A review by lumpyplume
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

5.0

Although its seminal influence is already felt, Alexander's work is worthwhile for laymen and legal professionals alike, even if just as a model of good writing. Alexander argues that our society has recreated Jim Crow laws (laws that legally enforced and replicated the inferior status of black people) through legal statuses associated with engagement with our law enforcement system. The gut reaction is: "why should I give a damn about people who CHOSE to break the law?" With crystal clear vision, Alexander offers an answer that combines legal history, a deconstruction of rhetoric, and precisely placed statistical analysis. Our laws changed drastically in the 1980s, and she makes the case. Her work is at once deeply persuasive, and as elegant as Du Bois. For lawyers, this book shows how to neutrally unpack an argument which must necessarily be met with disbelief (and shows how to navigate a field of emotional landmines). Alexander gives snippets of different criminal justice models from abroad that conjure interesting alternative approaches. Alexander's writing is eminently readable, though the message is an extremely bitter pill to swallow.