Felony Criminal Justice System

One of the more controversial debates in today’s political arena, especially around election times, is that of felon disenfranchisement. The disenfranchisement of felons, or the practice of denying felons and ex-felons the right to vote, has been in practice before the colonization of America and traces back to early England; however, it has not become so controversial and publicized until recent times. “In today’s political system, felons and ex-felons are the only competent adults that are denied the right to vote; the total of those banned to vote is approximately 4.7 million men and women, over two percent of the nation’s population” (Reiman 3).

This obvious job discrimination shows that there are significant negative effects on blacks even after their prison sentence has been served. With less opportunity than whites to enter back into the workforce after incarceration, blacks end up having a higher rate of return to prison (USDOJ, 2008).

The permanence of one’s social exile is often the hardest to swallow. For many it seems unconceivable that for a minor offense, you can be subjected to discrimination, scorn, and exclusion for the rest of your life. When someone is convicted of crime today, their debt to society is never paid. The cruel hand that Frederick Douglas spoke of more than 150 years ago has appeared once again. In every state across our nation, African Americans, particularly in the poorest neighborhoods, are subjected to tactics and practices that would result in public outrage and scandal if committed in middle-class white neighborhoods. When the War on Drugs gained full steam in the mid-1980’s, prison admissions for African Americans skyrocketed , nearly quadrupling

Alexander’s main premises focuses on the large majority of African American men imprisoned today, as she reflects on the direct result of it that “young black men today may be just as likely to suffer discrimination in employment, housing, public benefits. And jury service as a black man in the Jim Crow era- discrimination that is perfectly legal, because it is based on one’s criminal record.” (Alexander, 181) Alexander points out not only how a significant portion of black men are ending up in prison, but how when released they face discrimination because of their criminal record making them unable to rehabilitate their lives and putting them back into the ghetto. Discrimination is a main factor which puts people of color in the penal system, and a main factor which when getting out keeps them from changing their lifestyle for the better.

Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that reinforced racial segregation in the South between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the beginning of the civil rights movement in the 1950’s (Urofsky). The laws mandated segregation of schools, drinking fountains, restrooms, buses, and restaurants. In legal theory, blacks

The citizens of the United States of America have a long history of having to fight for their right to vote, and while women and people of color do have the right, another group of people is facing a difficult time being able to vote. This other group is the felons, but understandably so: a felon’s ability to make critical decisions for the United country is sure to be questioned. Felon disenfranchisement serves as a barrier between individuals who are qualified to vote and those who are not. The reasons that felons are not qualified to make such important decisions for Americans is that their actions show a lack of good judgement and they show a disregard for the social contract. The ignorance toward the social contract, the types of felonies committed, and the judgement that felons have is questioned, and exactly what the impact may be in regard to our society and the future of our country is explained. There should be a few exceptions, and not all felons should suffer the same fate that those who committed a serious felony do.

Introduction 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.

All societal groups are affected by the issue of imprisonment, but it is a far more likely occurrence among marginalized cultural groups, particularly African Americans. As the United States celebrates the nation's triumph over race with the selection of Barack Obama as the first African American male president, a majority of young black males in major American cities are locked behind bars, or categorized felons for life (Alexander, 2010, p. 1). Bonczar and Beck (1997) report that:

Social Conditions of black people in the criminal justice. By understanding explanations of racial incarceration disparity present in U.S. Society. Marxist or economic theories of racial incarceration disparity propose that the real bias incarceration is not race, but economic class(Yates 97). Moreover, they posit that, “because of historical disadvantages, black are

New Jim Crow Term Paper Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness goes into great detail on race related issues that were specific to black males, the mass incarceration, and how that lead to the development of institutionalized racism in the

Blacks, Prison, And Institutional Racism Description: The title pretty much says it all in this one. This paper addresses the issue of blacks in prison and explores the socio-economic causes and solutions. This paper uses many govermentally commissioned reports. Blacks, Prison, and Institutional Racism Introduction Criminal justice and security is one of the largest industries in the United States. Such a statistic is (and rightly so) of great concern to Afro-Americans because a disproportionate percentage of individuals under the control of the US Criminal Justice System are from the Black community. This paper will look at the alarming statistics and attempt to trace the roots of the

Getting on When Getting Out Getting on with life after getting out of prison shouldn’t be as difficult as society and the government make it. By labeling someone a criminal the stigma that follows them will continue for the rest of their lives. There is discrimination with employment, housing and under federal law, people convicted of drug felonies are deemed ineligible for food stamps. The penal system appears to be a system of social control rather than a system of crime prevention. “Many of Wisconsin 's Black Male Offenders Go Back to Prison, Struggle to Stay Out” is an article about the black men in prison and how Larry Jackson’s first run in with the law placed him in a juvenile center when he was only nine years old. For 20 years he has been in and out of prison, this paper will attempt to apply theories on why it is so difficult for young men to stay out of prison.

Mass Incarceration: From Jim Crow to Public Enemy Number One “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 Prison Industrial Complex has created a system of force free labor that strips prisoners of their political, economic, and social rights, ultimately relegating them to second-class citizenship, inside and outside of the prison walls. Denying former enslaved people citizenship was essential to the formation of the original union and

 The Blumstein study conducted in 1982, found a disproportion between black and white incarceration rates of seven-to-one (Hawkins & Hardy, 1989).  In the research done by the American Journal of Sociology to explain the wage gap between black and white men found that an increased number of unemployed black men were