subjection to employment discrimination, drastically lower employment prospects we can see while michele alexander war on drugs should have ushered in you new era of jim crow as outlined in her new book. crowe outlined in her book "the new jim crowe madison incarceration." we consider the effectiveness of supply reduction strategies compared to many times more effective and much cheaper demand reduction strat justice. it's not hard to wonder whether there is a motive. recently i saw a news article of young drug offenders in their 20s in virginia. two of whom got sentences of 50 and 35 years respectively. no one seemed concerned of the cost that this represented $2.5 million to warehouse drug abusers and i was left to wonder whether or not that $2.5 million -- some of that should have been spent on boys and girls clubs where they were spending in that same area. so, mr. chairman, i look forward to hearing the director's views, with respect to these grave concerns. >> thank you. the chairman emeritus, the gentleman from michigan, mr. conyers for opening statement. >> thank you, chairman. my first co

subjection to employment discrimination, drastically lower employment prospects we can see while michele alexander considers the war on drugs should have ushered in you new era of jim crow as outlined in her new book. and we consider the effectiveness and much higher costs of punitive supply reduction strategies compared to many times more effective and much cheaper demand strategies such as treatment it's not hard to wonder whether there is a motive beyond drug abuse reduction in our strategy choices. recently i saw a news article of a young drug offenders, in their 20s in virginia. two of whom got sentences of 50 and 35 years respectively. no one seemed concerned about the average cost at $30,000 a year that this represented $2.5 million to warehouse the drug abusers, and i was left to wonder whether or not that $2.5 million should my first comment is to congratulate ranking member bobby scott on an excellent opening statement that tracks much of what i've been doing in preparing for this. i think the beginning of this discussion on the part of the subcommittee on crime can be one of the most im

you have the whole question that michelle alexander deals with called the new jim crow. all these black men in prison i started to say a word i can't say in this forum. for reasons that aren't legitimate, let's put it that way. you did sos earlier and you recovered quickly. couldn't think of a word that would quite accurately describe how i feel about that. there is so much going on just beneath the surface and nobody's really drilling down into it and reporting on it. what worries me about this proliferation of media is that the proliferation of media exists but tstz not drilling down into some of the very real social problems that we have in a society. i know this is going to be controversial, but i'm going to say it anyway, we are not in a post racial society. i'm sorry if there are those who think we are. if you look at the data on just about every indication of progress in this country, you'll find black people pretty much at the bottom. i heard the other day that black unemployment is going down a bit, but it's still twice as high as white. there's -- where are the

michelle alexander is wonderful to make time for us in light of personal circumstances that made scheduling difficult so she'll close the event at the end of the day. in her book she says it is intended to stimulate a much needed conversation about the role of the criminal justice system in creating a racial hierarchy in the united states. this day is a day where we'll immerse ourselves in that conversation. to get us started is this panel on policing. it will be moderated by david, a professor of law at berkeley. one of the country's leading experts on policing. he was an assistant u.s. attorney in los angeles. he has served as the special counsel to the independent review panel that was investigating the l.a. police department's rampart division scandal and a brilliant human being. i'm happy he's moderating today's panel. join me in welcoming this panel. i look forward to your discussion. thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you, rachel. thank you all for coming today to join us in discussing these very important questions and issues. we have a wonderful panel here this morning to talk about

up more to you and ask more about sort of modern day jim crow and jap crow, thinking about michele alexander's great book on jim crow's incarceration but even in some ways the kind of jap crow that goes on today. may be oriole it does for the nypd to trying these undercover stings against muslim americans and muslim students. that is another kind of oppressive system, oppressive practice where there is overlap between african-americans and asian-americans and where can we go from that overlap and where can we go from that kind of alliance? [applause] >> it let me first say i am always blessed to be in harlem and especially blessed to be it hue-man bookstore. let's give her a hand. [applause] i want to thank each and everyone of you for coming out this evening and this is very much going to be a conversation that we want to dialogue with you, especially as it relates to the ways in which the legacy of white supremacy has affect the different people, be it indigenous people, be at latinos, the asian brothers and sisters. it can be black people and what i love about my dear brother matt briones's

you can see why michele alexander considers this to issue in the new era of jim crow and she a outlined in her book the new jim crow mass incarceration. we consider the effectiveness of a higher cost of punitive supply reduction strategies compared to many times more effective and cheaper demand reduction strategies such as treatment is not hard to wonder whether there's a motive beyond drug abuse reduction in our strategy choices. recently i saw a news article, young drug offenders in their 20s in virginia two of whom got sinss of 50, and 35 years respectively. no one seemed concerned about the average cost of $30 a year this represented. $2.5 million warehouse abusers left to wonder whether that $2.5 million should have invested on boys and girls where they were cutting spending in the same area. i look forward to hearing the director's views on public policy implications or agency operations with respect to these concerns. >> the chairman of emeritus, the gentleman, mr conyers for an opening statement. >> thank you chairman sensenbrenner. my first comment is to congratulate ranking m

we can see why michelle alexander considers the war on drugs to have ushered in a new era of jim crow as she outlined in her book, the new jim crow mass incarceration. when we consider the effectiveness of and higher cost of supply reduction strategies compared to many other times more effective and much cheaper demand reduction strategies, such as treatment, it is not hard to wonder whether there is a motor beyond drug abuse reduction and our strategy choices. recently i found a news article of a young drug offender in their 20s in virginia, two of whom got sentences of 50 and 35 years respectively. no one seemed concerned about the average cost of 30,000 dollars a year that this represented $2.5 million to warehouse for drug abusers and has left us to wonder $2.5 million should have been spent on boys and girls clubs were there were spending cuts in that area. mr. chairman, i look forward to hearing your views on public policy implications the agency's operations with respect to these grave concerns. >> thank you. the chairman, mr. conyers for an opening statement. >> thank you, cha

by michelle alexander who has written a wonderful book on this subject. >> give you a couple seconds,then we've got to wrap up. >> just a couple seconds. well, i agree with rob's remarks and, also, i just want to remind people if you remember the people who went and massacred all those children in, i think it was norway, got seven years or something. >> seven? >> yeah, it was something astonishing. also i would like to say that, rob, i have great confidence that your commission and the lawyers who have been working on the death penalty over these past many decades can, you'll come up with a way so that you can keep pursuing these cases, and you'll find a legal way to get it in front of somebody who will pay attention to it. i have great faith in you for that. >> leigh bienen, she's an author, her book "murder and its consequences" is out there for sale, and this is rob warden, he's the executive director of wrongful convictions and his book, "true stories of false confessions," is available also for purchase and signing out in the lobby. i'm eric zorn of the chicago tribune, and thank