Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America

“Although mass incarceration harms black America as a whole, its most direct victims are the poorest, least educated blacks.”

This quote underscores the importance of class divisions to Forman’s argument. The tough-on-crime policies that fueled mass incarceration impacted all Black people, but police largely focused on poor Black communities.

“Every generation makes mistakes.”

Forman identifies the failure to decriminalize marijuana as one of the greatest criminal justice mistakes of the 1970s. Instead of punishing marijuana offenses with minor fines, officials across the country became increasingly aggressive in their enforcement of drug laws, swelling the country’s prison population.

“That D.C.’s police force would dramatically increase marijuana arrests at a time when the national momentum was moving toward lesser penalties was, in a word, infuriating.”

Forman identifies the failure to decriminalize marijuana in 1975 as a critical error in Washington, DC’s approach to criminal justice. The city’s black leaders overwhelmingly opposed Clarke’s bill to decriminalize marijuana, despite a nationwide move toward decriminalization sparked by a report by the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse.

“The most devastating impact, witnesses agreed, was the lifelong stigma that came from a relatively minor offense.”

Forman stresses the long-term impact of the War on Drugs on Black people. Just being arrested for marijuana possession could impact a person’s employment, educational, and housing opportunities. As Forman points out, the consequences of a drug arrest or conviction were disproportionate to the crime.

“It was blacks who killed marijuana decriminalization in D.C.”

One of Forman’s most important contributions to the study of mass incarceration is his emphasis on the role of Black leaders in fueling the problem. Council members, police, judges, pastors, and other Black leaders in DC overwhelmingly opposed decriminalizing marijuana in 1975, a move that filled the city’s prisons with poor Black men.

“In 1975, virtually every part of the city’s black community was consumed by the crime epidemic.”

Forman argues that rising crime rates drove Black leaders to embrace tough-on-crime policies. Heroin and drug-related crimes ravaged DC in the late 1960s and 1970s. The explosion of drug crimes coincided with rising gun crime rates, leading Black leaders to look to law enforcement to protect their communities.

“Keeping blacks subjugated required that they be unarmed.”

Black people have historically been excluded from the right to bear arms. After emancipation, some states barred Black people from owning weapons. Forman argues that this history of subjugation helps explain why so many Black leaders opposed gun control in the late 20th century, despite rapidly rising rates of gun violence in Black communities.

“The gun control debate mirrored the marijuana fight in form and outcome.”

This quote addresses the parallels between the decriminalization and gun control debates. Black leaders wanted to combat rising drug use and gun crimes in Black communities. In each case, they determined that harsher criminal penalties were the best response. Harsher penalties, however, not only failed to protect Black people from drugs and guns, but also led to mass incarceration.

“For most of American history, police departments had almost entirely been white.”

Forman discusses the racial integration of police departments and the barriers Black officers faced on the job. Black leaders encouraged Black people to join the police, arguing that Black officers would be less abusive than white officers. Black leaders also pointed to other advantages to joining the police, notably, job stability, fair pay, and good benefits.

“Alongside physical violence, black citizens were consistently subjected to verbal disrespect from the very people whose job it was to serve them.”

Police abuse is a central issue in Forman’s book. In addition to violence and disrespect, police targeted Black neighborhoods for pretext stops and other tough-on-crime measures, policies that filled prisons with poor Black people.

“In 1966, a nationwide study [found] that police officers were almost never convicted or punished in the aftermath of abuse allegations.”

Forman traces the long history of police violence against Black people, arguing that officers acted with impunity and faced little or no disciplinary action. His thorough research and direct citations lend credence to his claims.

“[Black people] were not joining the force with dreams of becoming a warrior for (or against) the race. They were signing up because they needed a job.”

Black people hoped that racial integration in the police force would curb police violence against Black people. However, many found that Black officers used aggressive tactics against Black people, even in response to low-level infractions, such as loitering and drunkenness. As Forman explains, many Black people joined the police because they needed employment, not because they wanted to promote racial equity.

“One concerned citizen reported keeping a pet fox to ward off intruders.”

Forman argues that concern about crime motivated Black people to support tough-on-crime measures. This quote conveys the lengths to which some Black people went to protect themselves.

“At the heart of Ray’s plan were longer maximum sentences and mandatory minimum sentences for gun and drug offenses.”

Forman highlights the role of Black leaders in mass incarceration. Washington, DC councilman John Ray was among these leaders. Ray not only raised maximum sentences for drug and gun crimes, but also lobbied for mandatory minimums to prevent judges from sentencing offenders to probation.

“The city’s leaders remained skeptical of mandatory minimum sentences.”

This quote conveys the lack of consensus among DC’s Black leadership about how to address rising crime rates. Although many council members supported raising maximum sentences, most opposed mandatory minimums. Indeed, the city only adopted mandatory minimums after the passing of Initiative 9, which received overwhelming support from voters in 1982.

“If the initiative left the city’s drug market unaltered, it succeeded wildly in reshaping the application of criminal justice.”

This quote is about Initiative 9, a 1982 ballot initiative in Washington, DC, that introduced mandatory minimum sentences for drug and gun crimes. Forman stresses the negative impact of mandatory minimums on Black people. As the quote reveals, Initiative 9 did not deter drug crimes, it simply forced judges to sentence drug offenders to prison, rather than probation or treatment programs.

“Most of my clients had struggled in school or dropped out altogether before they were arrested.”

Forman draws on his experiences as a public defender in Washington, DC, throughout his book. His use of anecdotes is not only engaging, but also clarifies and supports his arguments. This quote explains Forman’s emphasis on the importance of incorporating education into the criminal justice system.

“The fight against crack helped to enshrine the notion that police must be warriors, aggressive and armored, working ghetto corners as an army might patrol enemy territory.”

This quote describes warrior policing. Forman argues that increasingly harsh policing was a response to the crack epidemic of the 1980s and that it helped produce today’s punitive criminal justice system.

“Black political and civic leaders often compared crack to the greatest evils that African Americans had ever suffered.”

This quote captures the severity of the crack epidemic in Black communities. In 1988, a member of the NAACP even called crack the worst thing to befall Black people since slavery.

“The toll of violence may manifest most acutely in children, but it is paid by the entire community.”

Forman emphasizes the impact of violence on Black people. Rising rates of violent crime, especially gun crime, had a dramatic effect on Black communities. Children exposed to crime are more likely to have behavioral problems at school and to normalize gun use. Similarly, adults exposed to crime experience higher rates of tension, anxiety, and hypervigilance.

“Stop cars, search cars, seize guns.”

This quote describes Operation Ceasefire, a tough-on-crime policy implemented by Eric Holder, DC’s first Black chief prosecutor. It reiterates Forman’s argument that Black leaders supported policies that fueled mass incarceration.

“Perhaps the single most destructive aspect of the pretext-stop regime is that it propels disparities in the rest of the criminal justice system.”

Forman stresses the effects of tough-on-crime policies on Black people. Targeting Black neighborhoods for pretext stops funneled increasing numbers of Black people into the criminal justice system, where prosecutors were likely to file charges against them and judges likely to sentence them to long prison terms.

“In 2012, D.C. saw 88 homicides, the lowest num­ber since 1961 and a stunning decrease from the 485 killings that devastated the city in 1991, during the worst of the crack crisis.”

Forman argues that skyrocketing crime prompted Black leaders to embrace tough-on-crime policies in the late 20th century. In Washington, DC, violent crime led Black authorities to reject a bill to decriminalize marijuana. DC’s city council passed a virtually identical bill in 2014, largely because of the dramatic drop in crime.