Over the last thirty years, the prison population in the United States has increased more than seven-fold to over two million people, including vastly disproportionate numbers of minorities and people with little education. For some racial and educational groups, incarceration has become a depressingly regular experience, and prison culture and influence pervade their communities. Almost 60 percent of black male high school drop-outs in their early thirties have spent time in prison. In Punishment and Inequality in America, sociologist Bruce Western explores the recent era of mass incarceration and the serious social and economic consequences it has wrought.
Analysis: Michelle Alexander's "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness" aims to bring attention to the racial caste system that exists within the American justice system, particularly in the context of mass incarceration of African Americans. Alexander argues that although America has moved past Jim Crow segregation laws, it has not moved past the racist system of oppression that existed during that era. Instead, a new caste system has emerged, with the American justice system serving as its primary mechanism for the maintenance of racial hierarchy. To support this thesis, Alexander details how the War on Drugs, initiated during the Reagan era, has resulted in an explosion of the prison population in America, particularly among people of color. She argues that the
In chapter “Are Prisons Obsolete?” Angela Davis strictly points out factors in results of the elites methods to be in total control. African Americans are highly accounted for in incarceration as an addition to the prison industrial complex. Mental health conditions are then vulnerable in the prison community which helps the cycle. This Cycle as she describes, is a great catalyst towards business and global economics.
Issues of Social and Economic Justice Throughout my experience in the Panhandle Promise Project, I had the opportunity to closely examine the injustice many of the clients experience based on their race, economic status, or in the criminal justice system. Since the starting of America’s war on drugs longer sentencing for drug offences that in violent crimes, there has been an increase of the number of minorities who are currently in prison (Wormer, Kaplan, and Juby (2012). For the children having a parent incarcerated affects them in several different ways, such as having a higher risk of being place in foster care (Andersen and Wildeman, 2014) , poor school performance (Eddy et al., 2014), food insecurity (Turney, 2014c), antisocial behavioral problems (Jarjoura et al., 2011f). For women who have been release from prison new barriers limit the assistance they will received, the ineligibility for food stamps (Travis, 2002), and in some cases the loss of their children custody (Welsh, 2014b).
The documentary the “13th” had shocking statistics on how many people are incarcerated in the United States. The 1970’s was the beginning of the “mass incarceration era,” which started with 357,292 people incarcerated. From there, the prison population has continuously increased and reached a population of 2,306,200 in 2014. Many of these people incarcerated are African-Americans because the criminal justice system has always worked against them. African-Americans in the United States account for 6.5% of the population, meanwhile they account for 42% of the prison population.
However, a number of African Americans, who were convicted of a felony, are disproportionately high nowadays. Michelle Alexander considers that It has led to the creation of “a new racial undercaste” (2010). Actually, in our time, discrimination affects every aspect of political, economic, and social life of the people who was charged with a serious criminal offence. In this regard, she mentions the law “banning drug felons from public housing …and denying them basic public benefits for life” (2010). We live in a “colorblind society” that pretends the racial disparity and discrimination do not exist.
The New Jim Crow, Mass incarceration, is the rebirth of the caste system in the United States. People of color, blacks in particular, are being disproportional discriminated through the criminal justice system. The Criminal Justice System is being Mass incarceration creates a cycle that never ends for people that are locked up. This cycle perpetuates racial hierarchy because most of the people are black men and being in prison ruins their
Alexander argues that the practice of racial injustice and segregation is due to the existence of mass incarceration. She goes into great detail in her writing, explaining why she believes mass incarceration is the issue and how history show us that America will always find a way to separate racial communities. This book would serve as an excellent reference to anyone studying racial injustice, mass incarceration, plea bargain coercion, racial history in America, and more. The beauty of this book is not only Alexander’s fact finding revelations, is the fact that she isn’t saying anything unheard of or anything that has not been realized by member of poor black communities, she simply found a way to articulate the issue in a way the demanded consideration from readers in and outside the communities being discussed. Alexander finds a way to expose the true nature of the criminal justice system using the people’s voice and research.
Mass incarceration of minorities has been considered one of the numerous pressing issues of civil rights. Public policies, criminal justice officials, lawmakers, and the media has contributed to this issue. Issues underlying this injustice include other injustices such as racism, class inequalities and inequalities in education. In turn, the injustice of mass incarceration of minorities also play minor and major roles in disproportionate effects on employment, housing, and standard of living. Rawls believed that society cannot be organized in a way which disadvantages the worst off.
This issue led to what is now resulting in mass incarceration. Mass incarceration has been shown to affect mostly poor and minorities. Individuals living in poverty are not afforded the same royalties as those who are not in poverty. They are more willing to commit crimes because of their lack of fortune. The crime rate is more prone to be in urban communities, which hold a significant number of minorities.
In addition to greatly affecting the otherwise unlikely citizens of America, Tough on Crime policies have greatly affected minority groups in America; perhaps more so than of any other group of citizens. To begin, from the 1980 on through the year 1995, the incarceration rates among drug offenders increased by more than 1000 percent. Notably, by the year 1995 one out of every four inmates in any given correctional facility was a drug offender. In addition of that 1000 percent increase, drug offenders accounted for more than 80 percent of the total growth in the federal inmate population and 50 percent of the growth of the state prison population from 1985 to 1995 (Stith, web). In addition, once in the system, the probability of receiving harsher
The amount of mass incarceration in the United States as reached an all time high over the years. Mass Incarceration is the incarceration of a person or race based off of them being different and can be identified as a trend among law enforcements. These tensions have reached a certain extent and has received the attention of American citizens and the nation’s government. The laws of the United States seems fair, however with the enforcement of these laws, specific groups are targeted and abused by them daily.
Along with African-American/Blacks, the Hispanic population is underrepresented at both the state and federal levels while the Caucasian/White population are underrepresented (Walker, Spohn, & DeLone, 2018). This essay will discuss multiple different races and ethinicities to regard their population make up within the prison system. Although race and ethnicity relate to one another they are different. According to Walker et al. (2018), race is defined as the, “major biological divisions of mankind,” for
Over 2 million people are currently being held in United States prisons, and while the U.S. may only hold 5% of the world’s population, it houses 25% of its prisoners. In the past few years, America’s prison system has fallen under public scrutiny for it’s rising incarceration rate and poor statistics. Many Americans have recently taken notice of the country’s disproportionate prisoner ratio, realized it’s the worst on the planet, and called for the immediate reformation of the failing system. The war on drugs and racial profiling are some of the largest concerns, and many people, some ordinary citizens and others important government figures, are attempting to bring change to one of the country 's lowest aspects.
Introduction Inequality: the lack of equality or fair treatment in the sharing of wealth or opportunities. I am almost positive that everyone knows what inequality is or has experienced it in some way because they are considered “different” than other people. People may be seen as “different” because of their race, religion, gender, social status, and countless other reasons. There are numerous religions in the world, with some of the main ones being Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Judaism.
