a. The overall explanation for high incarceration rates in blacks is the fact that racism and “oppression” are still an everyday part of our society. The poverty levels and ambition levels of the lower class deem them outlaws because of the fact that achieving success when at the bottom is looked at as impossible goal. SO people set out to the streets to hustle and make money without having to do any hard work.
b. Black have a high incarceration rate on death row because of the fact that within the realms of poverty, there are family’s, and gangs, and when you have nothing you hold dear to the little that you have. And when something or someone is taken from you, payback is the only answer. Violence begets violence, when someone shoots up your homeboy, the only way to get pay back is to return the violence. In a 1990 examination of death penalty sentencing conducted by the United States General Accounting Office noted that the race of the victim was more likely to be charged with capital murder or given the death penalty on those whom murdered whites than those who murdered blacks (Capital Punishment in Context, n.d.).
The best explanation for high incarceration rates for Blacks compared to their percent of the general population is that because there is still discrimination and racism still exist, Blacks and minorities experiencing poverty have higher incarceration rates than the general population coming from a wealthy and well-educated background. Some Blacks rely on selling drugs as their income, to pay for education, or to provide for their families. When incarcerated, a good amount of blacks are not able to afford a great lawyer so in turn just ride out their jail/prison time.
Institutionalized racism is to blame for these disparate rates, because to this day there is a bias that one person, or one color is not as good as another. In the text book it says, “There seems to be compelling evidence from politicians, policy advocates, and respected scholars that the War on Drugs does discriminate by race, that the overrepresentation of people of color in the criminal justice system can in part be explained by drug policies that intentionally or unintentionally result in a disproportionate impact on racial minorities. Racial discrimination may be particularly apparent when examining case studies of certain drugs: crack cocaine and marijuana” (Collica & Furst, 2012).
Black are to blame for their high rates of crime because the black are the ones out doing the crimes. You can’t go out do a crime and then try to blame it on someone else. No one else made you shoot that gun, no one made you stab a person. We as people choose what we do and how our lives are going to play out.
Other factors that explain the high incarceration rate for Black men is that the “thug life” can’t be escaped in the low income /projects. You have to be a part or you are considered against. The idea to give up the thug life and get an education is not deemed as important. It’s more important to “get that paper” or “ride with the homies”. The value put on education and achieving excellence is not there. The school systems are not up to par, the value of education is not up to par. This dose not relate to everyone but I am sure that crime and dropout rates go hand in hand in areas where the black incarnation rates sore.
This problem can be solved with updating the education system in poorer neighborhoods. Putting more emphasis on higher learning and, stop allowing our country to make false accusations for their ability to be lazy. Slavery was a thing that happened over 200 years ago. There is not a person around who knew anyone who was a slave or owned a slave.. We need to let go of our bias and understand that at one point every culture has been or still is in some type of slavery, and to allow us to continue to use that as an excuse will only perpetuate the rift in society and furthere drive us as people and races from uniting and become the country that our fore fathers once wished us to be.
References:
Capital Punishment in Context. (n.d.). Race and the Death Penalty. Retrieved by http://www.capitalpunishmentincontext.org/issues/race
Collica, K. & Furst, G. (2012). Crime & society. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Educat