Crook County is a novel that touches on topics that are problematic within the criminal justice system. This book, written by Nicole Gonzalez van Cleve is a piece of literature the dives deep into the criminal justice system and the hidden flaws that encompass it. The book discusses how the system is one that strips people of color, specifically black men, of their rights and humanity. In the book, Van Cleve also gives detail about the prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges. She explains their positions within the system and how they impact the outcome of many people that are stuck in crook county. The author also breaks down the roles of private defenders versus public defenders and how they interact with their clients. Overall, Crook County assessed the justice system and the ways that it racializes people of color. It examines how criminal attorneys and judges are the ones who determine a man’s freedom versus another man’s imprisonment.
The conversation Abby and I had with the class focused on racism within the system and how that impacts communities of people. First, we showed a video by The Atlantic. This 5-minute film summarized how the criminal justice system is no longer incarcerating the individual; instead, the system is incarcerating social groups. The leading social group spoken about in the video is the African American community. The footage looked at how a lack of schooling increases a black man’s chances of becoming incarcerated. The video also touches on how mass incarceration can be seen as a generational thing. After watching this video Abby and I were able to look at the criminal justice system from a broader perspective. Looked at how slavery transformed into modern-day mass incarceration for the black community.
After discussing the video with the class, we dove right into colorblind racism and how public and private defenders use it. In chapter 3, the author thoroughly examined public and private defenders. So, in our presentation, we did the same. We explained that public and private defenders have a drastic difference in opinion due to the difference in their clients. The public defender has low income, indigent clients vs. The private attorney who can choose their clients of a more middle class/upper-class status would influence the way they see their clients treated in the court system. After we examined their roles, we then talked about the stereotypes that are heavily used within the court system. After assessing all parts of the court system from clients to attorneys from judges to the police, we then asked the question where does this all start? Abby and I thought about this question a lot, and we decided that racism within the courtroom is something that is an adaptation when entering in this particular field of law. We first looked at law school and realized that when you are in law school, no one ever teaches you to discriminate, stereotype, and racialize a specific group of people. Instead, law schools teach you to treat people equally and that everyone is equal under the law. They also engrave in your mind that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. With this understanding, we could only conclude that the criminal justice system causes one to adapt and change their ways and views that would accommodate what’s accepted within the justice system. What you learned in law school doesn’t apply when entering the toxic environment of criminal law.
In our presentation, we discussed themes such as Inheritance of the Ghetto, the White Space, and No Place on the Corner. We discussed how the iconic ghetto is something that is continuously mapped onto black bodies no matter what. At the end of our presentation, we looked at how a minority space can still be a white space. This shows that society continues to favor the white man while negatively impacting people of color.
Overall, I think our presentation went well with the class. At some points, we had to force students to participate in the discussion. But, when they engaged in the conversation, many good points were made. In the end, this presentation gave me more knowledge about how messed up our criminal justice system is. Reading and analyzing this book showed me how people of color are at a disadvantage in a system that is supposed to treat you as innocent before your guilty. But, when you are POC, specifically black men, then you are seen as guilty before innocent.
I thought that Crook County was an interesting case to examine because it brought together so many of the ideas and concepts we have learned and talked about and how they can accumulate into the criminal justice system. I especially liked the connections to the white space and how this court system perpetuates that. It then shows us the flaws of the system and why it targets certain groups. The way systems currently are, they just set up groups, such as young black men, to go to prison. Many of our current systems do no give people the chance to have a chance in society. As we discussed in class, a lot of this comes from issues of class as well and being able to pay off your problems. I do not remember which presentation touched on this, but it would be interesting to consider the school-to-prison pipeline in Crook County as well and how many of these disadvantaged communities are not expected to succeed and make it out of their commmunities.
The Atlantic video made a poignant point about how modern-day mass incarceration of African American communities is comparable to slavery, which reminded me of our dog-whistle politics discussion about how racism has evolved. Structural racism has changed from its direct and overt form of slavery to a kind that we’ve legitimized and justified (“these people commit crimes, criminals must be punished”), even though (mostly) white people still benefit from it through private prisons and prison labor (this is a scary country). The criminal justice system that exists today is more difficult to change because it is harder to point out the racism that exists within it. Those that operate within it (e.g., lawyers, police, judges) are not specifically “taught” to be racist; they are just socialized to the system and perpetuate it to hold on to their jobs and the benefits they receive.
I think the Crook County discussion was one of the most interesting discussions we had. I thought it was really intriguing how Abby and Kennedi came to the conclusion that the problem stems from directly in the court room, and not so much from the students graduating from law schools. There is something about the pressure and toxicity of the court room setting that allows for these discriminations we see everyday. I just wonder if there is anyway to rid the court room of that toxicity.
I think the discussion of Crook County was the most overt representation of segregation and racism we have seen in the class. The idea of the court system teaching future attorneys and lawmakers that all defendants are innocent until proven guilty and the opposite being engrained in the culture of the justice system. They institutionalize this concept by mapping stereotypes on black bodies and making this idea true to justify their actions as fair and just. What ways can we change this culture in the justice system?