All of the articles I have read stated the same things when it came to the demographics of the prison population. They stated that the people who are mostly incarcerated are people of color, predominantly African-American and then Hispanic men. In the article “Inside Rikers: The Social Impact of Mass Incarceration in the Twenty-First Century” by Jennifer Wynn, she stated that when she visited Rikers and was waiting in the waiting room, she was the only white person there (Wynn, pg.1). She later found that ninety percent of the inmates were black or Hispanic (Wynn, pg. 2) and that ninety three percent were male (Wynn, pg. 4). Although not as large as black men, there has also been an increase of minority women’s imprisonment.…
In her award-winning article, “Why Mass Incarceration Matters: Rethinking Crisis, Decline, and Transformation in Postwar American History,” author Heather Ann Thompson writes that “historians have largely ignored the mass incarceration of the late twentieth century and have not yet begun to sort out its impact on the social, economic, and political evolution of the postwar period.” Historian Elizabeth Hinton’s book, From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime, is one response to Thompson’s article in that Hinton traces the birth of the War on Poverty as a culmination of government policies. As her central thesis, Hinton posits that “the expansion of the carceral state should be understood as the federal government’s response to the demographic…
Hello guys, Our direction is going to head to Mass Incarceration & Black, Blown Females & Community (including family) [The mass incarceration of black and brown women has devastating and lasting impacts on their communities.] might also considering Policing of women Domestic violence abuse Sex work Drug use The reason why chose Mass Incarceration & Black, Blown Females & Community : Fastest growing the U.S prison population Often acting as head of household Strongly affects family, children, and men How/ where we can find the artists Open call: Using Web/ Pages…
In today’s society, mass incarceration is becoming more and more prevalent in the lives we see today. The New Yorker portrays elements socially, financially, and morally to engross the problem with mass incarceration in society. People are trying to successfully reduce mass incarceration and achieving racial equality. Slavery ended years ago, and yet mass incarceration reminds us that our world is “basically divided in two.”…
The collateral outcome of mass incarceration affects families and communities alike. The industrial prison complex influences and dictates how our criminal justice system works United States. The souring prison population is a result of the corrupt political system that disparage African American disproportionately. If America continue going down with failed prison system and worsening corruption in politics, we will lose the idea of democracy that the founding fathers intended. Most importantly, if we don’t change the status quo and chose more of the same America will end up been Oligarchy.…
Have cotton fields been replaced with prisons; mass incarceration is an ambiguous problem minority’s faces today. Over the past decades, the United States has incarcerated over millions of people and minorities make up nearly half of the total. More importantly making the United Stated the highest country with incarceration rates. In 2013, the state of Georgia had 2.6 million people with criminal records; 4.3 percent of the populations were Hispanics, 33 percent were Caucasians and 61 percent of them were African-Americans. Furthermore, making the state the fifth highest prison population in the nation.…
The crisis of mass incarceration is not felt evenly in the United States, race defines every aspect of the criminal justice system, from police targeting, to crimes charged, and rates of conviction. More Black men are in prison or jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850, before the Civil War began. Prison labor has its roots in slavery. After the 1861-1865 Civil War, a system of hiring out prisoners was introduced in order to continue the slavery tradition.…
Despite some people believe that mass incarceration is a problem generated recently, while doing some of my courses I was able to understand that mass incarceration was designed and maintained as a new form to perpetuate old forms of domination and mistreatment.…
In her article Why Mass Incarceration Matters; Rethinking Crisis, Decline, and Transformation in Postwar American History, Heather Thompson discusses how mass incarceration lead to the decline of poor African American’s economic and social standing, in some cases took jobs from white rural areas, raised profits of businesses in the prison industry, and increased the amount of prisoners performing full time labor. She argues that the greater increase of disparity between African Americans and Whites arose during the New Deal era, which eliminated most of the unfavorable assumptions based on Whites’ social standing. This further divergence eventually allowed greater prejudice to be more narrowly focused on poor African Americans rather than the…
Pager’s (2003) American Journal of Sociology article characterizes mass incarceration as the steady increase in U.S inmates, for increasing reasons coupled with increased sentences. The American Civil Liberties Union’s (2016) article, “What’s at Stake” juxtaposes America’s most famous theme, “Home of the Free” to the current state of mass incarceration experienced in the African American community. African Americans only comprise 13% of the United States population, yet they account for 40% of the prison population (United States Census, 2015). Additionally, one in every fifteen African American men are imprisoned when compared to only one in every one hundred and six white men (United States Census, 2015). The American Journal of Public Health reports startling Bureau of Justice statistics which estimate the incarceration rate among African American males is approximately 95% in Washington D.C.…
A system that affected the entire public turned into a disproportionate system that incarcerate a great deal of African Americans. Mass incarceration mainly impact the poor and minorities which has been disproportionately impacted by drug enforcement strategies. Relating to family and opportunity, a widespread of incarcerated men of low income communities which has a negative impact on social and cultural norms. Legal challenges have arisen since the enactment of the three strikes law in 1994. Twenty-five years to life for non-serious and nonviolent felonies were made possible because of the three Strikes law.…
A Caged Country: Mass Incarceration in America Mass incarceration is an indication of the downfall of America because too many people are carelessly thrown into jails and prisons, it prohibits progress amongst “minority” communities, and hinders the country’s economy by increasing unnecessary debt. Although some are opposed to limiting mass incarceration because they believe it may hinder public safety, it is not the most effective route to reaching public safety. Mass incarceration has only become a major issue in the United States within the past 40 years. Once one is in the hands of the legal system you are forced to work for the prison, which is considered a legal form of slavery. For this reason, many believe that the rise in incarcerated…
With recent talks on Capitol Hill of an upcoming criminal justice reform, it is not surprising to see topics on sentencing structure, police ethics and practices, and the future of the criminal justice system in the news headlines. One of the biggest topics is the overwhelming prison population in state and federal prisons. This has been a prominent topic for some time now. While some want to curtail the prison community others seem to think there is not a visible complication. Those who sense the prison population or the amount of people under supervision of the criminal justice system is of no concern, more than likely do not understand the impact the population has on criminal justice professionals or where the funding for these institutions…
Mass incarceration is said to help crack down on this phony war on drugs it is a war on people that the government is profiting from. Prisons across the nation get paid to keep prisoners in jail that oddly sounds familiar. People being isolated from society, kept captive by chains, wired fences, big structured walls and watch towers. Being told when to eat, when to shower, when to sleep, how to dress and when it is ok for them to be free. The concept of slavery oozes all over this, as we speak more black people are being placed behind bars guilty or not.…
This is a concept that I did not think of while learning about mass incarceration. Some of the alternatives would be restorative justice and transformative justice. With restorative justice, the person that is harmed is given some sort of peace from the person who harmed them. In some case it is a simple apology or even repaying them with money or time. This is a way for people to solve their problems on their own without the government having to intervene.…