The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

What does Alexander mean by “racial bribes”? What are some of the bribes offered to whites during the onset of various caste systems, including slavery, Jim Crow, and mass incarceration? Do Black Americans ever receive these bribes?

What does Alexander mean by “closing the courthouse doors”? How has the Supreme Court immunized police officers and prosecutors against constitutional challenges on the basis of race? What are some of key court cases Alexander identifies?

Why does Alexander believe prosecutors have the greatest amount of power in the system of mass incarceration? How do they exercise this power? Why does this trouble Alexander so much?

Why does Alexander reject the notion that the War on Drugs was designed as a system of crime prevention? What evidence does she cite to make her case?

What criticisms does Alexander level at the era of colorblindness? How did colorblindness contribute to the growth and maintenance of mass incarceration? Do you believe America still exists as a society that, at very least, endeavors to be colorblind?

What are the some of the most convincing similarities between the Jim Crow era and mass incarceration? What are the most dramatic differences? Do you agree with Alexander’s characterization of mass incarceration and the War on Drugs as a third racial caste system, akin to Jim Crow and slavery?

Given the significant progress made to address legal discrimination since the book’s publication, is mass incarceration still as urgent an issue today as it was in 2010? Can one still convincingly characterize it as “the new Jim Crow”? How has mass incarceration evolved with respect to Latinx immigrants?

Based on Alexander’s Preface and your own observations, what’s changed most between 2010, when Alexander wrote the book, and today? How are current policies surrounding the detention and deportation of Latinx immigrants extensions of the mass incarceration paradigm?