Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America

Content Warning: The section of the guide addresses racism and racial inequities in the US criminal justice system.

The BDC is a DC-based organization founded by Hassan Jeru-Ahmed, a prominent Black nationalist, recovering addict, and former prisoner whose experiences with addiction and crime turned him into an anti-drug warrior. Under Hassan’s leadership, the BDC actively opposed decriminalization, thereby fueling mass incarceration.

Decriminalization refers to the process of ceasing to treat something as a criminal offense. In 1975, Clarke unveiled a bill to decriminalize marijuana in Washington, DC. The bill would have eliminated imprisonment as a possible penalty for possession, replacing it with a $100 fine. Clarke’s proposal coincided with national decriminalization efforts. According to Forman, the failure of Clarke’s bill, due primarily to opposition from Black leaders, spurred the mass incarceration of Black people.

The term mass incarceration, also called mass imprisonment or the prison boom, refers to the extremely high rate of incarceration in the US. Mass incarceration began in the 1970s with tough-on-crime policies that disproportionately targeted young Black men. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the country’s prison population has increased 500% since the 1970s (“Mass Incarceration.” ACLU). Two million people are currently incarcerated in the US, more than any other country.