Lisa Cacho did an incredible job with unveiling the many contradictions that are present in the legal system. She uses several case studies that questions society's assignment of personhood to indvidulals who are of color. One thing that made this book so effective, in my opinion, is how she was able to provide real-life examples about how the justice system protects some but not others.

Cacho says, "To be stereotyped as a criminal is to be misrecognized as a criminal, but to be criminalized is to be prevented from being law-abiding." The criminalization of people of color makes it impossible for  them to particapte in the society an be "productive" citizens. In the case study about the the eight boys who beat and robbed elderly immigrants, Cacho points out that it turned into a case about whether the boys should be tried as adults instead of the horrific things they did, and felt entitled to do.

The law is not meant to punish those with personhood and citizenship (white, male, middle class, educated, etc..). In the instance with the eight boys, they were thought to be redeemable; they had potential reverse the error in their ways and become "good citizens." In other cases-- with people of color-- this possibility was revoked from them because the color of their skin is ineligible for personhood.

If money characterizess your personhood and power, people who are criminalized are perpetually inelgible for personhood. With a jsutice system that targets them instead of offering protection, and a neoliberal government that sees them as lazy and not worthy of assistance, people of color are not a part of the "United" States.