ipl-logo

Summary Of 13th By Av Duvernay

1085 Words5 Pages

Ava Duvernay's documentary "13th" does a great job of capturing the problems with the criminal justice system in North America. It draws attention to problems with excessive minority representation and racial injustices in the system. This paper will examine the central issue and main message explored in the documentary "13th". It will also explore my initial reaction to the film and whether any specific case or facts challenged my pre-existing views on the prison system. Additionally, a comparative analysis will be conducted between the intersection of race, crime, and criminal justice in Canada and what is presented in "13th". The paper will conclude with a personal assessment of the argument proposed in the film that there is a direct connection …show more content…

The criminal justice system is utilized as a means to maintain oppression of Black people even after slavery was abolished. Through minor offenses and possession of even small amounts of drugs, Black people are often subjected to long periods of incarceration. This serves as a way to enforce labor without slavery. The documentary aims to highlight the fact that the legacy of slavery and racial oppression continues to exist in the United States through the criminal justice system. According to Owusu-Bempah and Wortley's "Race, Crime, and Criminal Justice in Canada," “Aboriginal and black Canadians, are grossly overrepresented in Canada’s correctional institutions. Further evidence indicates that racial bias does exist in the administration of Canadian criminal justice, and, at times, this discrimination has been supported by court decisions” (Owusu-Bempah & Wortley, 2014, p. 2). The fact that Indigenous and Black Canadians are overrepresented in correctional institutions demonstrates that the issue of overrepresentation depicted in "13th" is not limited to the United States but is a current concern in Canada. It is crucial that systemic racism in Canada is not overlooked and is approached with the same level of significance as it is in the United …show more content…

More precisely, in Canada, Aboriginals and Black individuals are overrepresented, while in the United States, the same applies to the Black community. According to the reading "Race, Crime, and Criminal Justice in Canada," the statement is supported by the fact that “The extent to which blacks and Aboriginals are overrepresented in Canadian correctional institutions is similar to that of African Americans in the United States” (Owusu-Bempah & Wortley, 2014, p. 2). Although Canada and the USA share some similarities in their criminal justice systems, there is one significant difference. The US system is influenced by its history of slavery, as highlighted in the "13th" documentary. One example of this is the exploitation of Black labor through the criminal justice system's prison labor programs, which is permitted by the US Constitution's 13th Amendment that banned slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a form of punishment for a

Show More
Related
1718 Words | 7 Pages

The state of Black life in Canada is the outcome of long time neglect and dehumanization. The main issues presented throughout the book were those associated with race, crime and gender; and have occurred throughout time, and still exist today. Maynard’s book tells the horrific stories of Black life and experiences in Canada, addresses a many issues, and focuses on the harsh realities faced by the Black community due reoccurring anti-Black practices and

Read More
559 Words | 3 Pages

The film 13th was documentary that explains mass incarceration, Jim Crow, and slavery as being the same forms. Through use of statistic, testimonies, and stories, the documentary portrays a message of what is and has been going on and has a call to action. The film starts off with explaining how there is a loophole a clause of the 13th amendment that makes it unconstitutional for anyone to be a slave except criminals, and ever since that loophole was discovered there was a mass of African Americans arrested. Although the film was able to show evidence for the parallels between slavery, Jim Crow laws, and mass incarceration, it did not provide solutions for this problem.

Read More
1266 Words | 6 Pages

Although race is an important factor of Canadian law, there is limited data on its connection with the criminal justice system. Millar and Owusu-Bempah will reveal how the police suppresses data on the race of victims and offenders, which makes it more difficult to conduct anti-racism research and easier for police to implement racial profiling (2011). Also, the authors will argue that intelligence collection conducted by powerful institutions such as police, serves to their advantage rather than the public’s, due its confidentiality. Hence, the authors will explore the race data available and unavailable, but required. Millar and Owusu-Bempah draw on how contemporary studies reveal the disproportionate racial populations in Canadian incarceration,

Read More
1316 Words | 6 Pages

In Policing black lives, author Robyn Maynard delves into the history of racism among African Americans and analyzes how many black individuals are still experiencing it in Canada today. Maynard discusses the issues of state violence and sheds light upon gender inequalities and economic injustices for all African Americans in our modern society. This book not only provides the reader with a overall better understanding of systematic and institutional racism, it is well constructed and is easy for the reader to follow. Each chapter indulges on different topics that focus on racism throughout Canada and provides the reader with examples and statistics. Maynard articulates how many canadians are unaware and oblivious to the extent of how unfairly

Read More
584 Words | 3 Pages

By analyzing the 13th Amendment, the film argues that although slavery was legally abolished, it persisted differently through the criminal justice system. The documentary exposes mass incarceration's root causes and dire consequences, particularly for Black Americans, and calls for change in the current system.

Read More
1054 Words | 5 Pages

Unveiling Injustice: Analyzing "13th" and the Crisis of Mass Incarceration in America Ava DuVernay's documentary "13th" serves as a poignant exposé on the crisis of mass incarceration in the United States, particularly its disproportionate impact on African American communities. Through a critical lens, the film scrutinizes the historical context, systemic racism, and policies like the 13th Amendment, shedding light on the deep-rooted inequalities within the criminal justice system. This essay delves into the persuasive strategies employed in the documentary, the necessity of data-driven evaluation, and the scholarly discourse surrounding the issues it addresses. "13th" strategically employs emotional persuasion to evoke empathy and outrage

Read More
1077 Words | 5 Pages

After the Civil War, people of color were arrested in mass numbers, as the words, “except as a punishment for crime” allowed them to be enslaved and used for free labor to rebuild the economy (13th, 3:50). The documentary explains how several presidential campaigns, the war on drugs, the 1994 crime bill, the portraying of black people as “super predators” in the media, and the impact of ALEC and its partnership with the CCA have largely affected the rates of people of color being incarcerated on the terms of injustice and the racist system that history has

Read More
3291 Words | 14 Pages

Annotated Bibliography Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness / Michelle Alexander ; [with a New Foreword by Cornel West]. The New Press, 2012. EBSCOhost, research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=2ec9cbe0-3ef5-3a44-8467-0f6b1bebfb80. This is a groundbreaking book by Michelle Alexander that explores the racial inequalities within the American criminal justice system.

Read More
492 Words | 2 Pages

The “13th” is a documentary about the American system of incarceration and the economic forces behind racism in America especially in people of color. One of the claims that the author mentioned is that today incarceration is an extension of slavery. It is also mentioned that most of the time in society we are defined by race. In the documentary, we can see how African Americans are sentenced for many years since they are too poor to pay their fines or sometimes most of these people plead guilty to get out of jail fast. However, African Americans are separated from their families and also treated inhumanly in prisons just because they are of a particular race.

Read More
983 Words | 4 Pages

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY Alexander, M. (2012). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (Rev. ed.). New York, NY: The New Press. Michelle Alexander in her book, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" argues that law enforcement officials routinely racially profile minorities to deny them socially, politically, and economically as was accustomed in the Jim Crow era.

Read More
1343 Words | 6 Pages

Annotated Bibliography Alexander, M. (2010). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York: The New Press. Alexander opens up on the history of the criminal justice system, disciplinary crime policy and race in the U.S. detailing the ways in which crime policy and mass incarceration have worked together to continue the reduction and defeat of black Americans.

Read More
978 Words | 4 Pages

By tailoring only to the country’s homogenized majority, Canada’s conservative government has made its nation seem like the pinnacle of kindness and generalized trust. But beneath the surface, it’s the prison system that secretly bears the brunt of Canada’s vast racial and demographic discrimination. The Canadian government is so occupied with maintaining the appearance of high generalized trust in its political culture that it vastly over-convicts in its prisons, a practice that is reminiscent of the United States prison system. In a recent Huffington Post article, journalist Jim Bronskill investigated Canada’s “broken bail system,” discovering that nearly half of the inmates in Canadian prisons “on any given night have not been convicted of anything” (Bronskill).

Read More
558 Words | 3 Pages

According to The University of Michigan's law education, African Americans are seven times more likely than white Americans to be falsely convicted of serious crimes due to their race (law.umich.edu). Bryan Stevenson who is a human rights lawyer and author wrote the memoir by the name of Just Mercy. This piece focuses on the idea that the criminal justice system is discriminatory. In this memoir, he defends and fights for citizens to protect their rights as a person. Bryan Stevenson beautifully utilizes strong word choice, repetition, and emotional appeal to emphasize and persuade the readers that the efforts to fight institutional cruelty and raise the most vulnerable to a “higher ground” is what matters most.

Read More
718 Words | 3 Pages

We live in a society where ethnic minorities are target for every minimal action and/or crimes, which is a cause to be sentenced up to 50 years in jail. African Americans and Latinos are the ethnic minorities with highest policing crimes. In chapter two of Michelle Alexander’s book, The Lockdown, we are exposed to the different “crimes” that affects African American and Latino minorities. The criminal justice system is a topic discussed in this chapter that argues the inequality that people of color as well as other Americans are exposed to not knowing their rights. Incarceration rates, unreasonable suspicions, and pre-texts used by officers are things that play a huge role in encountering the criminal justice system, which affects the way

Read More
629 Words | 3 Pages

This was my third time watching the 13th Documentary, I have watched it for my Justice Theory class, Protest Justice Law and Media class, and now Immigration Education and the Family. However, with that being said, this is still an excellent documentary and each time I watch it I learn something new and different aspects pop out to me based on what particular class I have watched it for. When it comes to this class, I focused on the nuances and who was being targeted. To begin, the documentary is in reference to the Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and how it had the ability to end slavery for African Americans, however, this end of slavery led to a mass incarceration of individuals, predominantly people who are African American.

Read More

More about Summary Of 13th By Av Duvernay

Related Topics

Open Document