Many innocent people have been punished for crimes they did not commit because they could not afford an adequate lawyer. Being poor and black can become a life or death situation. I believe both books make very valid arguments regarding mass incarceration and racial bias. Injustices have become so ingrained in the system that many are blind to what is really happening. More and more black men are incarcerated and it's not because more and more black people are committing crimes, so why are so many men institutionalized? I believe it is about trying to regain this power lost following the abolition of slavery. The New Jim Crow highlighted the creation of the new racial caste system by revealing that the conception of this permanent segregation was implemented well before the end of the civil rights movement (Stevenson, 2014). While Just Mercy highlights the after-effects of a preconceived idea. It showed America was acting on fear and anger, rather than truth and anger.