Black Lives Matter Summary

In today’s society, discrimination is an issue that is considered to be a thing of the past. In a country with such diversity it is hard to believe that people living in the “land of the free” face issues of racism. This paper will focus specifically on the social problem of mass incarceration of minority groups and how the criminal justice system targets these groups. Although this social problem can be linked to specifically African Americans, the impacts of mass incarceration can be felt by almost everyone. I have chosen three articles that focus on how the criminal justice system is masking mass imprisonment a major problem in minority communities.

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.

Although we would like to believe the world is not as racially charged in 2013 as it was in the 1960s, a look in our penal system would show that minorities are still arrested and incarcerated at a higher rate than whites. The United States has experienced a rise in its prison population over the last 40 years and our incarceration rate is nearly 5 times higher than any other country. Even though 13% of the US population are African American males, they make up 38% of the prison population. Contributing factors to these numbers are mandatory minimum sentences, high crime and poverty areas, and lack of rehabilitative resources within our system (p.77-78).

We have a Criminal Justice System that will treat you better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent. The United States has 25% of the worlds prisoners, weaponizing its black decent. In 1972, the prison population was around 300,000. Today, the prison population accounts for 2.3 million people. Mass incarceration mostly affects people of color, young to middle aged black men in particular. It began after the Civil War when they were arrested for extremely minor crimes. Slavery was an economic system that was essential, so when it was abolished, improvises were made. Mass incarceration is the product of a century's long historical process.

America has the largest justice system in the world. America also has the highest incarceration rate with over 2 million people in prison. African Americans account for approximately 40 percent of those inmates. Why is the incarceration rate so high for young black males? By examining the data and demographics, and the causes and consequences a greater understanding will be gained as to why these disparities exist.

There have been 100,000 African Americans in prison since Brown vs Board of education. The article states that the trend will continue, 1 of every 3 African American males are apparently born today can expect to go to prison in their time, 1 in 6 Latino males, compared to 1 in every 17 White males. But for women, it is much lower, but the ethnicity does not change: 1 out of 18 African Americans, 1 out of 45 Hispanics, and finally 1 of every 111 White females, are expected to serve some time in prison. At any given day, 1 in every 13 African American males between 30 to 39 will incarcerated in a state or federal prison on any given day. This compares to the demographics of the group because in communities of color they are not affected only by incarceration but by high

American has a legacy of the mistreatment and disenfranchisement of African Americans. The same bad treatment that many think only took place in the past is in fact still intact, it’s just presented in a new way. The mass incarceration of blacks in the Unites States can be attributed to the “racial hierarchy” that has always existed. The U.S contributes to about 5% of the worlds overall population, and about 25% of the worlds prison population (Holland 1), “if those rates reflected jail, probation and parole populations, the numbers would rise exponentially”(Griffith 9). Statics show that there is a chance that about 1 in 3 black males are expected end up in prison (Jacobson). Although, in terms of the entire United States population African Americans only make up about 13% (Prison Activist Resource Center. Racism Fact Sheets: “ Latinos and the Criminal Injustice System.” 2003). There is a huge number of African Americans involved in the criminal justice system in some way. The average person does not know about mass incarceration nor about the racism that is in just about every part of the criminal justice system. When most people think about racism their thoughts often drift to slavery or Jim Crow laws, but for most, they do not consider how the amount of African Americans in prison today could be due to bias or racism. A significant cause of mass incarceration is the same racism that produced the Jim Crow era.

Mass incarceration is the biggest challenge within the criminal justice system. Discrimination against African Americans was once legal; however, today it is legal to discriminate against criminals. Once you’re labeled a felon, many forms of discrimination comes into play such as employment and housing discrimination, denial of the right to vote, denial of educational opportunities, denial of food stamps, exclusion from jury service and much more. The United States now has its highest rate of incarceration in the world and the United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population. There is a widespread of beliefs that race no longer matters which has blinded us to the realities of race in our society.

As well as overall disparity of the justice based on one’s skin tone and or afro-centric features. Is our justice system as racist as we think it is? That specific question can be explained in many ways depending on who you are and what your whole perception on the matter is but we can no longer just sick back and continue to think that the way the system is running now is okay and there should be no change. “For much of the twentieth century, crime and punishment have provided some of the most powerful symbols of the racial divide in America. In the early decades, lynching’s, chain-gang style penal practices, and prosecutorial and judicial bigotry were common, particularly in the southern criminal justice systems” (Rosich, J. Katherine, 2007). This goes all the way back when the 13th amendment was set in our own Constitution, it states this, "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 subject to their jurisdiction." (Crutchfield, D. Robert & Fernandes,April & Martinez, Jorge,

“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.

Mass incarceration-a term most commonly used to define the alarming growth in population of incarcerated citizens in the United States.This epidemic has grown larger than ever before in the last four decades and its main focus? The black community. As an ever-growing society we like to think of ourselves as “colorblind” and remain convinced that the color of one's skin does not determine how we treat them. Contrary to popular belief this is surely not the case after centuries of slavery and discrimination for something only the eyes can see. Since the dawn of time African-Americans have been strategically placed into a broken system of poverty that

Most Americans would like to think that our criminal justice system is working the way it was intended, but they’re not aware that our criminal justice system shows strong evidence that it is biased and discriminatory in regards to minorities, the majority are African Americans. Studies show that African Americans are more aggressively targeted and punished throughout the system, not just during sentencing. Data collected nationally shows how race is correlated to drug use, police stops, arrests, likelihood to be released on bail, jury selection, trial, sentencing, prison as well as the option of capital punishment.

The Black Lives Matter movement has swept across America. It 's branched out with chapters in over 31 cities and held rallies and boycotts across the United States(Sidner). The Black Lives Matter movement started with the outrage of the death of a young man. It continues to take over headlines and raise awareness on police brutality and inequality. However, the movement has met resistance from the All Lives Matter group. This group thinks that Black Lives Matter is a movement to express hatred towards other races. However, statistics, the views of fellow citizens, and the overall purpose of the Black Lives Matter movement, can prove that the movement wasn 't meant to express hate on other races and that we need to support the movement instead of going against it.

Police Chief John J. Feeney speaks out about the lack of trust within communities of color and the law enforcement that reigns upon them.

“Why Black Lives Matter” by Andrews and Palmer (2013) revealed that Britain lacks job opportunities for black scholars forcing many black scholars to have to move to America. America’s higher education centers, unlike Britain, are more accepting of people of diverse backgrounds. The authors also exposed how Britain categorizes Blacks as being anyone who is not white, unlike other countries that categorizes Black people a being people of African Descent or live in the Diaspora. Basing my judgement off of the facts in the text, these authors feel that there is a need for more black scholars in Britain, due to the fact that the new generation if scholars need to be exposed to discussions that involves black studies. The authors of “Why Black Lives