In chapter two of Michelle Anderson’s “The New Jim Crow,” Alexander explains how the system of mass incarceration works. Anderson argues that the War on Drugs has led to the increment of African Americans in state and federal prisons for non-serious drug violations (possession). Most of these men have no serious criminal histories and are rarely drug kings or high ranked drug dealers. Due to the government’s persistence in making the community safer by removing “criminals,” they have developed programs to crack down on drugs. Law enforcement agencies were using illegal tactics, which became legalized, to capture people. Tactics like pretext or using drug-sniffing dogs became admissible ways to obtain drugs. Alexander discusses how the system
