Formal law fails against minority cultural practices that resist it

Evidence

Society turns to law for help in shoring up its house—​in preventing further decay. But the law does not necessarily work as expected. Cultural diversity, the very fact that stimulates the use of formal law, dooms the legal process to imperfect performance. If the law chooses sides, if it outlaws the codes and customs of a minority, it can meet with severe resistance. Most people think Prohibition was a dismal failure, and in many ways it was. The Harrison Narcotics Tax Act and the severe modern drug laws have had an even more depressing history. Most fair-​minded experts concede this point. The “war on drugs” created a black market in drugs. It drove addicts into lives of crime; it contrib­ uted to urban decay. The policy not only failed, it did incalculable harm. — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 1434

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Drug-war arrests and imprisonment fell disproportionately on Black Americans — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 1435; Formal citizenship fails to shield those perceived as foreign in appearance. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 237; Ghettoization failed to erase minorities and instead preserved their cultures — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2392 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Formal citizenship fails to shield those perceived as foreign in appearance. #complicates (0.80) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 237
• Ghettoization failed to erase minorities and instead preserved their cultures #complicates (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 2392
• Weak state peoples could not assimilate self-confident minorities #complicates (0.72)
• Minorities resisted assimilation when majority culture seemed less distinguished #complicates (0.72) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 677