The Impact Of Mass Incarceration On Poverty: A Comparison

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This is a true story. It happened to my African American cousin. He was innocent by all means, but someone felt threatened by the color of his skin and the way he appeared so much that their first instinct was to call the cops. Mass incarceration is based upon the institutional discrimination that black and brown men face each and everyday. My cousin’s first instinct was to stay calm, don’t seem guilty. He knows the threat that was placed on him by that officer, and whoever called the cops on him. He knows being a black man in the U.S Means having a target on your back on any given day. He could have resisted and question the police, as that’s his right to ask first, but like many stories of when black men are innocent and question authority, It makes the individual's likelihood for prosperity extremely low. This is true of not only the workforce, but in their personal lives as well. They are placed back into fragmented populations, however, this time, it’s much worse. Their communities cannot sustain their emotional unravelling after the disturbing realities of serving time in prison. In the article “The Impact of Mass Incarceration on Poverty” written by Robert DeFina and Lance Hannon, they claim that the impoverished communities of color need the removal of imprisoned individuals for the improval of local economics. However, the article “The Effects of Mass Incarceration on Communities of Color” claims that it does nothing to help these communities. Interestingly, both make the claim that the U.S. pushes people of color who are impoverished together and lack the support they need for economic upturn. The removal of criminals in communities is great in theory, but only if the theory is based on the illusion that all criminals live in suburban environments, committing high levels of crime and different crime than all the other races. This can only be theorized if all people are being treated equally, an absolute delusion. Mass Incarceration on poor black men is a systematic cycle. Many decide to turn a blind eye, but nothing gets done when we all choose to believe that all crimes are equally justified without a

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