Night School: Mass Incarceration

The United States, once seen as a model of rehabilitation and humane punishment, today incarcerates a greater percentage of its population than any other nation on earth. In the past decade, critiques of mass incarceration have become increasingly mainstream, led by books like Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow and Ava DuVernay’s documentary 13th. These narratives usually point to the War on Drugs, the privatized “prison-industrial complex”, or post-civil rights racist backlash as driving the explosion in incarceration rates that began in the 1970s. Yet, recent historical research complicates the standard accounts. These are not academic questions; understanding the cause of America’s “carceral turn” is key to defeating it. What policies actually drive high incarceration rates? What is the relationship between race, class, and incarceration? Join Philly DSA as we break down the politics and economics of mass incarceration in America.

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