...Mass Incarceration has become a well-known issue that has taken the attention of our nation over the recent years. In this text the author suggests that there are in fact new Jim Crow laws. These Jim Crow laws are geared toward a specific group just as the ones of the past were towards African Americans. Citizens who have been incarcerated are being legally denied the ability to obtain employment, housing, and public benefits (pg. 4 Alexander). In this text she discusses the Way on Drugs which as we know was in a response to the increase of crack during the inner-city neighborhoods during the 1980s. The public belief would be to suggest that the racial disparities during the drug convictions and sentences, as well as the explosion of the prison population, reflect nothing more than the government’s zealous efforts to address rampant drug crime in poor, minority neighborhoods. The author...
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...Racial Disparities in the U.S. Prison Population: Causes, Effects and Remedies Michael C. Pugh Bethel University Introduction America’s war on drugs has contributed to a steady influx of non-violent offenders into the nation’s judicial system for over thirty years. Many of these inmates are serving long sentences with rigid probation and parole policies that many believe are designed as a set-up for failure and re-offense. The result of this influx of offenders is a growing racial disparity, as shown by Bobo & Thompson: In 2004. for example, black males constituted 43.3 percent of those incarcerated in state, federal, and local prisons or jails, though only 13 percent of the total population. Whites on the other hand represented 35.7 percent of the male inmate population in 2004, well under their 75 percent of the total male population (Bobo & Thompson, 2006). (p. 451) This ballooning disparity has become a trend of increasing concern among proponents of racial equality. Many view this trend as another cog in the wheel of covert institutional racism, even labeling it “The New Jim Crow”. Among the men and women of color now residing in U.S. prisons are the potential business owners, educators and leaders of communities that sorely need them. Immediate and results-oriented attention to the racial disparity in U.S. prisons will do much to repair the damaged, needful communities of color throughout the country. BLACK CRIME: CRIMINAL OR CULTURAL? “Black...
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...David Ross Dr. Adebanjo PSCI-245 02 December 2015 Chapter 6: The Fire this Time Summary Analysis In the book, The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander discusses race-related issues specific to African-American males and mass incarceration in the United States, though Alexander notes that the discrimination faced by African-American males is also prevalent among other minorities and socio-economically disadvantaged populations. Alexander's central premise, from which the book derives its title, is that "mass incarceration is, metaphorically, the New Jim Crow keeping company with the final chapter of the New Jim Crow, “The Fire this Time,” this section is devoted to the question of where we go from here. Michelle Alexander argues that we, as a nation, have reached a fork in the road. Likewise, here at the end of our journey with her book, we find ourselves at a critical point of decision. What is required of us at this moment in history, a time when millions are cycling in and out of our nation’s prisons and jails trapped in a parallel social universe in which discrimination is perfectly legal? How do we show care and concern for the children who are born into communities where the majority of men and growing numbers of women can expect to spend time behind bars? What must we do, now that we know that the usual justifications do not hold water, and that a human rights nightmare is occurring on our watch? The New Jim Crow begins...
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...Opinion Essay: Professor Michelle Alexander's speech The New Jim Crow (2010) In its broadest sense, The New Jim Crow (2010) provides a compelling analysis of how and why mass incarceration is happening in America. It offers an appropriate and original framework for understanding mass incarceration, its roots, link to Jim Crow, the modern caste system, and what must be done to eliminate it (Alexander, 2010). Alexander’s The New Jim Crow (2010) can be said to be a grand wake-up call in the midst of a long slumber of indifference to the poor and vulnerable. It also befits being described as a timely and stunning guide to the labyrinth of discrimination, racism, and propaganda policies cloaked under other names that comprise justice in America....
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...The American Criminal Justice System: The Social and Cultural Considerations Introduction The American criminal justice system, the largest in the world, with 2.3M people incarcerated (Prison Policy Initiative 2016) has a significant impact on many aspects of American society when viewed through the social and cultural lens including the psychological impact of incarceration, varying treatment based on race, and post-incarceration results. Based on the analysis of various positions of experts in the field, it is clear that certain policy reforms in the existing system would be beneficial for the incarcerated and the broader society. When comparing the scale of incarceration and other related metrics in the United States...
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...Incarceration has a negative impact socially as well as economically. In The Social Science Research journal, the article Incarceration and Black-White inequality in Homeownership: A state-level analysis discusses the impact of incarceration on the possibility of house wealth. This study evaluated data between incarceration and home ownership for a period over two decades. In addition, what was found is that not only does incarceration decrease the opportunity for home ownership for the majority population but especially for the Black population. Moreover, incarceration affects the inmate and their significant others financial outlook as well. This is another strong factor in the widening the Black-White home ownership gap. This is especially...
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...Introduction The prison system in America has been a constant issue of mass-incarceration, a lack of rehabilitation, and a rate of reentry that far exceeds that of any other nation, yet this problem’s escalation has done little to bring it to the platform of reformation. The prison system has cost American taxpayers billions of dollars, and a majority of these citizens are completely unaware of the needlessness of the costs with which they are burdened. With 2.2 million people incarcerated in the U.S., Americans cannot afford to continue to turn a blind eye to the economic issues presented by the current prison system (Council of Economic Advisors 3). Due to prison growth, an increasing incarceration rate, and a lack of rehabilitation and...
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...Ohio State University law professor and civil rights activist Michelle Alexander, author of "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness," reports there are more African American men in prison and jail, or on probation and parole, than were slaves before the start of the Civil War. Statistics reported in 2006, by the U.S .Department of Justice, Bureau of Statistics support this claim, which show that Blacks made up 41 percent of the nation’s 2 million prison and jail inmates, while Non-Hispanic whites made up 37 percent and Hispanics made up 19 percent. The disproportionate ratio of blacks to whites who are incarcerated is especially great in Iowa, Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota – greater than 10-to-1 (USJB, 2006). Why this structural inequality towards African Americans is happening, why it matters, and suggestions to rectify this, are issues that are discussed in this paper. Why is this happening? Since 1970, the U.S. has experienced a large and rapid increase in the rate at which people, regardless of race, are housed in federal and state correctional facilities (Snyder, 2011). This rapid growth in the prison population has been attributed in a large part to the rate at which individuals are incarcerated for drug offenses, especially minorities (Snyder, 2011). Between1995 and 2003, the number of people in state and federal prisons incarcerated for drug offenses increased by 21 percent, from 280,182 to 337...
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...Unfair Incarceration: Minorities’ Plight in the U.S. Judicial System DeVry University Cultural Diversity in the Professions SOCS 350N Spring 2013 Abstract The United States is well known as the Land of Opportunity, but if you’re a minority that opportunity maybe a greater chance of being incarcerated in the state and federal penal systems. Civil rights battles have raged for the greater part of the last century in this country. With milestone victories in the early and mid 1960’s equality under the law seemed to be a foregone conclusion. There are numerous laws, policies and even a Constitutional Amendment that address the matter that race should never be a factor. With this is all in play and in mind, you would think that statistics of the U.S. penal systems racial analysis has to be completed with a huge margin in error because it is not near equality. In a cursory search of this topic one can find a deluge of graphs, tables, and statistical analysis. The one thing you cannot find is a quantitative or qualitative consensus of why this has occurred or why it is still occurring. A preponderance of the evidence is anecdotal and offers suggestions of policies and attitudes that have led to this epidemic in contemporary American society. In this review, an endeavor to gather the gist of the issue and attempt to answer why or how this came about and the numerical extent. Followed by the consequences to the affected groups and the whole of society. Finally...
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...The documentary I chose to watch for this assignment was the film 13th. The film, which entails the discussion of the 13th amendment, talks about the racial inequality in America and the rising prison incarceration rates that have resulted due to many factors, such as the vagueness of the 13th amendment. The film includes a variety of speakers to discuss the issue. One of the claims made by a speaker was the claim that the 1915 film “Birth of a Nation” was almost directly responsible for the rebirth of the KKK in the 20th century. The speaker elaborated on this claim by saying the film depicted certain actions that the KKK committed later on, such as burning crosses. It was described as “life imitating art”. In addition, terroristic actions committed by the KKK were said to be more accepted by society because of the film. Another claim made in the documentary was the claim that legal segregation between whites and African Americans was a more formal method of terrorism. This claim was backed up by the fact that segregation laws were passed specifically to push blacks to a lower class than whites. Although by definition terrorism is technically...
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...The recidivating rate would decrease by 43% if the inmates receive education including GED, college courses and other types of training than inmates who do not. Inmates who earned an associate degree are 62% less likely to return to prison. A cost-benefit analysis by the Doe Fund found that $1 million investment in incarceration will prevent about 350 crimes, while the same investment in education will prevent more than 600 crimes. It proves that college education actually save taxpayers money in long run by reducing the number of inmates who break the law and end up in those expensive prison cell. Sing Sing, a prison in New York State where it has a private funded education program launched in 1998, has a recidivism rate of less than 2 percent....
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...Elderly and in Prison Rhetorical Analysis Countless of elderly people pose little to no risk of committing a crime at this age. Therefore, elderly people currently serving a prison sentence should have it shorten. One editor, a writer of an organizer with Release Aging People in Prison/RAPP, Laura Whitehorn, wrote "Elderly and in Prison," published in January 5th, 2017 in the New York Times, and she disputes that elderly in prison have a diminutive to no risk of committing a new offense. Whitehorn begins to state and build her evidence with facts and statistics over the New York State prison, and successfully employs emotional appeal; in addition, toward the conclusion of her editorial speech, she demonstrates how it is possible and how reasonable it is and even so the government chooses not to do so. In her editorial speech, Whitehorn first sets her argument by describing how elderly are not a considerable threat and she thoroughly explains and backs up the prior Brennan Center for Justice Speech, the original speech, as to how there would be a positive outcome even though there must be an intervenience as she states, "... fewer and shorter prison sentences will surely improve public safety rather than damage it." However, she also examines the proposal as a whole as she says, "But...
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...Does Employment Reduce Recidivism? Elliott Markson Do individuals who obtain employment upon release likely to stay crime-free or are they going to commit another crime? The main purpose of this research is explanatory. It is explanatory because researching the issues surrounding employment and recidivism should be able to explain behavioral changes, a change in social status, and the effects that employment has on the individuals released from prison. The main independent variable of this research question is whether or not the released inmate will be employed or not upon release. The main dependent variable is whether or not the individual will return to their criminal behavior or not. The unit of analysis we will be studying is individual ex-offenders. Our goal will be to learn something about the population that we are studying and to gather information to identify certain common traits. Observations will be made using the longitudinal study method. Observations will be stretched over an extended period of time, and made twice a year for five years. The notion that having a job reduces the probability of recidivism is suitably confirmed throughout criminological literature. Employment offers the essential earnings for survival, increases self-esteem, advances the connection to a community, and progresses the impression of belonging to a group. Consequently, even if locating employment is strenuous for ex-offenders, a policy that aids these individuals in gaining...
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...It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back: The War on Drugs, Mass Incarceration, and a Call to Action for America's Black Youth By Carl L. Young An Alternative Plan Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science In Sociology: Corrections Minnesota State University, Mankato Mankato, Minnesota Spring 2013 Final Draft 4/20/2013 1 This Alternative Plan Paper has been examined and approved by the following members of the Examining Committee. _____________________ Dr. Leah Rogne, Advisor _____________________ Dr. William Wagner _____________________ Dr. Penny Jo Rosenthal _____________________ Dr. Nadarajan Sethuraju ________________ Date 2 A bstract This alternative plan paper examines the circumstances that have evolved as a incarceration of the Black community. In the last thirty years, the federal government of the United States of America has engaged in camp which has involved a variety of policies to stop the production, distribution and sale of illegal narcotics. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent in a war that has targeted the most vulnerable in our society, impacting its youth for generations to come. This alternative plan paper addresses...
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...It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back: The War on Drugs, Mass Incarceration, and a Call to Action for America's Black Youth By Carl L. Young An Alternative Plan Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science In Sociology: Corrections Minnesota State University, Mankato Mankato, Minnesota Spring 2013 Final Draft 4/20/2013 1 This Alternative Plan Paper has been examined and approved by the following members of the Examining Committee. _____________________ Dr. Leah Rogne, Advisor _____________________ Dr. William Wagner _____________________ Dr. Penny Jo Rosenthal _____________________ Dr. Nadarajan Sethuraju ________________ Date 2 Abstract This alternative plan paper examines the circumstances that have evolved as a result of the Reagan Administration’s War on Drugs and the increase of mass incarceration of the Black community. In the last thirty years, the federal government of the United States of America has engaged in campaign known as the “War on Drugs,” which has involved a variety of policies to stop the production, distribution and sale of illegal narcotics. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent in a war that has targeted the most vulnerable in our society, impacting its youth for generations to come. This alternative plan paper addresses the impact of the War on Drugs and the criminal justice policies that have impacted the life chances of Black youth nationwide and calls for a new social movement...
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