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Race In The Prison System

1199 Words5 Pages

Much of the twentieth century, crime and punishment has provided some of the most powerful signs of the racial split in America (Rosich,2007). For example, African Americans accounted for 89 percent of the prison population executed for rape between the years of 1930 and 1972 (U.S. Department of Justice. Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000). The question that has been raised is not who, what, when but is why? Could the answer possibly be that, though criminal activity has no face, no gender, race, or ethnic background that people are always looking for a scapegoat of some sort to make sure someone pays the dues of the crime that has been committed? Possibly, for example a young women in Stillwater, North Dakota was publicly arrested by 3 US …show more content…

This statistic could steam from since 1980 to present the prison system has quadrupled in population from a half of million people to roughly 2.5 million people(NAACP,2015). Some would say that this is the reason for the downward trend of violent crimes in America, Because more of the people are locked up and not on the streets in order to commit crimes. Which may be the case, but the question still remains why is the statics of race in the prison system still a overwhelmingly different. For Example African Americans are locked up 6 times more than white offenders, As of 2008 the prison system is predominantly (58%) made up of African Americans and Latinos (NAACP,2015). From these statistics, it could possibly be assumed that the socioeconomic status from where a person is from could lead to a answer as to why this is happening all over …show more content…

One reason of thought for this that the brain is still developing on all aspects social maturity , risk taking, and decision making (Farrington, Loeber, & Howell, 2012). Also to take note would be a young adults hormones are usually at its highest during this peak time than any other. The lack of higher paying jobs may also be a deterrent for young age crimes because the need of money or a higher standard of living may be more attainable monetarily by committing crimes. The crime rates sharply decrease as women and men grow older, this could be due to the development of the prefrontal cortex in the brain, or also could be because of the demanding physical aspects it takes to commit some crimes (Steffensmeier & Allan,

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