The Legislative Roots of Mass Incarceration
Visualized history of the United States’ laws and rhetoric about race and criminal justice which led to the U.S. becoming the country with the highest imprisonment rates in the entire world.
December, 2020
My thesis is about perpetual marginalization of the dispossessed at the hands of our own government. Our country’s history of racialized legislation and culture has led to a system of mass incarceration today, the likes of which no country has ever seen before. What is different now, from previous periods of racial control like slavery and the Jim Crow era? We have data, and we’re seeing the injustices live streamed.
Although we celebrate colorblindness in America, our laws and leadership have enabled systemic racism and control that is exerted disproportionately on People of Color. Let us better understand our history so we can demand the change needed.
This was created as my thesis in the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) Information & Data Visualization Master’s program.
I spoke about the process of creating this thesis – including all the ups and downs, the research, analysis, and design – in the 2021 Outlier Data Visualization Conference, available to view below.
The Data Says 