Authored by Lizzie Hurst

While both Orange is the New Black (OITNB) and The Night Of offer insight into the criminal justice system surrounding female and male imprisonment, The Night Of is more successful in providing accurate information on a system predicated on race. Because the viewer follows the crime from the incident through crime scene investigation and judicial processing, we get a more complete critique of the racially discriminating criminal justice system. OITNB fails in this regard largely in part because it does not focus “on in-depth analyses of the root causes of incarceration,” (Schwan, 474) but also because it masks attempts at critiquing the system with comic relief or romance. For example, in season three episode one, Piper soothingly says to Alex upon her return to prison, “Alex, it wasn’t you. It was the system. You got caught in the system,” to which Alex responds, “I’m just a fly in the web of the prison industrial complex.” This moment has much potential to then divulge into the nuances of the prison industrial complex, however, it is thwarted when Piper responds “but at least we’re in the same web. I mean at least we’re in it together.” In doing so, this intimate interaction does more for their relationship rather than explore the follies of the prison-industrial complex.

OITNB “coincides with the United States incarcerating more women than any other nation in the world,” (O’Sullivan, 402) but attempts to explain the arbitrariness of the system fall short of providing accurate information or emphasizing race as a pertinent factor. For example, the prison guard Healy in season one episode one tries to highlight the unpredictability of the system while explaining to Piper “I’ve been here 22 years and still cannot figure out how the system works. I got a crack dealer doing 9 months and a lady that accidentally backed into a mailman doing four years.” The War on Drugs, as part of the ‘get tough’ mentality, actually created the harshest crime sentences for crack cocaine, with even the first offense of possession carrying a minimum penalty (McCorkel, 6). Healy’s comment also fails to address the fact that of the 115,000 women incarcerated in the US, African American or Latina women represent the majority (McCorkel, 9). The system not only inflicts harsher sentences on people of color but also directly targets and criminalizes “behaviors many black women adopt in order to copy with poverty, inadequate education, and domestic violence” (Caputi, 1137). OITNB has the potential to critique the larger system, but fails to do so completely and often veers away from discussion of race that is inevitably intrinsic to crime sentences.

 

The Night Of actively discusses racial biases, illustrating how the system has programmed society to automatically assume people of color as the criminal. This is exemplified in part one when Andrea’s neighbor describes the man running out of the apartment as “light skinned, dark, latino maybe.” The black female police officer has to prompt him with the question of “Caucasian?” to which he responds, “Yeh could have been, why not?” Since the criminal justice system targets people of color, this assumption extends to mainstream mentality. Naz’s Pakistani background causes stereotypes about him as “the towel head” or a “terrorist” by white and black individuals alike.

Through Naz’s trial, we see how those in power just skirt the edges of the law while they battle their own internal structural power dynamics. Box alludes to the interconnectedness of the system in part two when he says to Naz “the fact is it’s a big club- the criminal justice system. They [lawyers and police officers] can’t exist without each other.” This system even has its own culture of language and dress, especially surrounding court behavior. For example, in part two when Naz responds with “I didn’t do it” to the judge, Stone has to quickly come to his defense saying, “he means he pleads not guilty.” Given Naz’s Pakistani background, there is much more emphasis on the importance of correct language in court and the insistence of his United States citizenship and loyalty. This extends to his court dress code, as Stone at one point makes Naz substitute his green shirt for a white one to symbolize innocence.

Overall, through its due diligence in detailing Naz’s criminal trial, The Night Of provides a much fuller critique of the criminal justice system.

 

Citations:

Caputi, Jane. “The Color Orange? Social Justice Issues in the First Season of Orange Is the New Black.” Journal of Popular Culture 48.6 (2015): 1130-1150. Print.

“I Wasn’t Ready” (Season 1: Episode 1). Orange Is the New Black. Netflix. 2013. Television.

McCorkel, Jill A. Breaking Women: Gender, Race, and the New Politics of Imprisonment. New York: New York University Press, 2013. Print.

“Mother’s Day” (Season 3: Episode 1). Orange Is the New Black. Netflix. 2015. Television.

O’Sullivan, Shannon. “Who is Always Already Criminalized? An Intersectional Analysis of Criminality on Orange Is the New Black.” Journal of American Culture 39.4 (2016): 401-412. Print.

“Part 1: The Beach.” The Night Of. HBO. 2016. Television

“Part 2: Subtle Beast.” The Night Of. HBO. 2016. Television

Schwan, Anne. “Postfeminism Meets the Women in Prison Genre: Privilege and Spectatorship in Orange Is the New Black.” Television & New Media 17.6 (2016): 473-490. Print.

 

Image Citations (in order of appearance):

Whilden, Jojo. Digital image. ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK Season 3 Premiere Recap: “Mother’s Day”. Collider, 15 June 2015. Web. <http://collider.com/orange-is-the-new-black-season-3-episode-1-its-the-great-blumpkin-charlie-brown-recap/>.

Wagner, Peter. United States Incarceration Rates by Race and Ethnicity, 2010. Digital image. Incarceration Is Not an Equal Opportunity Punishment. Prison Policy Initiative, 28 Aug. 2012. Web. <https://www.prisonpolicy.org/articles/notequal.html>.

McGovern, Joe. Digital image. The Night Of Recap: Subtle Beast. Entertainment, 18 July 2016. Web. <http://ew.com/recap/the-night-of-season-1-episode-2/>.