In the story “A nation of jailers” Glen Loury emphasizes that the correctional system in the United States has increased greatly within recent years. He points out that other countries have a high crime rate, but the United States has the highest incarceration rate than any other country in the world. Loury develops the problem in the story by stating that most citizens imprisoned in our correctional system are poor uneducated black and Hispanic men. He goes on to say that America has become a nation of jailers and arguably racist jailers at that…
Each of the articles identified common themes relevant to the topic of minority incarceration that contributed to the findings discussed in this paper. Though each article addressed the topic of minority incarceration and shared common themes, each article presented them through a slightly different lens. The three most common themes will be discussed in a similar order to the ways in which they are presented in the articles, beginning with the historical outlines and the social acceptance of the metanarratives that target minorities, and will end on the prevalence of incarceration among…
African Americans constitute nearly 1 million of the nearly 2.3 million of the incarcerated population. And, according to the NAACP, African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites (NAACP). According to Unlocking America, “if African American and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates of whites, today’s prison and jail populations would decline by approximately 50%” (NAACP). These statistics show the harsh effects of mass incarceration and how the prison system is targeting minorities, specifically Blacks and…
“Since the 1970s the rate of incarceration in the United States has quadrupled, after having been relatively flat over the prior half-century.”-Anthony Zurcher. The rate of prison incarcerations has increased so much over the years; the government can’t afford to incarcerate that many people. Karen Thomas’s article “Time to Invest in Schools, Note Prisons” shows that United States incarcerates too many criminals violent and non-violent. Joan Petersilia said in her article “Beyond the Prison Bubble” that, the United States has the highest incarceration rate of any free nation. This also supports the idea that The United States incarcerates too many people.…
Jail is usually the first place a person is taken after being arrested by police officers. Most cities have at least one jail, and persons are taken directly there after they are arrested; in less populated areas, arrestees may be taken first to a police station and later to the nearest jail. Many jails are also used for the short-term incarceration of persons convicted of minor crimes. Men make up almost all of the prison and state population, the number is at 90%, and they have an imprisonment rate 14 times higher than the rate for women. According to Tyjen Tsai and Paola Scommegna who wrote,“U.S Has the Highest Incarceration rate,” there is an increased number of minorities in prison and jail compared to whites, “Latinos were incarcerated at 1,258 per 100,000, and white men were incarcerated at 459 per 100,000. Since 2007”(Tsia, Scommegna), however, the incarceration rate in the United States has tapered slightly and the 2010 prison population saw a decline—of 0.3 percent—for the first time since 1972, according to the…
Throughout human history, prisons have been portrayed as institutions that are set to protect the masses, and punish those that need to be punished. However, by analyzing the prison system, the fact of the matter is that prisons exist to protect dominant groups and vilify and criminalize minority groups. This is an evident and clear fact that can be seen through the numerous statistics that support the fact that visible minorities and racialized individuals are incarcerated at alarming rates, compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Therefore, although it is an ugly truth, the prison system is set up to perpetuate structural inequalities, and reinforce dominant ideologies over who is “good” and who is “bad”, by vilifying the actions of one…
Prisons are already filled beyond maximum capacity, and we continue to keep incarcerating more people. What can be done to end the problem of prison overcrowding and maintain the safety of the public? I chose this topic because I wanted to shine a light on what I consider to be an injustice. I believe that the criminal justice system needs a complete overhaul. When I chose this topic, I wasn’t fully aware of the mandatory sentencing guidelines or how harsh they were. I always believed that judges had more leeway in deciding sentencing. Originally, I hadn’t even considered the possibility of criminal corporal punishment, because I believed it was cruel and something that other less civilized countries would do, not America. I believe that the prison overcrowding problem can be resolved by changing our laws regarding nonviolent offenders, abolishing the mandatory sentencing guidelines and using alternative solutions that do not involve incarceration.…
There are currently over 2.2 million inmates in the American prison system (The Sentencing Project). This is of notable significance because it is a huge percentage of our country’s population especially when compared to other countries around the world. The United States of America accounts for approximately 5% of the overall world population, however, its citizens make up 25% of world prisoners (NAACP). I wanted to explore how people viewed this issue and what factors determine differentiating opinions.…
In, “Beyond the Prison Bubble,” published in the Wilson Quarterly in the winter 2011, Joan Petersilia shows different choices about the imprisonment systems. The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any free nation (para.1). The crime rate over a thirty year span had grown by five times since 1960 to 1990. There are more people of color or Hispanics in federal and state institutions then there are of any other nationality. The prison system is growing more than ever; the growth in twenty years has been about 21 new prisons. Mass imprisonment has reduced crime but, has not helped the inmate to gradually return back to society with skills or education. But the offenders leaving prison now are more likely to have fairly long criminal records, lengthy histories of alcohol and drug abuse, significant periods of unemployment and homelessness, and physical or mental disability (par.12).…
Incarceration rates have dramatically increased in the United States than in anywhere else in the world. In fact, according to “Incarceration nation,” America has about 707,000 incarcerated people compared to Russia, who has about 474,000 people. Not only has this caused a problem inside the prison walls, it has also increased economic situations for stakeholders.The recent increase in incarceration rates has had negative effects on the United States economy by causing an increase in expenditure on prisons that could be better used for education. This increase in incarceration rates has also led to overcrowding in prisons, leading to unsuitable conditions for prisoners and prison workers.…
In conclusion, mass incarceration among black males is a big social problem here in America. Over the past 40 years, the prison population has increased substantially. As a result of disparities in arrests and sentencing, this upsurge has disproportionately affected black communities. Just to reinstate, black men are imprisoned six times the rate of white males. It is estimated that black men have a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison in their…
The United States of America has more than 2 million people in prison or jail, making it the country with the most inmates. There are almost as many prisoners in the U.S as there is inhabitants in a small or medium sized country. The high number of prisoners is due to regulations brought to the United States that stated that in order to keep the citizens safe, the government had to be “tough on crime.” Whether that meant keeping people in prison for a long period of time or incarcerating more citizens, some points were clear; it was meant to promote punishment and to install fear. Being “tough on crime” and trying to eliminate it could have meant trying different methods that would prevent prisoners from reoffending. Instead, higher authorities…
American prisons have a disparity of minority inmate population, and one of the reasons this is so is because of the manner the judicial system operates. The investigator chose this topic because there are many African Americans and Hispanics that have been incarcerated for crimes they committed, as well as for crimes they didn’t commit, and because of their cultural background they were given severer sentencing. After performing the research the investigator found that many factors played a big part in the incarceration of minorities that included, ethnicity and gender. Although there is a high crime rate in minority areas, there are more minorities that are placed in jail due to the lack of a fair trial by the judicial system, and convicted of crimes they didn’t commit compared to their counterparts.…
As Glenn C. Loury(2007) says in her article Race and the transformation of criminal justice , Why are so many Americans in Prison, Boston Review…
One thing is clear - there are far too many people in American prisons. There are far too many 'criminals ' in prison despite the fact that they pose no significant threat to society. As a result - otherwise productive citizens are sitting in a jail cell costing taxpayers money to look after.…