Title: ‘Slaves of the State’: 13th Amendment, mass incarceration and the prison industrial complex | Educating for Democracy
Headings: ‘Slaves of the State’: 13th Amendment, mass incarceration and the prison industrial complex
‘Slaves of the State’: 13th Amendment, mass incarceration and the prison industrial complex
Abstract
Background: Tracing Modern Day Slavery to the 13th Amendment
Prison Industrial Complex
Laws in Virginia + Prison population
JMU and Prison Labor
Discussion Questions

Content: These new policies expanded the use of imprisonment as punishment for all felony charges, eventually becoming widely used for sex and drug offenses. Additionally, more policies were adopted with the goal of increasing the likelihood and longevity of imprisonment. The implementation and strict enforcement of harsh drug laws is viewed as one of the main reasons for the large racial disparities that are seen in prisons today. According to scholars, black people are four times as likely as white people to be arrested for drug offenses and 2.5 times as likely to be arrested for drug possessions despite the fact that white people and black people use drugs at the same rate. The creation of policies like “Stop-and-frisk” allowed for police officers to stop and question anyone who they deemed suspicious. Because racial disparities begin at the initial encounter people of color have with police their race is more likely to impact the outcome of the interaction. Evidence shows that initial police stops are unlikely to result in incarceration, however the prevalence of prior convictions increases chances of future incarceration, something that disproportionately impacts people of color. Implicit bias impacts the perceptions the public can have on people of color. Multiple pieces of evidence point to the fact that beliefs about the dangerousness and threats to public safety are related to these perceptions. Scholars have found that people of color receive harsher punishments than their white counterparts because they are perceived as being more violent and imposing a greater threat to public safety.