Mine Workers President: 'Handcuff Blankenship-Put Him In Chains-Jail Him-Fine Him $40 Million'

Chapter five elaborates the thesis of innocent bias by offering evidence that laws which inadvertently shield white-collar criminals, and the media’s role in perpetuating the myth that street crimes are more harmful to society than white-collar crimes, are not overtly intended to harm the poor and people of color. However because bias in the criminal justice process originates in the law and is functional for the monied and powerful, efforts to remedy the biases are typically met with resistance.

Chapter six further illustrates the effects of innocent bias by delineating the injustices of the war on drugs, and the staggering ill-effects of this war on the poor and people of color. Robinson iterates the compelling evidence that alcohol and tobacco, both legal yet addictive drugs, are exceedingly more harmful in their effect than illicit drugs. Law that distinguishes less harmful drugs as a crime and legalizes those that are most harmful is “bad law” (p. 205).