“Land of the free” has the highest rate of imprisonment in the world
This review is part of our new series, Rewind, where we look back at our favourite documentaries from years gone by.
Netflix has now made 13th available to watch for free on Youtube, you can watch it here.
Ava DuVernay’s Academy Award nominated documentary shines an unforgiving light on the US’ criminalisation of African Americans while providing fascinating insight into the era of mass incarceration that defines the country’s justice system today.
Imbued with input from scholars, activists and politicians, 13th tracks the centrality of race in American politics. The 13th amendment to the constitution, after which the documentary is named, abolished slavery. However, the amendment contains an exception where someone can lose their liberty if they commit a crime. As is set out in the film, this “criminalisation clause” has been used as a tool of oppression against African Americans, from their emancipation in 1863 right up to the present day. In America, one in three black men will go to prison in their lifetime, whereas only one in 17 white men are likely to suffer the same fate.
13th‘s critical analysis of how politics has shaped the treatment of African Americans is astute and thought-provoking. Evidence of how successive Presidents have vilified black communities in order to secure the white vote is particularly horrifying. For instance, “wars” on crime and drugs, which were prominent in the 1980s and 90s, disproportionately affected black and ethnic minority people by criminalising poverty and drug abuse. Policies such as “three strikes and you’re out”, in which someone would go to prison for life after their third violent offence, and mandatory minimum sentences, whereby someone had to serve at least 85% of their sentence before parole, threw huge swathes of the black community into prison for a very long time. Some are still there today.
This is not just a legal or race issue. The most surprising aspect of the documentary is the role of corporations in the US’ racist and systemic mass incarceration phenomenon. 13th reveals how heavily monetised the prison system is and how some of the country’s biggest businesses have made billions of dollars profiting from punishment.
Since 1970, the prison population has boomed from 300,000 to over 2.36 million, with African Americans accounting for more than 40% of that figure despite representing just 6% of the total population. 13th depicts the widespread and relentless injustices endured by African Americans, since the abolition, as a result of their criminalisation. DuVernay successfully portrays a reality that George Floyd’s death has returned to the fore in global conversation.
This is a must-see.
