Minority Incarceration Essay

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Minority Incarceration
ENG. 122
English Composition 2
Shelly Palmer
04/21/2014

The Question, Why is incarceration rates rising and the crime rate is pretty much stable or declining. There is no satisfying answer. This leads us to give credit to the re-entry of minorities. The uneducated and unemployed are contributing to this rise. The war on drugs also has a hand in the population of minority inmates. The judicial system is offering rehabilitation at a bare minimum. These stipulation that follow the poor communities lead minorities to live a life of crime. This is their way of life and their means to support their families by any means necessary.
The education and employment of the minority community has caused many of the minority to turn to crime to support their family. In the minority community the unemployment rate as well as the drop-out rates are high. This causing the individuals that have no education have it hard to find employment that allows them to take care of their respondsibility. The probability of a black unemployed high school drop-out will remain untrained, under educated and will return to jail more than once in their life, is high. The penal system has become a way of life for minorities. The job market does not have a great eye for individuals who have a criminal background thus making family life for minorities extremely difficult. The difficult situation occurs when a prisoner is finally released and has to enter into a society and the job market and not being accepted. The newly rehabilitated individual is pressured not only by the family, but the judicial system to find work quickly and immediately start to [ay bills. The pressure get hard and the individuals look for the faste...

... middle of paper ...

...hasis they do about backgrounds, the vulnerability levels are growing just as fast as the minority population of inmates. The re-offenders in the minority groups are causing that desperate number and the trend is going to continue until there is another way to handle the issue.

REFERENCES:
Caplow,T J Simon - Crime and Justice, 1999 Understanding prison policy and population trends(Dijulio1991),p.64,2p. (DiJulio and Piehl 1991),p64,2p

Clark,J J Austin, DA Henry - 1997" Three Strikes and You're Out": A Review of State Legislation, National Institute of Justice, Research in Brief. P.1-4.

Smith, Kevin B. The Politics of Punishment: Evaluating Political Explanations of Incarceration... Journal of Politics. Aug2004, Vol. 66 Issue 3, p925-938. 14p. 2 Charts. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2508.00238.x.

Western, B Punishment and inequality in America 2006

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