Pubdate: Tue, 01 Jan 2013
Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)
Copyright: 2013 Star Tribune
Contact: http://www.startribunecompany.com/143
Website: http://www.startribune.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/266
Author: Dale C. Anderson

LIGHTER PROSECUTION MAY BE WARRANTED

A Dec. 31 article ("Drugs and thugs slide down priority scale") 
reported that criminal prosecutions for drug crimes have dropped 
significantly at the U.S. Attorney's office in Minneapolis under the 
leadership of B. Todd Jones. There are those, apparently, who are 
concerned about this, and to them and others, I would suggest a book: 
Michelle Alexander's "The New Jim Crow."

Alexander argues convincingly that the new Jim Crow is the mass 
incarceration of black and Latino men convicted of drug crimes. She 
suggests that the war on drugs initiated during the Reagan 
administration unfairly and disproportionately targets these men. She 
supports her conclusions with significant data. A few examples: 1) 
the large increase in the prison populations in the last 20 years is 
primarily due to drug arrests; 2) the overwhelming percentage of 
arrests are for possession, with few of the dealers being charged, 
and 3) the vast majority of drug users are white, but the vast 
majority of those in prison are black or Latino.

This is a poignant, powerful book that urges us to carefully examine 
the struggle for racial justice in our country's legal system. If you 
read the book, you might conclude, as did I, that Jones' focus may be 
a step in the right direction.

DALE C. ANDERSON, ROSEVILLE 
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