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Role of punishment in modern society
The role of punishment in society
Racial inequalities in the criminal justice system
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In the article Punishment and Inequality in America, Bruce Western states that “among young men who have never been to college, 5.5 percent of Hispanic and 17 percent of black men under age forty-one were in prison or jail in 2000. At the very bottom of the education distribution, among high school dropouts, about 7 percent of young whites were in prison or jail in 2000. The black male population as a whole shares, in this respect, the same status as less-educated whites” (p. 16-17). This quote addresses the different levels of education within prisoners and their race. By the percentages offered, it demonstrates that it is more likely for young uneducated men to go to prison or jail, compared to men that have completed their high school education.
A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines takes place in Louisiana in the 1940’s. When a young African American man named Jefferson is unfairly sentenced to death, school teacher Grant Wiggins is sent to try to make Jefferson a man before he dies. Throughout the novel, racial injustice is shown in both Jefferson and Grant’s lives in the way other people view them.
Since I am a minority I was already a bit accustomed with the inequalities or wrongdoings that occur to those of a minority group. Before reading this book I used to think that those who commit crime or engage in delinquent behavior are considered “lazy people” or people who just want “the easy way out;” or maybe they just weren’t trying hard enough to attain that “American Dream”. After reading Victor Rios’s book I realized how much the system has an impact on your future depending on where you come from. Right in the beginning Victor Rios mentions the “youth control complex.” The youth control complex is this idea that the system criminalizes young people for acting in everyday behaviors. (2011; pg.xiv). They are criminalized through schools, families, police officers, probation officers, community centers, the media, businesses, and other institutions. (2011; pg.xiv). These institutions are supposed to be
The majority of our prison population is made up of African Americans of low social and economic classes, who come from low income houses and have low levels of education. The chapter also discusses the amount of money the United States loses yearly due to white collar crime as compared to the cost of violent crime. Another main point was the factors that make it more likely for a poor person to be incarcerated, such as the difficulty they would have in accessing adequate legal counsel and their inability to pay bail. This chapter addresses the inequality of sentencing in regards to race, it supplies us with NCVS data that shows less than one-fourth of assailants are perceived as black even though they are arrested at a much higher rate. In addition to African Americans being more likely to be charged with a crime, they are also more likely to receive harsher punishments for the same crimes- which can be seen in the crack/cocaine disparities. These harsher punishments are also shown in the higher rates of African Americans sentenced to
That explains the positive correlation between the amount of education a person receives while in prison and the chance they have of securing a fulltime job following their release. A study published by a prison in Minnesota supports this idea by showing that prisoners who had obtained a secondary degree while in prison increased their chances of securing a job within two years of being released by 59%. These odds were increased even further for younger offenders, which shows that educational programs in prisons are even more pertinent for the younger
By taking a look at the political and economic effects that aided the mass incarceration in the United Sates in the late 1990s. Stating the downfall of jobs and the new appointed laws that carry longer sentences for drug offenders were main factors. Giving light that all are effect by these new factors but Male minorities, with low-status, and poor education are more likely to end up in jail then their counterpart. This article helps tie in all factors for why “The Jim Crow Laws” still exist today, just renamed and not subjected to one race. Both Bruce Western and Christopher Wildeman concluded that incarceration is a cycle that affects not only the person in prison but their families as
There are so many more African-Americans than whites in our prisons that the difference cannot be explained by higher crime among African- Americans - racial discrimination is also at work, and it penalizes African- Americans at almost every juncture in the criminal justice system.1
If a survey were to ask a group of individuals whether they could choose to either go to jail or go to college for their education, what would they prefer? Of course, college would be the satisfactory choice to any person because jails are not a place for learning, rather a place for people to be confined for the criminal actions that they have committed. If many of the individuals who would be asked this question, mainly early adults; they would have most likely not have read the autobiography of Malcolm X and the impact of being incarcerated for the crime he had done had on his educational path and how it helped him to be literate so he could interpret the world through writing and understand anything that he read. Many points he made referred
Vacca, James S. “Educated Prisoners Are Less Likely to Return to Prison.” Journal of Correctional Education 55.4 (December 2004): 297-305. ProQuest. Web. 2. Nov 2013.
The United States hold 5% of the world population but holds 40% of the world’ incarcerate. (Understanding Mass Incarceration). African American males ages 20-34 with education less than High School since the 1980s the incarceration rate increase 52.7% to 61.8% in 2008. In the duration of 28 years there has been an increase of 9.1. African American males age 20-40 without a high school diplomas have the highest incarceration rate due to prejudice.
Does justice exist in America? Yes, justice does exist in America, but for whom is the question real question. In America all citizens should feel equal to one another but that is not the case. Rather than feeling equal to one another, the blacks and whites of the country feel hatred to one another. In American justice is served but it is mainly for whites and not blacks. The word justice is defined as the quality of being fair and reasonable. Unfortunately in America, justice is not always equally served due to racism in the modern society.
African Americans are mostly affected by mass incarceration. African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population. African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of white, it is projected that one in every three African Americans birth are expected to go to prison. "The consequences for black men have radiated out to their families. By 2000, more than 1 million black children had a father in jail or prison"(Coates pg.2). Men going to prison at such a high rates has left many women to fend for themselves. As of 2007 almost 809,800 men is incarcerated and have children leaving women no choice but to go to the government for assistance. many believe if the male incarceration rate wasn 't so high their would be less people on
The reason for overcrowding is the disproportionate amount of black men to white. It is evident that,“Communities of color are politically marginalized by laws that disenfranchise voters for felony convictions and provide economic incentives for rural communities to embrace prisons as a form of economic development” (Smalls). This ties in with the war on drugs, the police targeted young black men as a method to keep them off of the streets,“...the consequence of criminal justice policies and law enforcement actions that disproportionately target young black men from economically disadvantaged urban communities” (Warde 463). Young black men from poor families are stopped because they look suspicious and arrested for a maximum sentence on minor charges. This problem in the U.S. legal department shows the long-standing segregation and tension between black America and law enforcement.
Imagine a world where adolescents; our future of America, is not getting the appropriate education they need. Or where students can no longer attend school because they can no longer afford to get an education. Society does not need to imagine this because we are currently living this reality. In today’s society minorities are not getting the education they deserve because prisoners are valued more in regards of getting funded. Not only does the state of California have to fund prisons, it needs to fund health care programs, welfare assistance programs, and last but not least, education programs. As the population of those incarcerated increases, funding
Prisoners will get a chance to study during their time and step back into society with a GED, associate’s or bachelor’s degree. Prisoners are not given this chance today, especially those with low-level drug charges who should be able to rejoin society, but often do not have that option. The justice system is greatly skewed against people of color, strikingly African American, and Latino people. That is why part of my Justice Reform Plan is to decriminalize recreational marijuana. With the system in place as it is now, peoples’ (especially people of color) whole lives can be derailed because a very small drug charge that didn’t harm anyone except for
This paper explores the benefits provided by educational programs in jails and prisons. Included are the reasons inmates need education in order to successfully reenter society once they are released and use the knowledge and skills they have learned to obtain a job in order to support themselves and their families. Also examined in the paper are the financial benefits of incorporating educational programs instead of cutting them, as well as the effect these programs play on the recidivism rate. Lastly is a focus on understanding the importance of education and job training, even though the recipients are criminals.