Causes Of Mass Incarceration In America

When you think of mass incarceration it is imperative to look at the causes that affect minorities. One major thing that produced an increase in mass incarceration is the war on drugs. The war on drugs has impacted minorities in a major way. The war on drugs pushed policymakers to structure laws that were targeting underprivileged individual mainly minorities group. In addition, “The deinstitutionalisation of people with mental illnesses, and punitive sentencing policies such as three-strike laws (mandating life imprisonment for third offences of even relatively minor felonies) and mandatory minimum sentences for specific offence, even for some first0time offenders undoubtedly helped to both launch mass incarceration and keep it going” (Wilderman, & Wang, 2017, p. 1466). The war on drugs came during a time when crack cocaine became widespread in the black community. The popularity of crack cocaine became prevalent and accessible for many low-income individuals. Therefore, the high rate of crime that was induced by the crack epidemic forced many jobs to leave the communities. However, the structuring of laws put more emphasis on crack cocaine than powder cocaine. Not to mention, crack cocaine is prevalent in minority communities, and powder cocaine is present in the majority community. According to Martensen (2012), “Not only does this deny accessible goods and services to local residents, it likewise decreases the local job opportunities available for community members” (p. 214). Consequently, many African American called on the police to take action against the same people that looked just like them. Crutchfield, & Weeks (2015) states, “Some of the changes during this period of increased incarceration that disadvantaged people of color coming into the justice system were implemented with the help and support of African American political leadership” (p. 109). Therefore, lawmakers had to come up with a solution to address the issue. Law-makers created laws that put emphasis on arresting drug dealers for selling drugs. These small-time drug dealers were becoming a hazard to the community. However, the laws begin to cause harm to all that looked brown or black whether

African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated; that is 60% of 30% of the African American population. African Americas are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites. “Between 6.6% and 7.5% of all black males ages 25 to 39 were imprisoned in 2011, which were the highest imprisonment rates among the measured sex, race, Hispanic origin, and age groups." (Carson, E. Ann, and Sabol, William J. 2011.) Stated on Americanprogram.org “ The Sentencing Project reports that African Americans are 21 percent more likely to receive mandatory-minimum sentences than white defendants and are 20 percent more likely to be sentenced to prison.” Hispanics and African Americans make up 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population. (Henderson 2000). Slightly 15% of the inmate population is made up of 283,000 Hispanic prisoners.

Mass Incarceration is a predicament in the U.S. because in the land of the free, there are more than two million people in prison. Prisons are homes to the majority of twenty-two percent of the U.S. population. The U.S. has a massive incarceration rate, seven hundred and sixteen per every one hundred thousand. The U.S. makes five percent of the world’s population and the third country in which most people live in but number one incarcerating humans.

Black and Hispanic Americans are more likely to end up in prison. As Carroll writes, “According to the U.S. census, blacks are incarcerated five times more than whites are, and hispanics are nearly twice as likely to be incarcerated as whites. Hispanic men are 2.4 times more likely, to a sentencing project analysis of the data”. Given these statistics, the most important question is: why is the disparity so great between whites, blacks and Hispanics in terms of the prison population.

In the U.S. there has been a rise in incarcerations, the numbers today are much higher than they were 30, 40 years ago despite the fact that crime is at historic lows. So what are we to make of the leap in time typically served for crimes in America’s society? Either the justice system was too lenient in the past, or the justice system is too strict now. Have we just now realized the real gravity of murder, or are we now overreacting? The United States currently over-incarcerates its citizens, prisoners have become part of the economy, manufacturing and assembling products for major corporations. Based on the research, it would be unethical to continue a trend of mass incarceration when the conditions are unsustainable, inhumane, and the product of unethical polices.

The United States of America has more people incarcerated than any other country on earth, a whopping 2,220,300 adults are currently locked behind bars. We have 500,000 more citizens locked up than China, a country 5 times our population run by an authoritarian government. From 1990 - 2000 the prison population increased by 1,000,000. The main reason for incarceration as a punishment in this country is rehabilitation, or so we have been told. In recent years an industry has developed that revolves around high incarceration rates and lengthy sentences, needless to say business is booming. The for-profit prison industry now makes millions off the backs of American inmates their families and every American taxpayer. The two largest

When the word America is mentioned many people get a vision. Majority of people see it as the land of the free and where many opportunities await. In many eyes, our nation (America) is viewed as being number one, all around the board. That, I can say is true but when it comes to the incarceration of its citizens, it’s not so free after all. According to Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia (2009), “the United States has the highest documented incarceration rate, and total documented prison population in the world. As of year-end 2007, a record 7.2 million people were behind bars, on probation, or on parole. Of the total, 2.3 million were incarcerated. More than 1 in 100 American adults were incarcerated at the start of 2008. The People’s Republic of China ranks second with 1.5 million, while having four times the population, thus having only about 18% per the U.S. incarceration rate.” (1) Also, “in 2002, 93.2% of the prisoners were male. About 10.4% of all black males in the United States between the ages 25 and 29 were sentenced and in prison, compared to 2.4% of Hispanic males, and 1.3% of white males.” (2) When reading theses statistics, I didn’t know if I was mad, or if I was just really in awe.

Despite the United States being the global leader in incarceration rates, Incarceration is also an issue in several other countries. Mass Incarceration is a social phenomenon that is typically discussed solely as an American crisis, but Australia and Brazil experience this crisis as well. Brazil and Australia also share a history of slavery which has been influential towards the prevalence of mass imprisonment which is why their history will be discussed as well.

What explains the rapid rise in incarceration rates that has occurred throughout the United States during the last two decades? The rapid rise in incarceration rates can be cause by the repeating arrest of offenders. Also, drug possession can be a cause of the rapid rise in incarceration rates in the United States. Many people who are in possession of small amounts of drugs are being sentenced to long prison sentences.

According to Frank Schmalleger “On January 1, 2013, the nation’s state and federal prisons held 1,571,013 inmates, of which 1,512,391 were serving sentences of a year or more. Slightly more than 7% (or 108,866) of those imprisoned were women” (Schmalleger, p. 429). After further examination of prison statistics based on race a huge disparity was evident between blacks and whites in prison. “ Whereas only and estimated 1,001 white men are imprisoned in the United States for every 100,000 white men in their late 20s, figures show and incarcerations rate of 6,927 black men for every 100,000 black men of the same age—seven times greater than the figure for whites” (Schmallager, p. 430).

The United States is one of the largest countries in the world so high incarceration rates are expected. However, this rate has drastically increased in the past forty years, surpassing those of countries such as China, which has a population four times larger than the United States

Minorities are disproportionately represented in statistics. African Americans represent about 14 percent of the population, but account for more than 38 percent of all violent offenses. African Americans also hold 28.6 of all arrests for property crimes. An estimated 12 percent of all black males in their late 20s are in jail. Only 1.7 of all white males in their twenties are incarcerated. Although there is this information its wrong to say that race and crime are related in any way. There may be a bias against minorities in the court system. Blacks are sent to prison at a rate of 8.2 times higher than whites. If trends continue two-thirds of every black men between the ages of 18 and 34

This interview source which I found by googling it. The interviewee talks about the increased rate of prison since the 1970s and the fact that black men are 6 times more likely to be locked up than white men. The author specializes in criminal justice. He is also

The issue is that we incarcerate too many people. “The US incarcerates people at the highest rate, too: 707 out of every 100,000 residents (International Centre for Prison Studies 2014a)”. Now let’s compare that to other countries, “The average incarceration rate across Europe is a comparatively paltry 140 out of 100,000 residents, with the rate of incarceration in 19 countries (including Austria, the Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, and Germany) in only the double digits… According to official reports, there are 530,000 more people in American prisons than in Chinese ones, despite the fact that China has roughly a billion more residents” (Skarbek, David. 2014, Prisonomics: Lessons from America's Mass Incarceration. Economic Affairs, 34:

The United States of America is ranked number one when it comes to highest prison populations in the world. If we were to examine the prisoners in the facilities, we would find that a very large amount of them are minorities. If we were to take a look at their cases and see what they have been put in prison for as well as their sentences we would most likely find that racism is a large factor when determining their sentence. In many cases an african american male who is charged with possession of marijuana and is on their first offense will be definitely more likely to receive a more severe punishment than if it were a caucasian male.