America is a melting pot, as I’m sure you have heard a million times before. However, one place in this country where the minority group is comprised not only of one race, but rather multiple ones, lies in the America’s prison system. The majority of people in this country are free. As of 2009, the rate of incarceration in our country was 743 per 100,000 people, or 0.743% (“Incarceration in the United States,” 2014). In a country of over 300 million people, I would say that a group of two million people would constitute a minority.
Furthermore, the way you become part of this group, as well as the things you endure as a member, makes you a minority in America even more so. I intend to shed light on how this minority group, as well as the smaller sub-groups inside of it, are unjustly labeled, cast aside, and unjustly left to fend for themselves. Moreover, this minority group must do so amidst a myriad of social injustices, inequalities, violence, and conflict, with little or no recourse except the hope that those in positions of power and others outside of their group will take notice and speak up to end the vicious cycle of injustice.
American prisons house some two million people, in a system originally designed to rehabilitate them. Nothing could be further from the truth in this day and age. Let’s start with a breakdown of the people who make up this minority group in America. As recent as 2009, non-Hispanic blacks constitute 39.4%, which includes 841,000 males and 64,800 females (“United States incarceration rate,” 2014). That means that they make up nearly 45% of the entire prison population. Yet, according to the 2010 census numbers, blacks (including Hispanic blacks), only make up 13.6% of America’s population (“United S...
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Incarceration in the United States. (2014, Apr 29). Retrieved May 4, 2014 from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/incarceration_in_the_United_States#Race
McElwee, S. (2013, July 1). America’s awful, terrible, no good, very bad prison system. [Blog]. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-mcelwee/incarceration-america_b_3528901.html
Pilisuk, M., & Rountree, J. A. (2008). Chapter 5: Networks of power. Who Benefits from Global Violence and War: Uncovering a Destructive System (95-129). Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group.
United States incarceration rate. (2014, May 3). Retrieved May 4, 2014 from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate
Wooldredge, J., & Steiner, B. (2012). Race group differences in prison victimization experiences. Journal of Criminal Justice, 40(5), 358-369. DOI:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2012.06.011
Prison Activist Resource Center, (No date). Racism Fact Sheets: African-Americans and the criminal injustice system, Retrieved fromhttp://www.prisonactivist.org/factsheets/racism.pdf
criminal justice system. If the current trends persist, one out of every three African American men can expect to go to prison over the course of his life, as can one out of every six Latino males, compared to only one in seventeen white males (Bonczar 2003). For females, the figures are significantly lower, but racial and ethnic disparities are very similar. For instance, one out of every eighteen African American females can expect to go to prison, as can one out of every 45 Latino females, and one out of every one-hundred and eleven white females (Bonczar 2003). The racial disparities in imprisonment have been felt the most by young African American males (Western and Pettit 2010). Males are a significant majority of the prison and jail populations, accounting for around ninety percent of the population (Western and Pettit 2010). Racial disparities in incarceration are astounding when one counts the men who have been incarcerated in their lifetime rather than those serving time on any given day (Western and Pettit 2002). For instance, in 1989, approximately two percent of white men in their early thirties had been in prison compared to thirteen percent of African American men in their early thirties (Western and Pettit 2002). These extreme racial disparities disproportionately affect communities of color and have significant collateral effects such as family stress and dissolution,
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
Throughout the semester, we have discussed many different issues that are currently prevalent in the United States, specifically those related to racial discrimination. One specific issue that I have developed interest and research in is that of institutionalized racism, specifically in the form of mass incarceration, and what kinds of effects mass incarceration has on a community. In this paper, I will briefly examine a range of issues surrounding the mass incarceration of black and Latino males, the development of a racial undercaste because of rising incarceration rates, women and children’s involvement and roles they attain in the era of mass incarceration, and the economic importance that the prison system has due to its development.
Mass incarceration in the United States has been a very prominent and distinct feature of our criminal justice system. The rates of which this system imprisons is very unequal when compared to other countries in the world, as well as when compared to other races within the United States itself. Mass incarceration does alter the lives of those who are within its prison system, and also those who are related to those individuals whether it be through blood or bond. These effects can extend to disrupting one’s life to the point where they can’t vote, go to school, hold a job, or deprive them of other rights, and affect others whereby they may be more likely to experience negative life events, be deprived of resources, and/or be more
The criminal justice system is full of inequality and disparities among race, gender, and class. From policing neighborhoods, and the ongoing war on drugs, to sentencing, there are underlying biases and discriminatory practices in the criminal justice system that impacts minority communities and groups. Fueled by stereotypes and generalizations, it is important to identify and discuss what crimes take place and who actually makes it up.
Race and Ethnicity on Sentence Outcomes Under Different Sentencing Systems. Crime & Delinquency, 59(1), 87-114.
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.
Western, Bruce , and Becky Pettit. "Disadvantages of America’s prison boom: Scholar’s research brief." Journalists Resource RSS. N.p., 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. .
In the United States, the rate of incarceration has increased shockingly over the past few years. In 2008, it was said that one in 100 U.S. adults were behind bars, meaning more than 2.3 million people. Even more surprising than this high rate is the fact that African Americans have been disproportionately incarcerated, especially low-income and lowly educated blacks. This is racialized mass incarceration. There are a few reasons why racialized mass incarceration occurs and how it negatively affects poor black communities.
Many Americans pretend that the days of racism are far behind; however it is clear that institutional racism still exists in this country. One way of viewing this institutional racism is looking at our nation’s prison system and how the incarceration rates are skewed towards African American men. The reasons for the incarceration rate disparity are argued and different between races, but history points out and starts to show the reason of why the disparity began. Families and children of the incarcerated are adversely affected due to the discrimination as well as the discrimination against African American students and their likelihood of going to prison compared to the white student. African American women are also affected by the discrimination in the incarceration rate. Many white Americans don’t see how racism affects incarceration rates, and that African Americans are more likely to face discrimination from the police as well as being falsely arrested.
Wilson, Rick. "The Growing Problems of the Prison System." American Friends Service Committee. American Friends Service Committee, 27 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2014. .
Although it may not seem like a major problem to most people in the United States, prisons are becoming overcrowded, expensive to maintain and have little to no effect on the moral discipline of inmates. The current prison system is extremely inefficient and the purpose of prisons has been completely forgotten. According to Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, the primary purpose of prisons is to punish, to protect, and to rehabilitate. Not only is there an increase in prisoners, but there is a rise in the number of repeat offenders. Alternatives such as counseling, drug rehabilitation, education, job training and victim restitution must be better enforced and organized. People do not understand the severity of the problem mainly because
The correctional system is based on helping offenders become part of society and not commit any crimes. Many prisons begin the correcting criminals since they are inside the jails, but many prisons do not. Prisons provide prisoners with jobs inside the prison where they get very little pay close to nothing and many have programs that will help them advance their education or get their high school diploma. There are various programs prisons provide to prisoners to help them get a job or have a skill when they are released from prison. In contrast, prisons that do not provide programs or help to prisoners rehabilitate and enter society again will be more likely to commit another crime and go back to jail. The Shawshank Redemption prison did not
Reese, F. (2013, September 8). America’s Prison System Is A Disaster | PopularResistance.Org. Retrieved April 4, 2014, from http://www.popularresistance.org/americas-prison-system-is-a-disaster/