The Plea Bargain Trap STILL Fueling Mass Incarceration
Black History Year
PushBlack
4.6 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 8 January 2026
⏱️ 3 minutes
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Summary
Hundreds of years ago, a loophole in the 13th Amendment was plotted to keep enslaving Black people after slavery was abolished. But did you know another loophole was created to haunt us - and it’s affecting 97% of this group TODAY?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, just leave and work now. Sorry, it's a bit loud. Um, basically, so I was thinking we could get Macies tonight. Had a big Mac on my mind all day and delivery fee on the app is now from 99P. So you win? Of course you are. Love you. Bye. |
| 0:13.2 | Exclusively on the McDonald's app. |
| 0:16.0 | 18 plus service fee and small order fee may apply. Participating restaurants. Serving times and teas and seas apply. |
| 0:29.4 | You may already know about the loophole in the 13th Amendment that allowed slavery. |
| 0:35.3 | But did you know that there's a loophole in that loophole that's still being used today? |
| 0:41.3 | And as always, it's used to brutalize and exploit black people the most. This is two-minute black history, what you didn't learn in school. |
| 0:50.3 | Centuries ago, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery with a few loopholes the constitution made it so |
| 1:02.4 | enslavement could still be legal through incarceration but there was another hidden loophole to |
| 1:10.0 | that loophole that's still being abused today. |
| 1:13.9 | The 13th Amendment allowed slavery for people in prison, specifically after due process. |
| 1:20.8 | So, Southern officials wondered, how do you convict, incarcerate, and exploit more black people without a fair trial? |
| 1:30.4 | Their answer was the plea bargain, where a prosecutor can offer you less time behind bars in |
| 1:38.9 | exchange for you admitting guilt, whether you did it or not not another incentive to pleading guilty was |
| 1:47.6 | financial following through with a trial was expensive for black defendants |
| 1:52.8 | plea bargaining ensured that more black people could be trapped behind bars |
| 1:58.9 | so states made huge financial gains off of black |
| 2:03.4 | imprisoned field laborers too. |
| 2:06.6 | Today, over 97% of federal felony convictions and 94% state convictions are made because of plea |
| 2:16.2 | bargaining. Only 2% of federal prosecutions actually end up |
| 2:22.7 | going to trial. There's no such thing as honesty or fairness in this criminal legal system, |
| 2:30.4 | especially not for black people. The system incentivizes us not to tell the truth, but to choose |
| 2:37.7 | between less and more prison instead of no prison at all. History backs us up when we ask, |
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