks about

America reaching a tipping point in which will theoretically lead to the decrease of

incarceration rates. Thirdly, Professor Harcourt mentions deinstitutionalizing some

mentally ill criminals and treating them elsewhere. The fourth Professor, Professor

Kleiman focuses on how to fix this failed system through cost efficient- community

corrections. Last but not least, Professor. Seidman argues that there is a cycle of crime

and punishment in the black community that is an overwhelming evil. Together we

must reevaluate our structure and work towards revolutionizing our countrys forms of

punishment.

This article was very well written, organized and highly spoken of amongst

universities and scholars. Reading this introduction made me realize that everyone has

their own thoughts about the causes of Mass Incarceration and what the effects are. I

believe that since the U.S is such a diverse country, my paper should appeal to readers of

any background. Reading this made me feel stronger about my thesis because I know that

although my audience will more than likely have their own opinions, they can all relate to

the fact that The War on Drugs is relevant, current and effecting society.