The topic that I have chosen to discuss is “Mass incarceration in the world past and present.” This topic is pretty relatable for most individuals, because of the amount of incarcerations over the past few decades taking individuals away from their families. This is one topic that I have never really looked into to find out the reasons behind mass incarceration. To most people this topic is not one that many may find interesting, however after researching the topic it is one that is interesting and very important. Throughout this paper we will hit what exactly mass incarceration and some of the official data that shows the numbers of incarceration over the few decades and how it increase or decrease over the years. Next, we will discuss the …show more content…
This actually started decades ago, and started due to being something popular to the people. The people of the United States wanted harsher and longer sentences, more executions, and punitive rhetoric to help back it up. Mass incarceration is the rate of incarcerating individuals at an extremely high rated, Mears and Cochran (2015). According to Mears and Cochran (2015), counting both the prisons and county jails in America the incarceration rate is at 716 per 100,000 resident of the states. Mass incarceration came about many centuries ago, but did not take off until about 1973 with the “War on Drugs,” expanding consequent decades under Regan, Clinton, and both Bushes’ administration, Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees (2014). Looking back into the era before the war, 1945-1973, all the way until 2012, the prison population is about ten times the average, Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees …show more content…
This usually come from being placed in the poor and disadvantage communities. Although, throughout the United States it remains a substantially segregated nation residentially it has made some progress over the years, Crutchfield and Weeks (2015). Unfortunately it is not too surprising to see the poor colored people disproportionally incarcerated due to the massive increase in imprisonment that has occurred throughout the nation, Crutchfield and Weeks (2015). Most of the poor colored felons that were moved out of the poor communities due to the mass incarceration are to only return to that same exact neighborhood after the sentence is up. This happens time and time again because for one the family usually are struggling in the first place and that’s why they are living in the neighborhood, and for two that felon was more than likely the one bringing in the majority of the money to provide for the poor family. Another thing that is done to the African American communities are the consequences are raised a way higher on the things that they are more likely to use or do, Crutchfield and Weeks (2015). For example, initial federal sentences for crack cocaine offense: conviction for selling crack is 100 times worse than it is for selling the same amount in powder cocaine, Crutchfield and Weeks (2015). This is done because
Most black Americans are under the control of the criminal justice today whether in parole or probation or whether in jail or prison. Accomplishments of the civil rights association have been challenged by mass incarceration of the African Americans in fighting drugs in the country. Although the Jim Crow laws are not so common, many African Americans are still arrested for very minor crimes. They remain disfranchised and marginalized and trapped by criminal justice that has named them felons and refuted them their rights to be free of lawful employment and discrimination and also education and other public benefits that other citizens enjoy. There is exists discernment in voting rights, employment, education and housing when it comes to privileges. In the, ‘the new Jim crow’ mass incarceration has been described to serve the same function as the post civil war Jim crow laws and pre civil war slavery. (Michelle 16) This essay would defend Michelle Alexander’s argument that mass incarcerations represent the ‘new Jim crow.’
Land of the Unfree: Mass Incarceration and Its Unjust Effects on Those Subjected To It and American Taxpayers
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
Thompson, Heather Anne. Why Mass Incarceration Matters: Rethinking Crisis, Decline, and Transformation in Postwar American History. The Journal of American History (2010) 97 (3): 703-734 doi:10.1093/jahist/97.3.703
Todd Clear and Dina Rise state in their study that the high incarceration and return rates of specific communities negatively impact the community social network like worsening ties amidst neighbors, reducing income of families, and affecting family formation. Moreover, African- Americans are four times more likely than other Americans to live in poverty (DAvis 1) The Class of Poverty, states that” individuals in high poverty, highly black neighborhoods are the least likely to have access to food pantries, child care, transportation, job training, substance abuse treatment or other, similar social services.” This means that the majority of individuals effected by this are African Americans. People living in high poverty communities are offered less help than low poverty areas that are predominantly white, meaning that the intersection and combined oppression of being both a racial minority and of lower class, leads to a higher probability of falling victim to the industrial prison
Mass incarceration has put a large eye-sore of a target on the United States’ back. It is hurting our economy and putting us into more debt. It has considerable social consequences on children and ex-felons. Many of these incarcerations can be due to the “War on Drugs”. We should contract the use of incarceration.
Another reason racialized mass incarceration takes place is because of the high rates of poverty and unemployment for inner city African Americans, especially those with low education and low skill levels. Urban ghettos have been associated with the problem of social disorganization and crime. The biggest reason for this is the war on drugs. There is no substantial proof that verifies African Americans are more involved in illegal drug consumption than other groups are. However, they are arrested more than other groups.
There Are more people in the world locked up here, in the land of the free, in the 1970 we became an era in which has been defined as this term, "Mass Incarceration", The United States now has the highest rates of incarceration in the world, and today we have a prison population of 2.3.
In Western cultures imprisonment is the universal method of punishing criminals (Chapman 571). According to criminologists locking up criminals may not even be an effective form of punishment. First, the prison sentences do not serve as an example to deter future criminals, which is indicated, in the increased rates of criminal behavior over the years. Secondly, prisons may protect the average citizen from crimes but the violence is then diverted to prison workers and other inmates. Finally, inmates are locked together which impedes their rehabilitation and exposes them too more criminal
2010, “Racial Disparities in Sentencing: Implications for the Criminal Justice System and the African American Community”, African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies 4(1): 1-31, in this Albonetti’s study is discussed in which it was found that minority status alone accounted for an additional sentence length of “one to seven months.” African American defendants were “likely to receive pretrial release but were more likely to be convicted, and be given harsher sentences after conviction than white defendants charged with the same crimes.” One of the reasons behind this are the sentencing laws, it is seen that these laws are designed in a way that they tend to be harsher towards a certain group of people, generally towards the people of color than others thus leading to inequality with the sentencing
Prisons seem like they are popping up everywhere in the U.S. One of the reason for this is an increase in incarceration. History shows that mass incarceration was a big problem back in the 70’s and 80’s when there was a war on drugs. This led to prisons becoming overcrowded and more prisons had to be built to be able to house all those inmates. For-profit prisons are going to want to see this trend continue. A for-profit prison is where inmates are housed in a correctional institution that is run by government organizations. Private prisons have their benefits such as bringing new ideas to help with the rehabilitation of prisoners. Rehabilitation
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.
The most problematic conclusion about Mass Incarceration, whatever the causes or practices, is that currently America has had the highest national prison rates in the world; furthermore, the rates of minorities (particularly African Americans) are extraordinarily disproportionate to the rates of incarcerated Caucasians. Despite the overall rise in incarceration rates since the 1980s, the crime rates have not been reduced as would be expected. Researchers, activists, and politicians alike are now taking a closer look at Mass Incarceration and how it affects society on a larger scale. The purpose of this paper is to examine the anatomy of Mass Incarceration for a better understanding of its importance as a dominant social issue and its ultimate relation to practice of social work. More specifically the populations affected by mass incarceration and the consequences implacable to social justice. The context of historical perspectives on mass incarceration will be analyzed as well as insight to the current social welfare policies on the
The rate of imprisonment within the United States continues to rise. Garland (2001) states that “current government estimates suggest that, in the course of the present year, the total number of inmates incarcerated in America’s jails and prisons will exceed 2,000,000 for the first time ever” (p. 5). Some scholars have labeled this mass imprisonment. Garland further explains this term by stating that “mass imprisonment implies a rate of imprisonment and a size of prison population that is markedly above the historical and comparative norm for societies of this type” (p. 5). Essentially, this means that the high rate of imprisonment does not make sense. Another issue when discussing mass imprisonment is the fact that it seems like a certain
Let’s start with “How?”. How did the problem of mass incarceration in the U.S get so bad that it now holds twenty five percent of the worlds prison population? It’s supposed to be the land of the free is it not? The cause mass incarceration in the U.S can be traced back to long