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Mass incarceration in the U.S. essay
Mass incarceration in the U.S. essay
How does the media portray criminal justice
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In the excerpt reading from Locking Up Our Own, the author, James Forman Jr., spoke about the issue our society has faced recently with mass incarceration of African-American males. He also talks about his own past experience with the situation through being a public defender. He had previously worked under Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and decided that he wanted to defend low-income individuals who were charged with crimes in Washington, D.C. Forman detailed a few specific cases he had working with young, African-American males and retold his reactions to some of the convictions. During Forman’s case with “Brandon” he began to notice that the courts convicting so many black males were in fact not white, but black. “It wasn’t
In her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander states that we still use our criminal justice system to “label people of color ‘criminals’ and then engage i...
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
In the documentary 13th, Ava DuVernay uses rhetoric throughout the film on the American system of incarceration and its effects on people of color. Having a very valid impact on corrupt policies and how they still pertain to African-Americans. She uses a great amount of statistics and relating to give the facts that many may not know. Over the year’s racism among people of color have been at a high. This film highlights those issues and grabs the attention of the audience watching. Although with all these issues that she brings to the table some can become misleading from the main idea of incarceration among African-Americans while others bring a valid point.
In her critically acclaimed book, The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander explores this topic in-depth and delivers it in a very parsimonious, yet powerful way. She explores the history of mass incarceration, argues how this phenomenon came to be, and attempts to discern possible ways to diffuse this troublesome situation. In this paper, I will explore some of the topics delivered in Alexander’s book in conjunction with theories, peer-reviewed studies, and statistical reports to try to piece together some topics presented with conflict. First, I will explore the history of mass incarceration here America to attempt to see why there are racial discrepancies and where their origins lie. Second, I will look at Michelle Alexander’s book and review its chapters examining its evidence, in addition to its possible limitations. Lastly, I will examine mass incarceration’s effect on families in the United States, more specifically the effects that mass incarceration has on those related to the offender, and also the effects on the offender himself. To complete the last part of my analysis, I will look at contemporary criminological and sociological theories and how incarceration and families
When black americans are convicted as criminals, which is the central ideology that is ruling, they are often stripped of all those rights that make them american, but more importantly make them human. Policing the Planet’s Patrise Cullors discusses her take on why the current discourse is divorced from abolition that summarizes 13th and the broken windows policing, she says “We live in a police state, in which the police have become judge, juror, and executioner. They’ve become the social worker. They’ve become the mental health clinician. They’ve become anything and everything that has to do with the everyday life of mostly Black and Brown poor people…Many of us understand that [police’s] original task was to patrol slaves.”(37) Broken windows policing was the ideological and political project that allowed for the criminalization of black bodies, resulting in mass incarceration that allows the prison system to reach the level where it could be considered modern day
Everyone present in the courtroom during the trial of Tom Robinson knew the truth but no one cared what the evidence showed, it was a white man’s word to a black man’s word. “The witnesses
According to statistics since the early 1970’s there has been a 500% increase in the number of people being incarcerated with an average total of 2.2 million people behind bars. The increase in rate of people being incarcerated has also brought about an increasingly disproportionate racial composition. The jails and prisons have a high rate of African Americans incarcerated with an average of 900,000 out of the 2.2 million incarcerateed being African American. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics 1 in 6 African American males has been incarcerated at some point in time as of the year 2001. In theory if this trend continues it is estimated that about 1 in 3 black males being born can be expected to spend time in prison and some point in his life. One in nine African American males between the ages of 25 and 29 are currently incarcerated. Although the rate of imprisonment for women is considerably lower than males African American women are incarc...
Ex-offenders are shamed in their communities, and often live in isolation and despair. Many of them resort back to crime and are re-incarcerated. In the beginning of chapter 3 The Color of Justice Alexander provides an example of a single mother who is arrested and charged with drug distribution although she is innocent. She spends a week in jail desperate to go home to her kids, after a month she pleads guilty and is forced to pay 1,000 dollars, plus court charges, receives a record, is kick off welfare and cannot provide for her children leading them to be taken away. An innocent life destroyed because of racial discrimination. Alexander draws parallels between mass incarceration in today’s world and past systems of social control like Jim Crow laws. Both systems legally discriminated against citizens and were formed by the racist views of those in power. She also points out that the amount of black males with a criminal record in Chicago is equivalent to 55 percent of the population. Alexander concludes the book by pointing out that in a way the life of a black man is set in stone. Although some have broken the barriers set for them most are stuck with in them, forced to accept a fact that is not true but is constantly encouraged in society. That concept is black males are condemned to ghettos and
The nearness of cops has expanded understudy captures on school grounds in the vicinity of 300 and 500 % every year since the foundation of zero resilience approaches, more often than not for non-genuine offenses—rowdy practices, defiance, or status offenses. (Mallett) For instance, in the 2009–2010 scholarly years, 96,000 understudies were captured while on school grounds and 242,000 were suggested to the adolescent courts by school authorities. (Mallett) In the Black Community we all know teaching your kids start at home. We must first teach our kids the values that will help them succeed in life. They must know that the prisons were built for people like them. The goal is to maintain the drive and humble you to beat the statistic, which that African Americans have set for
We can conclude with her analyses that the criminal justice in America is biased an even though I don’t agree with the suggestion Alexander has heard from other people that mass incarceration is a “conspiracy to put blacks back in their place” (p.5). It is clear that the justice system in the US is not completely fair, and that collective action must arise to struggle it.
In “Black Men in Public Spaces” the author talks about multiply situation where he was treated different for being an African American. Staples said,” I entered a jewelry store on the city’s affluent near North side. The proprietor excused herself and returned with an enormous red Doberman pinscher straining at the end of a leash” (161.) Then there is “Right Place, Wrong Face, which is focused on and African American man that is wrongly accused of a crime because of his race. White said, “I was searched, stripped of my backpack, put on my knees, handcuffed, and told to be quieted when I tried to ask questions” (229.) The two articles have many similarities. Both articles have two educated African America men who get treated different because of their race. Staples and White both have situations where they are being stereotyped by society because there black
However, in 2012, Geoff K. Ward rectified this omission in his meticulously researched book, “The Black Child Savers.” What Ward so compellingly documents is the decades-long efforts of African-American child savers to bring about a restructuring of the social politics of American juvenile justice.
In doing this, his hope was to make the reader either validate what was already known or to honestly see the problem as injustice and unfairness. The repetition enforced reality. With the intent to prove treatment of African Americans was solely based on skin color, was validated through Griffin’s own search for employment. Despite his credentials was told there were no jobs for “your kind.” The belief that the “white man” would keep them uneducated and in lowly jobs was a means of control was supported by those he met from the shoe shine man to the father of six children who provided food and
In this reflective essay, it displays the honest truth of how African Americans are treated in America. Many people base their perceptions towards black men or women because of incidents that they have seen in the media. When white people or any other race commit violent acts, most don’t even care or change their views. Stereotypes can also affect the way that we see people. If we have never met or been friends with someone that society talks down on then we will believe everything that we hear. This is why Staples was treated as a criminal.
One in three black males will go to prison in their lifetime. (Knafo) This should be surprising and heartbreaking. From the beginning of the new world until now, the essence of the black male in society has been so misunderstood. Black men are often seen as symbols of bad people so usually they have no choice but to do bad things or they are wrongfully convicted of doing bad things. Richard Wright was one of the first black writers to capture the true social construct of black men in his novel called Native Son. Wright tells the story of what it meant to be black in Chicago in the 1930’s, through the main character Bigger Thomas. Moreover, he displays the meaning of being a black male in society. There are many powerful themes throughout the novel but one of most significant is the way white America is much like a prison to the mind and body, for black people. Bigger Thomas, alike many black males today, was a prisoner to society and eventually an actually prisoner. America has been built on a horrifying inevitability for black men; that they will always be expected to be criminals or engage criminal acts even if they are innocent. Richard Wright’s Native Son displays remarkable support of the prisoner theme that went on in the 1930’s, that also continues to go on today and that can reach an end if blacks continue to educate and support our men.