Secondary Source Blueprint (Hinton)

I. Hinton, Elizabeth. From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America. Harvard University Press, 2017.

II. Identify the thesis of the article or chapter, aka WHAT is its central argument?

A. “In full historical context, the policies of the Reagan administration marked merely the fulfillment of federal crime control priorities that stemmed initially from one of the most idealistic enterprises in American history during the era of civil rights. Waged over the past half-century, since it emerged from within the War on Poverty and alongside it, this long War on Crime has today positioned law enforcement agencies, criminal justice institutions, and jails as the primary public programs in many low-income communities across the US.” (4)

B. Unlike popular beliefs, mass incarceration took decades to take hold, stemming from misguided policies from the War on Poverty, starting with the administration of JFK. The War on Crime has set police and other criminal justice institutions to be the primary public program in many low-income communities. 

III. Analyze and describe HOW the argument is organized.

The author starts with a hook, based in historical context, that introduces the problem at hand. (1-2). She then expands on the history that she talks about in the first paragraph to greater contextualize the problem and introduce the idea of the War on Crime and increased funding going towards the police. She also brings up the common misconception that Reagan is the primary proponent of the War on Crime/Drugs which she will expand upon further in later parts of the novel. She ends this section by tying these ideas together with her thesis. (2-4)

Hinton begins with a lot of statistics to lay the groundwork for the history that she will later talk about. She uses these to try to counter a popular misconception about crime statistics warranting an increase in police funding. Her “I Say” is that this is false, the only reason that crime statistics went up were because of the, key word, modernized police departments. (4-6) She then transitions with this information into a more targeted attack on the statistics, explaining why they are false (with a good Janus-faced transition). (6-7)

The next portion talks about politics, going back to a lot of historical evidence that supports her claim. It follows segregationists who move to the War on Crime, as well as the idea of racism moving to the War on Crime. (7-8) She then talks about federalism and the role of states and bipartisan politics in the rise. She continues to reference historical evidence, using some quotes. She also offers a call to action at the bottom of page 8 as well. (8-9) She then introduces the idea of the New Jim Crow and Michelle Alexander, explaining what she says in her book. (9-11)

Her next portion traces the movement among populations (historical context) and discusses specific policy that impacts her thesis, laying more context. She ties back to ideas from previous sections. (11-15) She continues on these ideas, using pictures, quotes, and more historical evidence to support her ideas. She also continues to move chronologically through presidencies to show how policy evolves. (15-18)

She finishes her essay off by returning to statistics to tear down the FBI crime statistics. She uses the case study of the JFK administration as evidence. (18-22) She does the same in the next chunk of text, talking about the St. Louis effects in the modern day, and what the police presence looks like. She uses both quotes and introduces some dissenting opinions. (22-24) Hinton goes back to the statistics once more. (24-25) For her conclusion, she introduces a brief counter argument and restates her thesis. (25-26)

IV. List three rhetorical strategies you would like to apply to your own essays.

– I appreciate that her writing is in chronological order, if you wanted to skip to a certain presidency, it would be easy to find. 

– She provides a lot of examples for each thing that she talks about, walks us through seemingly every policy that was made relating to this during her time period. 

– She explains the effects of policies very thoroughly. 

V. (Optional) List any rhetorical moves you do not want to imitate.

– Super wordy and repetitive in parts, she talks about the same policies and tries to restate the same idea over and over. Lots of passive voice. 

– Terms are not greatly defined, the reader is supposed to know what each thing is about. 

– Some hyperboles, literary devices that just take up space and help her to lose ethos. 

– Unhelpful generalizations that cannot be backed up (race, pg. 19)