Multimedia and Web Resources

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Video

Racial inequality in the CJS
Prof. D’Amico points out problems with the perverse incentives politicians and bureaucrats have in developing laws. Although laws about drug prohibition, for example, are ostensibly color blind, people with different levels of wealth face different costs and benefits to participating in the drug trade. Minorities are overrepresented in U.S. prisons. In light of this, Prof. D’Amico argues that radical changes to the system might be necessary and preferable to the status quo.

The New Jim Crow - Mass Incarceration 1.
In the 1980s Communist Romania under the most brutal eastern european dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu locked up 71,000 of its own citizens or 1 in every 300. Today the USA, the world's oldest democracy jails 2.2 million or 1 in every 136 of it's own citizens, ie. 2.2 times the incarceration rate of a notorious police state. This does not make any sense unless we look at the racial aspects of the US justice system.

Legal Scholar Michelle Alexander on The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

Immigration detention: fastest growing incarceration system in the U.S.
The arrest, detention and deportation of illegal immigrants is higher than at any time in U.S. history with more than 2.3 million individuals deported in the last five years.

The government's immigration enforcement efforts -- detention -- is now the fastest growing incarceration system in the U.S.

NYPD's Stop-and-Frisk: Racial Profiling or 'Proactive Policing'?
NYPD says its controversial policy keeps the streets safe, but critics say its harassment.

Audio

One Lawyer's Fight For Young Blacks And 'Just Mercy'
Bryan Stevenson challenge racial bias and economic inequities in the U.S. justice system.

Race, Violence ... Justice? Looking Back At Jena 6
In August 2006, a black student in Jena, La. asked if he could sit under a tree on campus or if it was reserved for whites. Three nooses hung from the tree the next day. In December, six black boys brutally beat a white student, and five of the suspects were charged with attempted murder. Black talk radio hosts and civil rights leaders nationwide protested the charges. Have the demonstrations helped move the U.S. closer to racial justice? Host Michel Martin speaks with Stanford Law School Professor Richard Ford and radio talk host Warren Ballentine.

Sentencing Disparities: Fact of Fiction?
The conversation about criminal justice continues with Richard Samp, chief legal counsel for the Washington Legal Foundation, who says the inequality isn't necessarily racial.

Web Resource