Summary Of The Color Of Justice By Michelle Alexander

In a “post-racial” society, the notion of race becomes irrelevant in the regular intercourse of society. However, race still plays a major in modern society even though suggests that race should be part of the past. This inability to recognize race in the regular intercourse of life creates an inability to recognize the faults of institutions – including the police and legal system – that perpetuate structural disadvantages for people of color. Michelle Alexanders shines a light on these disadvantages that occurred as a result of race and continued to be seen today in a “post-racial society.” By turning a blind eye to race, the legal system, police system, and government can take advantage of communities of color.
The excessive power of the

In “The Color of Justice,” Alexander addresses the intersection of race with the justice system. She details a study comparing the treatment of Black and White victims in homicide cases, where “defendants charged with killing white victims received the death penalty eleven times more often than defendants charged with killing black victims. Georgia prosecutors seemed largely to blame for the disparity; they sought the death penalty 70 percent of cases involving black defendants and white victim, but only 19 percent of cases involving white defendants and black victims” (Alexander 110). These studies indicate the vast disparity between the treatment of White victims and Black victims. This implies a harsher treatment against Black victims, because these cases were sought by the Georgia prosecution. This major disparity represents the larger treatment of Black people, because the prosecution would not be so harsh unless this harsh treatment was deemed acceptable the justice system. These statistics are not random. Regardless of the circumstances of each individual case, the common theme among all of these cases are the implicit bias that target the Black population. The importance of these statistics goes beyond the statistics itself. The Court established these statistics as “valid,” but the court “insisted that evidence of conscious, racial bias in McClesky’s individual

In the “Cruel Hand,” Alexander addresses the impact of the legal and police system on race. The impacts of these institutions have clear impacts, like incarceration, but the unclear impacts occur after the incarceration ends. A person convicted of a crime “may be ineligible for many federally-funded health and welfare benefits, food stamps, public housing, and federal educational assistance. His driver’s license may be automatically suspended, and he may no longer qualify for certain employment and professional licenses. If he is convicted of another crime he may be subject to imprisonment as a repeat offender. He will not be permitted to enlist in the military, or possess a firearm, or obtain a federal security clearance. If a citizen, he may lose the right to vote, if not, he becomes immediately deplorable” (Alexander 143). These disadvantages create an impossible situation for ex-felons to move up the socioeconomic ladders. Their situation is already difficult enough, since they are stigmatized through their title as an ex-felon, but they receive many practical losses such as a public housing and welfare. Public housing and welfare are two of the major sources of support in order to move up the socioeconomic ladder, because they cover the basic costs of living. However, if any person is struggling to survive, then said person will not even consider their status or standard of