Argumentative Essay On Mass Incarceration
To end mass incarceration, the public’s attention needs to shift from a civil rights campaign to a moral crusade that advocates on behalf of criminals. The widespread aversion to advocacy on behalf of those labeled criminals reflects a certain political reality. Many think that spending money on criminal justice reform is unwise. Their thoughts exist because criminals are the one social group in America that everyone across political, racial and class boundaries feels free to hate.
We can continue down the civil rights road, but it has not made much of a difference. African-Americans, as a group, are no better off than they were in 1968 in many respects. To some extent, their plight is even worse.
As unemployment rates sank to historically …show more content…
Prisoners are erased from the nation’s economic picture, leading standard estimates to underestimate the true jobless rate by as much as 24 percentage points for less-educated black men. Young African American men were the only group to experience a steep increase in joblessness between 1980 and 2000, a development directly traceable to the increase in the penal population.
If we become serious about dismantling the system of mass incarceration, we must end the War on Drugs. The drug war is responsible for the prison boom and the creation of the new under caste, and there is no path to freedom for communities of color that includes this conflict.
What began as a fierce federal program has spread to every state in the nation and nearly every city. It has infected law enforcement activities on roads, sidewalks, highways, train stations, airports, and the nation’s border. The war has effectively shredded portions of the U.S. Constitution, eliminating Fourth Amendment protections once deemed bullet-proof, and it has militarized policing practices in inner cities across
We can continue down the civil rights road, but it has not made much of a difference. African-Americans, as a group, are no better off than they were in 1968 in many respects. To some extent, their plight is even worse.
As unemployment rates sank to historically …show more content…
Prisoners are erased from the nation’s economic picture, leading standard estimates to underestimate the true jobless rate by as much as 24 percentage points for less-educated black men. Young African American men were the only group to experience a steep increase in joblessness between 1980 and 2000, a development directly traceable to the increase in the penal population.
If we become serious about dismantling the system of mass incarceration, we must end the War on Drugs. The drug war is responsible for the prison boom and the creation of the new under caste, and there is no path to freedom for communities of color that includes this conflict.
What began as a fierce federal program has spread to every state in the nation and nearly every city. It has infected law enforcement activities on roads, sidewalks, highways, train stations, airports, and the nation’s border. The war has effectively shredded portions of the U.S. Constitution, eliminating Fourth Amendment protections once deemed bullet-proof, and it has militarized policing practices in inner cities across