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In the documentary, several experts and activists share their perspective on the criminal justice system and it’s role in perpetuating racial inequality. Choose one interviewee and explain how their personal experiences or expertise strengthen the documentary’s argument

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Final answer:

Angela Davis' personal experiences and expertise as an activist and scholar bolster the documentary's view that the criminal justice system fosters racial inequality, with her critique centering on the prison-industrial complex and statistical evidence of differential treatment based on race.

Step-by-step explanation:

Angela Davis, through her own personal experiences as an activist, scholar, Black Panther, and former prisoner, solidifies the documentary's argument that the criminal justice system perpetuates racial inequality. Davis uses the term prison-industrial complex to describe the system and critiques it by utilizing statistical evidence that demonstrates racial disparities in law enforcement, such as the differential outcomes for whites and nonwhites in the courts.

Her extensive activism and academic work provide a compelling perspective on how race and poverty influence incarceration rates, challenging the assumption that these rates are solely a product of effective law enforcement. Davis's narrative underscores the societal tendency to address social issues like poverty and drug addiction with incarceration rather than preventative and rehabilitative measures.

Her assertions are bolstered by the knowledge of the expansion of the prison population from 200,000 inmates in 1970 to 2.2 million four decades later, which she attributes to factors beyond crime rates.

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