More than 90 percent of criminal cases are never tried before a jury. Most people charged with crimes forfeit their constitutional rights and plead guilty. Michelle Alexander Read Quote
The system of mass incarceration depends almost entirely on the cooperation of those it seeks to control. Michelle Alexander Read Quote
If everyone charged with crimes suddenly exercised his constitutional rights, there would not be enough judges, lawyers, or prison cells to deal with the ensuing tsunami of litigation. Michelle Alexander Read Quote
Some prison officials are determined to keep the people they lock in cages as ignorant as possible about the racial, social, and political forces that have made the United States the most punitive nation on earth. Perhaps they worry the truth might actually set the captives free. Michelle Alexander Read Quote
Thousands of people plead guilty to crimes every year in the United States because they know that the odds of a jury’s believing their word over a police officer’s are slim to none. Michelle Alexander Read Quote
In this era of mass incarceration, the police shouldn’t be trusted any more than any other witness, perhaps less so. Michelle Alexander Read Quote
Once you’ve acquired a criminal record, you can be discriminated against legally in employment, housing, and access to education and public benefits. You’re relegated to a permanent second-class status, forever a ‘criminal.’ Inflicting this amount of unnecessary pain and suffering is not cheap. Michelle Alexander Read Quote
The great gift of ‘Incarceration Nations’ is that, by introducing a wide range of approaches to crime, punishment, and questions of justice in diverse countries – Rwanda, South Africa, Brazil, Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, Australia and Norway – it forces us to face the reality that American-style punishment has been chosen. Michelle Alexander Read Quote
Our entire political system is financed by wealthy private interests buying politicians and making sure the rules are written in their favor. Michelle Alexander Read Quote
We cannot ‘fix’ the police without a revolution of values and radical change to the basic structure of our society. Michelle Alexander Read Quote
