Definition Of Mass Incarceration

Draft One The definition of mass incarceration is a term used by social activists to describe the significant increase in the number of incarcerated people in United States ' prisons over the past forty years, from 1970 to 2005 the number of inmates has risen 700%. Lawrence (2011) has stated that more than 2.3 million people in America are in jail or prison and sixty percent are African American and Latino. In this paper, I will present information on mass incarceration of black males, the development of a racial injustice due to rising of incarceration rates, and the financial standing that the prison system has, due to its massive expansion. An analysis of mass incarceration, by means of racial injustice, cannot be done without bearing

Additionally, the incarceration rate for Black Americans relative to white Americans is higher than it was before the Civil Rights Movement. Professor Michelle Alexander (2012) focuses on the influence of mass incarceration on Black Americans. Alexander (2012) wrote, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, where she uses her experiences as a Civil Rights Lawyer. Alexander (2012) examines the development of institutionalized racism following the war on drugs, and how it has created what she calls a “New Jim Crow Era”. Additionally, Jim Crow laws are known as the former practice of segregating black people in America. Consequently, Steiker (2014) mentions, that modern day “Jim Crow laws” have presented negative effects towards Black Americans, such as, discrimination towards the right to vote, the right to serve on juries, to receive public benefits, to be free from discrimination in employment and housing and to earn wages free from garnishment as fees or fines. Steiker (2014) makes it known that it is imperative to note that a person who has been institutionalized has their basic human rights removed. Lawrence (2011) mentions that having 2.3 million people

Strangely enough, the “War on Drugs” should be thought of as a physical war; one that has used force and violence against certain communities, to obtain certain political purposes. Race has impacted the method in identifying the communities that have become targets of the drug war. Similarly, former President, Ronald Raegan, was accused of using racist ideals in his campaign. Alexander (2012) quotes President Raegan, “forcing liberals into a position that would soon become familiar-arguing that something is racist but finding it impossible to prove in the absence of explicitly racist language.” In relation, cultural practices in these communities have been exposed to military style and brutal police control. Stalley is an artist that speaks about the struggles of people of color. Stalley speaks of mass incarceration and announces to his audience that the war on drugs and racism was not started alone. Racism is an issue that impacts people of color, it mainly focuses on black males, although many people of color, are also affected. Stalley speaks out on the struggles of what is called the ‘hood” and that people of color are tired of the injustices of the criminal justice system. Stalley (2013) has a song with provoking lyrics that expresses