You Can Call it What You Want to, it’s Still Jim Crow A Collaborative Project.

You Can Call it What You

Want to, it’s Still Jim Crow

A Collaborative Project

http://www.communityalternatives.org/index.html

WHAT OUTCOME WOULD YOU EXPECT?

• Mass imprisonment

• Mass reentry and mass criminalization

• Collateral consequences and stigma

Social Inequality and Racial Stratification


MASS IMPRISONMENT

• David Garland– Refers to the high rate of imprisonment in

the contemporary U.S.– Two characteristics:

1) “…a rate of imprisonment…that is markedly above the historical and comparative norm for societies of this type.”

2) Ceases to produce just the incarceration of individual offenders, but becomes the “systematic imprisonment of whole groups of the population.”


A DEFINITION OF RACIAL DISPARITY

Racial disparity in the justice system exists when the proportion of a

racial/ethnic group within the control of the system differs from the

proportion of such groups in the general population.


OUR HYPOTHESIS• We are living in a period of mass imprisonment,

mass reentry and mass criminalization• Poor people and people of color are the groups

systematically affected• Collateral consequences, stigma and prejudice

have taken the place of Jim Crow practices in the 21st Century

• Restrictions on employment, education, enfranchisement and equality make this period similar to the Civil Rights Era in the first half of the 20th Century

• There is a new inequality developing in America that can only be turned back by a mass movement similar to the Civil Rights Movement


DEFINEDCivil Rights:

The rights belonging to an individual by virtue of citizenship, especially the fundamental freedoms and privileges guaranteed by the 13th, 14th, 15th and 24th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and by subsequent acts of Congress, including civil liberties, due process, equal protection of the laws, voting rights and freedom from discrimination.

The rights to full legal, social, and economic equality extended to African Americans.


AMENDMENT XIII – UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION

• Slavery Abolished

• Ratified 12/6/1865

1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,

shall exist within the United States,

or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,


AMENDMENT XIV – CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.


AMENDMENT XV – RACE NO BAR TO VOTE

1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.


AMENDMENT XXIV – POLL TAX BARRED

1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.


SIGNIFICANT CIVIL RIGHTS LEGISLATION

• Civil Rights Act of 1957

• Civil Rights Acts of 1964

• Voting Rights Act of 1965

• Civil Rights Act of 1968


VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965

• Suspended Poll Taxes• Eliminated literacy tests and other tests• Authorized federal supervision of voter

registration• Political impact

– Within 4 years voter registration in the South had doubled

– 1965 – approximately 100 African Americans held elective office in the U.S.

– 1989 – more than 7,200 African Americans held elective office, 4,800 in the South

Effects


AFRICAN-AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Reform movement in the United States aimed at abolishing racial discrimination of African Americans and establishing equality and equal opportunity.


AN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

• A struggle against Jim Crow

• Jim Crow Era (1876 – 1965)

• Jim Crow Practices– Government enacted or sanctioned

laws, attitudes and actions that required or permitted acts of discrimination against African Americans.


FOUR ASPECTS OF JIM CROW

1) Racial segregation (Separate but Equal) (Inequality)

2) Voter suppression or disenfranchisement

3) Denial of economic opportunity or resources

4) Private acts of violence and mass racial violence


Key Historical Events• 1954 Brown v. Board of Education• 1955 Rosa Parks Arrested• 1957 Desegregating Little Rock• 1961 Freedom Rides• 1962 Organizing in Mississippi• 1963 March on Washington• 1963 Medgar Evers Murdered• 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer• 1965 Selma to Montgomery March - SNCC

voter registration drive• 1965 Voting Rights Act


FOUR CRITICAL ISSUES CONFRONTED BY THE

CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

• Employment

• Education

• Enfranchisement

• Equality

The Four E’s


No, 27%

No Opinion, 4%

Yes, 69%

DO YOU THINK THAT BLACK’S CIVIL RIGHTS ARE BEING RESPECTED BY THE

COUNTRY’S CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM?

No Opinion, 5%

Yes, 33%

No, 62%

Whites BlacksSource: Gallup Organization – telephone survey, June 3-9, 2002 – per Cole & Smith


UNDERSTANDING THE MAGNITUDE OF MASS

IMPRISONMENT

• 2,320,359 – total number of adults in prison or jail at year end 2005

• 1 in every 136 adult residents were incarcerated on 12/31/05


US Incarceration Rate, 1925-2002

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

Ra

te p

er

10

0,0

00

re

sid

en

ts


U.S. INCARCERATION RATES IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT

• World Prison Population:– 9 million

• Percent of the world population that is in the United States:– 4.6%

• Percent of the world prison population that is in the United States:– 22% (2.3 million people)


RACIAL

DIMENSIONS


DEMOGRAPHICS2000

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

12.5%15.1%% Hisp Origin (of any skin color)

2.4%3.1%% Rep More Than One Race/Ethn

5.5%7.1%% Other Ethnic Origin

75.1%67.9%% White/Euro American

3.8%5.6%% Asn/Pac. Is. American

0.9%0.4%% American Indian

12.3%15.9%% of African American

281,421,906

+13.1%

Since 1990

18,976,457

+5.6%

Since 1990

USANYSIndicator


Incarceration Rates by Race and Gender, 1985-1997

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997

Black male

White male

Black female

White female


ALL STATE AND FEDERAL PRISONERS 2005

Hispanic

African American

White

20%

40%

35%

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics


Incarceration Rates per 100,000 Population (1997)

76

990491

6,838

851

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

White Females White Males AfricanAmericanFemales

AfricanAmerican

Males

South AfricanBlack Males

underapartheid 1993

Source: Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 2000


New York State – 1998Adult & Juvenile Arrests

for Drug Offenses

50.0% 49.4%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Black White

94%

5%0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

People ofColor

White

New York State – 1999State Prison Sentences

for Drug Offenses

Source: FBI

Source: NYS Department of Correctional Services


National Comparison of Drug Use and Arrests by Race

Black White

Year % of Current

Drug Use

% of Drug Arrests

% of Current

Drug Users

% of Drug Arrests

1995 18.2% 36.9% 82.7% 62.1%

1996 15.4% 38.4% 83.5% 60.4%

1997 14.9% 36.8% 83.9% 62%

1998 18.9% 37.3% 82% 61.5%

Source: Compiled from Federal Bureau of Investigation, Uniform Crime Reports, various years, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Summary of Findings from the 1998 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999.)


U.S. PERCENTAGE OF ALL DRUG OFFENDERS IN STATE PRISON

62.7%

36.7%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

African American

White


34.9%

9.1%

60.0%

27.9%

3.5%

13.6%

11.5%

5.7%

65.0%

46.0%

97.0%

78.0%

56.0%

65.0%

46.0%

49.0%

0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0% 100.0% 120.0%

Alabama

Connecticut

D.C.

Maryland

Minnesota

New Jersey

Texas

Wisconsin

Percentage of Prison Population that is African American

Percentage of State Residents who are African American

PROPORTION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS AMONG STATE RESIDENTS AND IN PRISON

POPULATION

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Correctional Population in the U.S., 1996, Table 5.6 and U.S. Census data 2000.


HOW HAS A POLICY OF IMPRISONMENT AFFECTED THE

AFRICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY?

• 1 out of every 14 African American men is now in prison or jail.

• 1 out of every 3 African American men born today can expect to be imprisoned at some point during his lifetime.

• BJS calculates that an African American male is 6 times more likely to serve at least a year in prison than a white male.

• 1 out of every 8 African American men between the ages of 25 and 29 is incarcerated today.

Numerically


12 Junctures in the Criminal Justice Process Where Race and Class Cause Cumulative

Disadvantage

Cumulative

Disadvantage

Law EnforcementDeployment/

Arrest Arraignment Bail/Detention

Public Defense

Jail

Preadjudication

Decisions

JuryPre-Sentence

Report

Sentencing

Probation

Jail/Prison

Parole

Alternatives to Incarceration/Reentry

Services


WOMEN IN PRISON

From 1973 to 2007, the number of women in prison increased by 645%--almost twice the rate of

men.

Source: Institute on Women and Criminal Justice The Sentencing Project

LET THE PUNISHMENT FIT THE CRIME?

• In 2003, women in state prisons were more likely than men to be incarcerated for a drug offense (29% vs. 19%) or a property offense (30% vs. 20%) than a violent offense (35% vs. 53%).

• Women are more likely than men to serve time for their drug offenses, despite the fact that women are less likely than men to play a significant role in drug trade.

• Women’s higher proportion of property crimes reflects the extreme economic disadvantages many women face prior to incarceration.


WHAT DO THE NUMBERS REFLECT?

• African American women comprise 12% of the overall population in the U.S.--they now comprise more than 50% of women in prison.

• Overall, drug offenses constituted half of the increased number of women in state prisons between 1986 and 1996.

• Ironically, from 1986 to 1996 the rate at which women used drugs actually declined.

• The war on drugs became a war on women…of color.


NOT JUST A PRISONER, A PARENT

• More than 70% of women in prison in the U.S. have children.

• On average, children of incarcerated mothers will live with at least 2 different caregivers during the period of incarceration; more than 1/2 will experience separation from siblings.

• Over half of female prisoners have never had a visit from their children.


96125

11212

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

197719

7819

7919

8019

8119

8219

8319

8419

8519

8619

8719

8819

8919

9019

9119

9219

9319

9419

9519

9619

9719

9819

9920

0020

0120

0220

0320

04

UNITED STATESSentenced Female Prisoners

1977-2004

Fem

ale

Pris

oner

s

Year

Source: Institute on Women & Criminal Justice

UNDERSTANDING THE MAGNITUDE OF MASS REENTRY

• 650,000 people released each year from state and federal prison– 595,000 from state prisons– 56,000 from federal prison

• 7 million different individuals released from jails in this county each year


UNDERSTANDING THE MAGNITUDE OF MASS

CRIMINALIZATION

• 71 million people in the U.S. have a criminal record

• 13 million people in the U.S. have a felony conviction

• 1 in every 32 adults is under some form of correctional supervision (7 million)

• 5,618,000 – total number of U.S. adult residents who had served time in state or federal prison by yearend 2001

• 1 in every 37 adults – had served prison time by yearend 2001


UNDERSTANDING THE MAGNITUDE OF MASS REENTRY

• 8% of the adult male population has a felony conviction

• 25% of the African American male population has a felony conviction


THE CHALLENGE OF REENTRY:

REINTEGRATION OR A PERMANENT UNDERCLASS


UNDERSTANDING REENTRY

Traditional Definition:

Reentry – the process and experience of leaving prison after serving a sentence and returning to society and includes the activities and programming conducted to prepare people in prison to return safely to the community to reintegrate as law-abiding citizens.


“America is the land of second chance, and when

the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead

to a better life.”George W. Bush

January 20, 2004

State of the Union


REENTRY REALITY“[People reenter] communities in need of housing,

medical and mental health treatment, employment, counseling and a variety of other

services. Communities are often overwhelmed by these increased demands and, due to budget

constraints, unable to provide minimum services to ex-offenders. As a result, the safety of our communities and citizens is jeopardized when

releasees, who are unable to acquire employment, housing and needed services, revert to a life of

crime.”

National District Attorneys Association


REINTEGRATION OR RESEGREGATION

• America at a crossroad

• If America cannot promote successful reentry and reintegration we will move into a new era of resegregation


COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCES

Formal policies, provisions, and laws that impede reentry into various social institutions of people with criminal convictions

• Federal laws

• State laws

• Local laws


COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCES:

PERPETUAL PUNISHMENT• Social Policy:

– Employment• Restrictions on professional licenses• Restrictions on types of employment

– Education• Admissions• Financial Aid

– Housing– Public Benefits– Immigration– Political Disenfranchisement


New York City Audit Study

• Employment Audit: Matched pairs of individuals applying to real job openings – 6 teams– 13 testers– 1470 employers– 3500 individual visits

• Experimental variables: race, ethnicity, criminal background, educational attainment

5

Pager/Western Princeton NYC Low Wage Labor Market Discrimination

Study•Experimental variables: race, ethnicity, criminal background, educational attainment•Matched pairs of individuals applying to real job openings

WC W BC B W B L WC B L WCA W BCA B

22

17

11

0

5

10

15

20

25

white latino black

pre

dic

ted

pro

bab

ility

12 12

7

0

5

10

15

20

25

white felon latino black

pred

icte

d pr

obab

ility

These results suggest that employers view minority job applicants as essentially equivalent to whites just out of prison.

http://www.princeton.edu/~pager/race_at_work.pdf

“She said the position was just filled and that she would be calling people in for an interview if the person doesn’t work out.”

“She informed me that the position was already filled, but did not know if the hired employee would work out. She told me to leave my resume with her.”

“….I asked what the hiring process was--if they’re taking applications now, interviewing, etc. She looked at my application. ‘You can start immediately?’ Yes. ‘Can you start tomorrow?’ Yes. ‘10 a.m.’

She was very friendly and introduced me to another woman (white, 28) at the cash register who will be training me.”

A Retail Sales Job

14

Concerns about Experience?

“When she called me she handed me back my resume and told me they didn’t have any positions to offer me…. She said…that I needed a couple years of experience.”

“[The employer] looked at my resume and said, ‘There is absolutely nothing here that qualifies you for this position.’”

Kevin (the white tester) was then offered the sales job and asked to come back the next morning.

16

“He said he was looking for somebody that ‘spoke his language,’ in other words, someone that fit into the culture of the store and the position…. He said to come tomorrow at 9am. He said that this is only a trial period to see if I am ‘the right fit.’”

“He read over my resume and asked if I am ready to start. I said “right now?” He said “Yes.”….He said he needed someone right now because they were having an exhibit Saturday. He said they will hire anyone that walks in.” As Kevin was leaving, he reports hearing the interviewer comment to another (white) employee, “I like him. He makes a good impression.”

Concerns over “Fitting-In”

17

Racial Stereotypes at Work

A white tester’s experience: “His only question was ‘Are you a friendly person?’”

His Latino partner: “No one can be late more than two times or they will have to be fired.”

Their black partner: “He asked if I thought I would be able to approach 14 to 18 year old girls without intimidating them.”

18

OTHER EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF THE STIGMA OF A CRIMINAL

RECORD ON EMPLOYER ATTITUDES

• Holzer – 60% of employers unwillingly to hire person with a criminal record

• Kling – Employers paid lower wages and benefits to people with a criminal record and 30% lower on future earnings


HAVE WE OVERCOME THE RESTRICTIONS ON THE 4 E’S THAT WERE AT THE CORE OF

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT?

• Enfranchisement

• Education

• Employment

• Equality


VOTING RIGHTS

“The political franchise of voting is…regarded as a fundamental political right, because preservative of all rights.”

Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356, 370 (1886)


FELONY DISENFRANCHISEMENT POLICY IN THE U.S.

• U.S. disenfranchisement laws are among the world’s most severe

• More than 5 million Americans are banned from voting• An estimated 1 in 12 African Americans is

disenfranchised, a rate nearly five times the rate of non-African Americans

• U.S. is the only democracy in the world that disenfranchises people who have completed their sentences

• African-American and Latino communities are disproportionately affected by the disenfranchisement of people with criminal histories

• Modern day poll tax – 10 states explicitly condition the right to vote on the full payment of fines, fees, restitution and other costs associated with conviction


Disenfranchisement

• In 11 states a felony conviction can result in a lifetime ban from voting

• 1 in 8 African American males in the U.S. is prohibited from voting, reaching as high as 1 in 4 in some states

• Public opinion polls show 80% favor returning voting rights after completion of sentenceSources: Sentencing Project , Brennan Center

Uggen & Manza

3,342,586

1,176,2341,762,582

4,686,539

5,358,282

-

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

6,000,000

Year

Tot

al D

isen

fran

chised

Size of Disenfranchised Felon Population, 1960-2004

Manza and Uggen


HIGHER EDUCATION

The trend in higher education is to use criminal background checks in the college admissions process.


A New Discrimination

“(Our organization) does favor background checks, so that kind of puts us in the position of favoring more discrimination, freedom to discriminate, for universities to set their own policies and go by their own policies.”Catherine Bath

Executive Director

Security on Campus


SOME COLLEGES BAR ADMISSIONS

• ExampleHerkimer County Community College – Admission Policy

“Applicants whose home residence is from outside Herkimer County and have been either dismissed from other colleges for disciplinary reasons or who have been convicted of a felony will not be admitted.”


SURVEY OF NEW YORK COLLEGES

64.0%

36.0%

90.0%

10.0%

100.0%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

PrivateColleges

SUNYColleges

CUNYColleges

Ask About orConsider Applicant'sCriminal Record asPart of AdmissionsProcess

Do No Ask About orConsider Applicant'sCriminal Record asPart of AdmissionsProcess

Center for Community Alternatives

National HIRE Network

N=127 N=61 N=17


EMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATION FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN MALES

36%

57%

86%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

High SchoolDropout

High SchoolGraduate

4 Year CollegeGraduate

Em

ploy

men

t R

ates

Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University

In 1994, as part of its get-tough-on-crime era, Congress abolished Pell grants for prisoners, effectively ending chances for inmates to get a college education while behind bars. At the time, only one-tenth of 1 percent of the Pell Grant budget went to the education of prisoners. Subsequently, many states also decided to suspend eligibility for state tuition grants for people in prison.

10A

EMPLOYMENT

• Collateral consequences and employer attitudes depress employment opportunities

• Unemployment rates, one year post-release, have been estimated as high as 60%

DIMENSIONS OF INEQUALITY• Comparative net worth – 2002

– Hispanic Household $7,932.00– African American Household $5,988.00– White Household $88,651.00

• Negative or zero net worth – 2002– 32% of African American Households– 26% of Hispanic Households– 13% of White Households

Source: Pew Hispanic Center

DIMENSIONS OF INEQUALITY

• Below Poverty Level – 2000– 30% of African American children– 27% of Hispanic children– 10% of White children

• 80% of all people in the criminal justice system are indigent

• 37 million Americans live below the poverty line

• 45 million Americans have no medical insurance

AN ECONOMIC AND HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

• Slavery• Fugitive Slave Laws• Black Codes• Convict Lease• Jim Crow• Penitentiary• Prison Labor - Chain Gang, Industry• Prison Industrial Complex• Prison Nation• Drug Laws and War on Crime

JIM CROW

A System of Disadvantage

AMERICA’S PHASES

• Slavery• Reconstruction• Jim Crow• Civil Rights• Post-Civil Rights Reaction

– Mass Imprisonment/Criminalization– New Racial Domain (NRD) (“color-blind

racism)– Prison Industrial Complex– Laissez Faire Racism (“Race-neutral”

segregation)

THE ECONOMICS HAVE CHANGED

From:• Slave (Property)• Worker• Wealth CreatorTo:• Commodity• Worker (13th Amendment)• Economic Development

Joseph BrunoNY State Senator1/31/07

“While the growth in imprisonment was propelled by racial and class

division, the penal system has emerged as a novel institution in a uniquely American system of social

inequality.”

Bruce Western, Ph.D.

Punishment and Inequality in America

THE PERFECT STORM FOR INEQUALITY

• Mass imprisonment, mass criminalization and mass reentry

• New and accessible technology• Background checks for profit• Racial disparities in the criminal justice

system• Post 9/11 atmosphere• Stigma of a criminal conviction• Increased financial penalties in the criminal

justice system, resulting civil judgments and increased use of credit histories

THE PERFECT STORM FOR INEQUALITY

• Fear/hysteria about public safety coupled with a refusal to address the core causes of crime

• Post-industrialization – no need for all people to work

• Prisons for Profit (Private Prisons)• People/prisoners become valuable as a

commodity• Proliferation of collateral consequences• The intransigence of racism• The criminalization of race• The rise of the race-neutral basis for

discrimination

DENYING BASIC RIGHTS

• Housing

• Education

• Employment

• Voting

• Healthcare

THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IS THE ENGINE THAT DRIVES

INEQUALITY IN AMERICA TODAY

“CRIMINALIZATION”

• Stigma

• Collateral Consequences

• Prisonization

• Post-prison cumulative disadvantage

Structural Violence

A System of Disadvantage

BARRIERS TO FULFILLING THE AMERICAN DREAM

• Color• Credit• Criminal History• Class• Education• Employment• Enfranchisement

- Cumulative Disadvantage -

No Time to Lose: The Decline in Employment and Wages of Young Black Men

in New York State

NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance

“Indeed, given the employment conditions documented in this report…joblessness and low wages among younger black men may be the greatest social problem facing New York State and the Nation.”

CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

“[President Nixon] emphasized that you have to face the fact that the whole problem is really the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this while not appearing to.”

H.R. HaldemanNixon’s Chief of

Staff

That “system” was the war on crime and criminal justice buildup.Source: The Haldeman Diaries

Smoke and Mirrors

John Mellencamp

You Can Call it What You Want to, it’s Still Jim Crow A Collaborative Project.

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