Class issues and representation play directly into this problem, because in America’s understanding of the issue, studies have shown that awareness about incarceration have increased as the drug problem has affected more and more middle to upper class white Americans. Still, though there has become an increased awareness, inherent discrimination within the justice system still persists. Mandatory minimum sentencing laws still disproportionally harm black Americans with regards to drugs like crack and cocaine, where the mandatory minimum for crack is at a ratio of 18:1 to that of cocaine, and white and black Americans do not consume the drugs equally. Beyond this, race plays into the dynamics of a jury, as all white juries statistically give convictions to black defendants, and studies have shown putting even one black juror into the mix substantially decreases the odds of a conviction. Moreover, class plays into this with regards to who can afford better legal counsel and who can afford better representation is often an indicator of which people are found not guilty. In understanding the power constructs of the legal system, many standards would be inexplicable without first examining the racial and class issues of the system, as power plays quite directly into the …show more content…
Season 3 Episode 1 features a future world where every interaction is rated on a scale of 1-5, which contributes to the overall sort of ranking of a person. The show sets up this concept by having the episode’s main character Lacie go about daily tasks, such as getting coffee, and rating other people on the conversations she has with them. For example, she rates the guy at the coffee stand with five stars. Moreover, people can see the ratings of others, and the higher your rating the better of the position you have (Lacie who has around 4.2 stars works in an office building, the coffee guy has only 3.0 or so stars). The rating a person has makes a difference in every regard of human life: higher ratings mean cheaper housing, better jobs available, better customer service, etc. There is a scene in which Lacie rehearses her smile in front of the mirror, she desperately practices her appearance because she wants to get ahead in the world. This relates to the concept of minding, which essentially is the mental self-talk that takes place in one’s mind before an interaction where someone rehearses the interaction in their mind. This example takes minding to the extreme, because minding is constantly happening, every interaction has to be extremely