Prison Reform in The United States of America “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones” (Nelson Mandela, 1994). The United States of America has more people behind bars than any other country on the planet. The prisons are at over double capacity. It cost a lot of money to house prisoners each year.
I know they will make a difference” (naiveprogram.tripod; National Association of Drug Court Professionals). Sending the criminal to prison will give them a very strenuous and painful experience for a period of time, but as soon as the time is up they will be back at their crime (leading to recidivism). Not all criminals are repugnant, only the ones that are corrupted. The others that believe that they can change and not do a crime again are not repugnant. Criminal may be a criminal, but at the end they are humans too.
In these same surveys is clearly shows that black males who murder a white male are more likely to server a longer prison sentence, than a black male murdering a another black male. This is very disturbing for many reasons, first it states that a life of a white male is a far more significant than a black male. The crime of murder is a vial act and should be judged and convicted solely on the deed, not on the skin color of the victim. This devilish discrimination puts a higher value on Caucasians and diminishes the value of life of African Americans (Estienne,... ... middle of paper ... ...the introduction pure justice discrimination plays a factor in the institutional process by unfairly violating the due process of minorities in the criminal justice system. When a criminal violates the law he/she should be judged and convicted of a crime, however the punishment should not outweigh the crime.
Both are forms of oppression and not only affect blacks but also other minorities as well. I feel that they view us a threat when we really all just want the same thing. African Americans have been targeted for many years trying to hold us back from becoming something. A caste system is always on the verge in some form to racially discriminate against blacks. African Americans have been exploited by the criminal justice system like no other group in America but it has been like this for many years but I feel it is wrong not to bring up other groups who go through the same problem such as latinos.
For example, “to make laws like the three-strikes-and-you’re-out laws, right, these are made for habitual criminals, but what’s a habitual criminal? …a guy that keeps on committing the same crime over and over again, why does he keep on committing the same crime over?...You never bothered teachin’ him when the first time he went into the prison system”(Black 905). Most of the lives of minorities reflected around that type of scenario when it came to the prison system. Instead of having a system to help them, they had a system that failed them and were considered “criminals”. In some cases, most of the men being arrested were arrested for drug possession or minor crimes however, they were treated like second-degree murderers.
Criminalization is an institutional arrangement that emerged from institutional forces such as vagrancy laws and being tough on crime, resulting in African American men being criminalized and having a negative impact on the solidarity of communities making it unsustainable. When these laws take place, it leaves the African American men feeling vulnerable and attached. Social institutional arrangements cause inequality. In the New Jim Crow book, it is clear how the laws are so tough on crime and it causes Many unnecessary incarcerations which is no better because in these facilities there is gang violence that just puts these “criminals” back in a bad environment. “Race had become, yet again, a powerful wedge, breaking up what had been a solid
The author questions the fact, whether African American men are actually a criminal threat or a victims of society. “Black men are typically constructed as criminals when in truth they much more likely to be victimized by American Society” (BMCV, pg. 1). Most fail to realize that African American men can commit crime but they also can be victims of crime and a majority of the time they are the victims. Another idea he questioned is, why are more African American men considered to be perpetrators of crime rather than victims.
The writers reveal to an audience how the black men could not access justice because of their race (Wright, 2010, p. 3). In the book written by Wright, the man was not guilty, but he had to serve imprisonment because of race. They show how people suffer in for no good reason because of their background. Defending lawyers in AuthorLastName3 the two novels faced the same problem. They could no... ... middle of paper ... ...n immorality that people should eradicate in the world.
Statistics have shown that the number of African Americans in prison is higher than Whites meaning that eventually race can determine on who goes to jail. Most cases aren’t resolved with an actual justification which leads to incarcerate the wrong victim who then has his life ruined because an unfair move that the judge decided to make without having the accurate information or depending on his thoughts of the victim. The media have provided
The abuse and financial incentives undertaken by police departments corrupt the system. Racial biases increase the probability that African Americans and other minorities such as Latinos will be stopped and their property seized. Although legally “white” individuals are more likely to sell and partake in illegal drugs, African Americans and other minorities manage to fill the prisons and be targets of police. Police departments violate 4th amendment protections to meet this end and their ... ... middle of paper ... ... be read by all potential prosecutors, legislators, or judges. The negative and disparate impact of the “War on Drugs” has its roots in law and in jurisprudence.