While in prison criminals become part of the gang or a member of the gang's victim pool. Race and culture seem to be the major factors in the victimization of inmates. The inmate may not be racist when he enters the system, however the need for survival against other inmates may force these characteristics to become more prominent. In the summer of 1998, a young man named William King was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of James Byrd Jr. Byrd was a black man from Jasper County, Texas, whom was bound at the ankles and dragged to death behind a truck. Why would this young man commit such a terrible and seemingly racist crime? Most would agree that it was his time spent in prison that led William King to take the life of James Byrd Jr. Friends and family of William stated that he was a pleasant before he went to prison for burglary. When he was released, he was a different person who spoke about white supremacy and was anxious to initiate his own supremacist gang. King’s defense attorney explained that it was the high rate of violence in the Texas correctional institute that caused him to become a gang member for a sense of security. William's defense attorney argued that he was merely a victim of the deteriorating prison system in this country (Racism, tolerance, and perfected redemption: A rhetorical critique of the dragging trial, Larry A. Williamson, 2009). The reality of prison gangs is nearly impossible to ignore. King's story, although not a defense for his crime, sheds light on today's prisons and the gangs within them. Newly admitted convicts are often victimized to no end until they join a group or gang that displays power and their intentions to survive prison life. Violence, rape, and murder are just a fe... ... middle of paper ... ...view of the Challenge of Prison Gangs Fleisher, M. S. Decker, S. H. Corrections Management Quarterly, 2001, VOL 5; ISS 1, pa 1-9 Organizational Structure of Prison Gangs: A Texas Case Study R S Fong Federal Probation Volume:54 Issue:1 Dated:(March 1990) Pages:36-43 Prison Gang Members' Tattoos as Identity Work: The Visual Communication of Moral Careers. Phelan, M. P. and Hunt, S. A. (1998), Symbolic Interaction, 21: 277–298 Racism, tolerance, and perfected redemption: A rhetorical critique of the dragging trial Larry A. Williamson, Southern Communication Journal, Vol. 67, Iss. 3, 2009 The influence of prisons on inmate misconduct: A multilevel investigation Scott D. Camp, Gerald G. Gaes, Neal P. Langan, William G. Saylor Justice Quarterly, Vol. 20, Iss. 3, 2006
Humanity instructs us that we must behave with tolerance and respect towards all. Just Mercy exemplifies how that is not the case for many Americans. Critical Race Theory is a theory which focuses on the experiences of people who are minorities. It argues that people who are minorities in the United States are oppressed and, because of the state of being oppressed, creates fundamental disadvantages (Lecture 4.7). A study conducted for the case McCleskey v. Kemp revealed that when a black defendant killed a white victim, it increased the likelihood the black defendant would receive the death penalty (Stevenson, 2014). Looking at this fact through the lens of a critical race theorist, it illustrates how unconscious racism is ignored by our legal system. The actuality that, statistically, people of color have a higher chance of getting sentenced to death than white people is a blatant example of inequality. In Chapter 8, Stevenson discusses the case of multiple juveniles who were incarcerated and sentenced to death in prison. These juveniles who were sent to adult prisons, where juveniles are five times more likely to be the victims of sexual assault, show an innate inequality towards minors (Stevenson, 2014). Ian Manuel, George Stinney, and Antonio Nunez were all only fourteen-years-old when they were condemned to die in prison. Although they did commit crimes, the purpose of the juvenile justice system is to rehabilitate young offenders. Trying juveniles in adult court represents a prejudice against age, which Stevenson sought to fight by working on appeals for Manuel and Nunez (Stevenson, 2014). His humanity shines through once again, as he combats the justice system to give the adolescents another chance at life, rather than having them die in prison. The way prisoners with mental and/or physical disabilities are treated while incarcerated is also extremely
In June of 1998, a sadistic murder of a middle-aged black man from Jasper, Texas, rekindled memories of lynching practices from the blood stained American past. James Byrd, Jr., 49, was beaten savagely to the point of unconsciousness, chained to the back of a pickup truck by his neck, and dragged for miles over rural roads outside the town of Jasper. It is believed that Byrd survived through most of this experience, that is, until he was decapitated. Three white men, John William King, 23, Shawn Berry, 23, (both of whom had links to white supremacist groups) and Lawrence Brewer Jr., 31, were arrested. Brewer and King were sentenced to death for a racial hate crime that shocked the nation. Berry was sent to prison for life.
Franklin Zimring (2003) examines the relationship between the history of lynching and current capital punishment in the United States argueing that the link between them is a vigilante tradition. He adequately shows an association between historical lynchings and modern executions, though this paper will show additional evidence that would help strengthen this argument, but other areas of Zimring’s argument are not as well supported. His attitudinal and behavioral measures of modern vigilantism are insufficient and could easily be interpreted as measuring other concepts. Also missing from Zimring’s analysis is an explanation for the transition of executions from representing government control in the past to executions as representing community control in the present. Finally, I argue that Zimring leaves out any meaningful discussion of the role of race in both past lynchings and modern executions. To support my argument, using recent research, I will show how race has played an important role in both past lynchings and modern executions and how the changing form of racial relations may explain the transition from lynchings to legal executions.
This piece is clearly an excerpt from a series of books, which are published for general readers with some academic backgrounds, such as politicians, teachers, students and white collar workers. The article was written in 1996, with contemporary information, and it can somewhat reflect the current issues and it definitely shows how visionary the author is to prevent violent crimes. Not only does Dr. Gilligan write this article to spread his ideas about the truth behind violence and how to prevent violence, but he also intends to call attention to reform the prison system. In order to stop the endless cycle where prisoners become more violent when they are punished harder, Gilligan had one on one conversation with prisoners and he learned that all they want are “Pride. Dignity.
From the era of Reconstruction in the U.S. to the 1950’s chain gangs were used to punish prisoners of homelessness and petty larceny. The conditions of chain gangs were similar to slavery, “Living conditions for chain gang convicts were frequently horrific, with sanitation practically nonexistent and diseases and illnesses common” (Ireland). This quote shows the similarities of chain gangs to slavery. Slaves were
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander is a thorough and thought provoking analysis of mass incarceration in America. Through this book Alexander explores the dynamics of the criminal justice system and the propaganda that enables it which have led to the establishment and maintenance of a racial undercaste system that has been perpetuated by a felony criminal record. Within this book Alexander provides a history of the disenfranchisement of the black male from the overt racism of slavery and Jim Crow to the colorblind drug and sentencing policies of the 20th and 21st century.
In the wake of President Obama’s election, the United States seems to be progressing towards a post-racial society. However, the rates of mass incarceration of black males in America deem this to be otherwise. Understanding mass incarceration as a modern racial caste system will reveal the role of the criminal justice system in creating and perpetuating racial hierarchy America. The history of social control in the United States dates back to the first racial caste systems: slavery and the Jim Crow Laws. Although these caste systems were outlawed by the 13th amendment and Civil Rights Act respectively, they are given new life and tailored to the needs of the time.In other words, racial caste in America has not ended but has merely been redesigned in the shape of mass incarceration. Once again, the fact that more than half of the young black men in many large American cities are under the control of the criminal justice system show evidence of a new racial caste system at work. The structure of the criminal justice system brings a disproportionate number of young black males into prisons, relegating them to a permanent second-class status, and ensuring there chances of freedom are slim. Even when minorities are released from prisons, they are discriminated against and most usually end up back in prisons . The role of race in criminal justice system is set up to discriminate, arrest, and imprison a mass number of minority men. From stopping, searching, and arresting, to plea bargaining and sentencing it is apparent that in every phases of the criminal justice system race plays a huge factor. Race and structure of Criminal Justice System, also, inhibit the integration of ex offenders into society and instead of freedom, relea...
Prison gangs are originally formed by inmates as a way of protecting themselves from the other inmates. These gangs have turned out to be violent and thus posing a threat to security. This paper will have a look at the different gangs in prisons, their history, beliefs and missions, and the differences and similarities in these gangs.
Ralph, P.H.(1997). From Self Preservation to Organized Crime: The Evolution of Inmate Gangs. In J.W. Marquart, & J.R. Sorensen (Eds.). Correctional Contexts: Contemporary and Classical Readings (pp. 182-186). Los Angeles: Roxbury
Institutional racism is racism that is shown through government organizations and political institutions. In a report done by David Baldus in 1998, he discovered that when it comes to the death penalty, blacks are more likely sentenced to death than whites, and those who kill whites are more likely to be given the death penalty than the killing of blacks (Touré). In several cases and studies, there is a substantial amount of racial bias in the criminal justice system. In fact, the 1978 McClesky conviction has proven to support Baldus’s study in 1998. Warren McClesky, an African American male, was found guilty of killing a Georgia police officer. The legal team who represented McClesky exposed a study that showed how biased racial inequality is in the death penalty, but the court contended the argument because “disparities in sentencing are an inevitable part of our criminal justice system” (Touré). Furthermore, race has always been a serious matter in the Supreme Court and other government administrations, but they fail to recognize the
This paper focuses in on one of those "junctures" - the death penalty. The racial disparities that Donziger finds in the prisons can also be found in death row. To be exact, African-Americans are 12% of the US population, but they make up 40% of the death row population.2 I, like Donziger, believe something more is at work; and in the tradition of Ture and Hamilton, I believe that this something works in covert ways. It would almost be better if we could place the blame on blatant racial discrimination. But the death penalty does not serve the explicit purpose of oppressing Blacks. Racism persists, but it has taken on more implicit, more subtle, and arguably more harmful forms. The death penalty is a timely lens through which to observe the covert racism that operates in institutional settings. This topic can be overwhelming, and this paper is in no way comprehensive. Rather, it is an opportunity to string together some soci ological and legal concepts with personal analysis in the desire to demonstrate that the death penalty and the institutions surrounding...
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
Also, some behavior mirrors prisoner ways developed outside the prison walls (Skarbek, 2014, p. 27). Prison gangs partially have emerged in response to the correctional system. Its ways of dealing with inmates have left a huge impact on individuals who feel deprived of their rights. Single person feels weak and helpless, thus it is easier for them to join a gang to represent their stance. At some point prison gangs acquire so much power that they are a force to reckon with. Their organizational structure creates uneasy topic for the penal system to deal with (Skarbek, 2014, p. 30). There are instances where groups use the system in their favor to achieve their
Race plays a large factor in showing how you are viewed in society. Although there is no longer slavery and separate water fountains, we can still see areas of our daily life clearly affected by race. One of these areas is the criminal justice system and that is because the color of your skin can easily yet unfairly determine if you receive the death penalty. The controversial evidence showing that race is a large contributing factor in death penalty cases shows that there needs to be a change in the system and action taken against these biases. The issue is wide spread throughout the United States and can be proven with statistics. There is a higher probability that a black on white crime will result in a death penalty verdict than black on black or white on black. Race will ultimately define the final ruling of the sentence which is evident in the racial disparities of the death penalty. The amount of blacks on death row can easily be seen considering the majority of the prison population is black or blacks that committed the same crime as a white person but got a harsher sentence. The biases and prejudices that are in our society relating to race come to light when a jury is selected to determine a death sentence. So what is the relationship between race and the death penalty? This paper is set out to prove findings of different race related sentences and why blacks are sentenced to death more for a black on white crime. Looking at the racial divide we once had in early American history and statistics from sources and data regarding the number of blacks on death row/executed, we can expose the issues with this racial dilemma.
From the moment a new inmate is processed into a prison facility, they are immediately “sized up” and preyed on by perpetrators who tend to be more established in the inmate hierarchy. Usually they are members of a gang with a wide network of allies both inside and outside of the prison. Gang rapes are common, most likely because a less established prisoner may be coerced into sexual submission with a dominant or powerful gang member for fear that, if they tried to refuse, a violent gang attack would result. (Mariner, 1997) In other instances, some new inmates that are younger and less strong, will realize the importance of maintaining sexual intimacy with inmates who are able to protect them from other violent prisoners by exchanging loyal, sexual favors in return.