African American Incarceration And The Advancement Of Colored People

Due to the discrimination of African-Americans, and oppression resulting from it, the government, justice system, educational system, and society has made it clear that African-American teenagers obtaining a thorough and effective education is the least of their concerns. It is almost as though African-American teenagers are purposely being set up to fail. As stated in “The Oppression of Black People, The Crimes of This System and the Revolution we need”, “Today the schools are more segregated than they have been since the 1960s with urban, predominantly Black and Latino schools receiving fewer resources and set up to fail. These schools more and more resemble prisons

Through the use of literature to inspire social change, Michelle Alexander is able to bring attention to an extremely important social issue that is very prevalent throughout our country. The issue that Alexander is writing about is the mass incarceration of black males in the United States. She describes this increase of mass incarceration in depth, and relates this modern form of social control back to an old practice of the Jim Crow laws and separate but equal segregation.

The incarceration rates have grown tremendously since the last time someone can remember. The largest jailer in the world is the United States. Philadelphia, however, has the nation’s highest incarceration rates. Surprisingly, 60% of them are still awaiting trial but 72% of them are black. Research has show’s that mass incarceration rates goes hand in hand with segregated cities.

Overall, the United States prison system and society’s view of African Americans needs to change. People need to make sure that the mistakes society has made in the past do not repeat themselves. In order to fix many of the existing problems it is important to focus on reforming the prison system. Doing so would prevent many future cases of injustice and racial

The United States accounts for 5% of the world population, but our prison population makes up 25% of the world’s (Nagin, 2014). African Americans account for the largest percent of our prison population because they have the highest incarceration rate compared to other races. This essay will argue that African Americans are incarcerated at a higher rate than Caucasians. Proven by statistical data, there are grounds to establish that the racial disparity in incarceration rates is a social problem. To address this social problem, public policy should be implemented by the Federal Government.

We live in a Nation that has the highest incarceration rate in the entire world, standing at about 700 for every 100,000 people are incarcerated. To put that into perspective that's about 1.6 to 2 million people of the 315 million people in the U.S. With about 40% of them being African American. 40% may not sound very high but, the surprising fact around all of these statistics, is only 13% of the entire population is African American. You may ask yourself how is this possible? Well let’s talk about that. The three major factors that contribute to high black incarceration rates are due to broken black communities/growth roots, the recidivism cycle and prejudice among police forces.

Statistics show that throughout American history, African American’s incarceration rates have always been higher than white American’s incarceration rates. The actual incarceration rate in America started dramatically increasing during the 1970’s and the US continues to be the country with the highest incarceration rate. To get a sense of just how much it has grown, in 2011 the prison population was at more than two million compared to 300,00 in 1970. Just in 2009 alone, the incarceration rate of African Americans was 3,119 per 100,000 Americans, compared to the rate of white Americans which was only 487 per 100,000 Americans.2 The gap is huge, especially since white American incarceration rate wasn’t even close to being in the thousands and this statistic makes the disparity glaring. The future and predictions aren’t looking any better either, in 2001 the Bureau of Justice

The kind of racism going on in the United States right now makes it nearly impossible to call it out because of the smoke screen created. Racism entrenched in the law can continue unabated because the public and the world will not have a reason to speak against the act of injustice. After all, one committed a crime and was justly punished for it. As this goes on, African American men continue to become a frustrated lot. The police unleash unnecessary brutality on them, invade their privacy in the name of applying the law and downright trample on their constitutional rights. Black children grow up with the mentality that they are not good enough like their white counterparts. In effect, they drop out of school and end up doing odd jobs or engage

The trend of African American males between the ages of 25 and 29 has seen a dramatic increase of incarceration. Attention has been focusing on areas of housing, education, and healthcare but the most prominent problem for African American males is the increase in the incarceration rate. African American males between the ages of 25 and 29 incarceration rate has been thought, by many, to be caused by economic factors such as under employment or unemployment, poor housing, lack of education, and lack of healthcare. Yet, others believe it is due to the imbalance of minorities within the criminal justice system, such as judges, lawyers, and lawmakers.

The judicial system has negatively impacted the African American population with mass incarceration, especially for African American women. African American women are being incarcerated at all time high, and there should be a national outcry for these women. When women are incarcerated, she is labeled and stigmatized by their incarceration. Society views incarcerated women as deviant who has gone against social norms. However, research and data has shown that more men are imprisoned, but women serve longer sentences for the same charge. Incarceration is time for self-learning, self-evaluating and self-caring to become a changed person than before entering prison. This is the purpose of incarceration force an individual to

The disproportionate numbers of African Americans in the prison system is a very serious issue, which is not usually discussed in its totality. However, it is quite important to address the matter because it ultimately will have an effect on African Americans as a whole.

America has the highest prevalence of jailing its citizens. Nearly 2.3 million Americans are behind bars or nearly one percent of the adult population at any given time (Campbell, Vogel, & Williams, 2015). As of 2014, African Americans make up 34% of the incarcerated population. As a result, a disproportionate amount of African American youth will experience a parent’s incarceration. Research has shown that children of incarcerated parents experience emotional problems, socioeconomic problems, and cognitive disturbances (Miller, 2007). In this paper, I will discuss the impact of mass incarceration in the African American community and its effect on African American children.

In the United States the number of people placed in prison has increased almost 5 times more among the 1980 and 2009. Minorities were greatly impacted, while Blacks completed thirty-eight percent of the prison population. Blacks make up thirteen percent of the U.S population. It is said stated that by a Black male reach the age of thirty, twenty-one percent will serve time within the prison system. As for White males, only 2.5% will serve in the prison system. While increasing, Black males will more likely spend more time within the criminal justice system, rather than attend college. It is revealed that this disparity is associated with the battle with drugs and sentencing, which would mandate longer prison time for low-level drug charges

“The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. In Washington, D.C., our nation’s capitol, it is estimated that three out of four young black men (and nearly all those in the poorest neighborhoods) can expect to serve time in prison” (Alexander, 2012). The numbers tell the story better than words can: black people are more likely to go to prison than any other race in the United States, shown by the fact that more than 60% of the prison population is composed of people of color (The Sentencing Project, 2016). These statistics can be traced back to several different cause, including the Era of Jim Crow and the War on Drugs, both of which led to higher policing in minority areas.

The issue of racial disproportion in the United States has been an ongoing topic in history since slavery. As Americans we are affected by racial injustices everyday. One may not realize how their own racial identity plays a part in their everyday life experiences. The dynamics of racial oppression and privilege with the United States is incredibly complex ranging from the time of establishment to present day. The present day racial inequality within the criminal justice system and incarceration rates has peaked in the United States over the last 30 years. According to the NAACP the number of incarcerated individual has quadruples from roughly 500.00 to 2.3 million people. In 2008 African American and Hispanics comprised of 58% of the