The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness By Michelle Alexander

The New Jim Crow explores how the modern American criminal justice system has created a new form of racial inequality through mass incarceration. Civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander argues that policies related to the War on Drugs disproportionately targeted African American communities.

The book explains how millions of people have been imprisoned and then face lifelong social and economic disadvantages after release. These consequences include barriers to employment, housing, voting rights, and education.

Alexander’s work sparked widespread discussion about criminal justice reform and the social impact of mass incarceration, making it one of the most influential books on the subject.