The Effects Of Mass Incarceration

1 in every 15 African American men and 1 in every 36 Hispanic men are incarcerated in comparison to 1 in every 106 white men. 2. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, one in three black men can expect to go to prison in their lifetime. Where as 1 in every 18 African American women and 1 in every 45 Latina Women are incarcerated in comparison to 1 in every 111 white women. (2010 Census) Research done by social scientist has concluded that the criminal justice system has profound and integral effects on certain communities that are most heavily impacted by the uneven incarceration rates. Systematic racism and mass incarceration is not a new tactic; it is a tactic that was at first called slavery but now has a new “race-blind” name.
According to a report done by the Ella Baker Center an organization that advocates for criminal justice and social reforms, the average family of an inmate occurs about $13,607 in debt for court-related causes. Of the family members responsible for these costs, 83 percent were women, women who are now forced into a single parent role and are expected to support the family with double parent income. Unjust mass incarceration affects not only directly but also indirectly. Mass incarceration only reinforces negative stereotypes about black men, such as that they are absent father, whereas their absence is caused by the same system that claims them to be absent. The incarceration also teaches women that the government can take better care of their children then they can even though it is due to them that the women have to depend on programs that help
There is overrepresentation of minority group members among those engaging in crime, but even after this is taken into account, people of color are overrepresented in U.S. prisons and jails. In fact, one study by the group Human Rights Watch found that black men are sentenced on drug charges at a rate that is more than 13 times higher than white men. As a minority I am afraid not only for myself, but also for my family, and for every non-white human being. Most people living in communities of color are law-abiding citizens who have little in the way of other housing options. They feel that they are stopped, hassled, and disrespected by police just as often as those who are actually committing crimes. This system of oppression needs to be fixed not only for people of the present but also for the people of