is the mass incarceration of Americans the new Jim crow laws?

  In our modern era discriminating against somebody because of their race is not at all an acceptable thing to do. But if they are a convicted felon then you can deprive them of some basic rights.  Like being denied the right to vote, education opportunities, attending jury duty (which they might not be that sad about), being denied food stamps and, other benefits. They are also discriminated against in social stuff like; housing, and jobs. which seams backward because that forces them back towards crime and that shouldn't be the point of the prison system (and the privatized prison system if far worse but that's a topic for another blog). 

                                     

• African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites
• if African American and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates of whites, today's prison and jail populations would decline by approximately 50%

• Together, African American and Hispanics comprised 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population
• 5 times as many Whites are using drugs as African Americans, yet African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at 10 times the rate of Whites

   Today it is perfectly legal to discriminate against convicted criminals in nearly all the ways that it was once legal to discriminate against African Americans. Once you’re labeled a felon, the old forms of discrimination are fair game.