Mass Incarceration Pros And Cons

The 13th Amendment to the constitution is a landmark amendment in the history of the United States and was the final step in abolishing slavery. The 13th Amendment to the constitution declared that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subjected to their jurisdiction” (Constitution). The beginning of this journey towards freeing slaves began when Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. He declared on January 1st, 1863 that all slaves in confederate states “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free” (Lincoln). The House of Representatives passed it on January 31st 1865. President Lincoln signed a Joint Resolution, February 1, 1865. Secretary of State William Seward issued a public
It has been used to incarcerate minorities a greater amount on average than their white counterparts. The rate of African Americans imprisoned has steadily increased over time to the point where it is today. On average 1 in 3 African Americans will be imprisoned in their life time. This reflects the issue of mass incarceration in the United States over time. The United States is 5% of the World’s population, but has 25% of the worlds prisoners. 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