Top Trumps - A prison game

Rather than the traditional 30 card deck, Death Row Top Trumps has 167 cards and two Jokers. Using the information from the Death Penalty Information Centre DPIC, each card indicates the 167 death row exonerations since 1976. The Joker is taken by OJ Simpson. The card design is based on the classic vintage style of the 1970’s. The back design has an electric chair and vacant cell, again emulating the style used in that era. Along with the 167 exoneration cards, there are also a set of 8 additional cards, that give further statistics about the US prison population. These cards are created to serve as a starting point for further discussion, and are there to begin a more in depth consideration of not only the mass incarceration in America today, but also the disparity between black and white Americans. The US currently has 23% of the worlds prison population, yet 43% of that population is black. However, male African Americans make up only 6% of the US general population. So 1 in 3 black men in the US are in prison at any one time.The statistics are shocking, and so I wanted the participants to consider these issues before any games are played.