Mass Incarceration In The Criminal Justice System

There is no question that mass incarceration is a worldwide epidemic that needs to be discussed and addressed. America has five percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of the world’s prison population (Just Leadership USA, 2017) Various policies dated back centuries helped to create this problem of mass incarceration (Just Leadership USA, 2017). Today there are 2.3 million Americans incarcerated throughout the state, local, and federal jails (Just Leadership USA, 2017). New York City (NYC) houses approximately 10,000 inmates per year; 43.7% of these inmates are diagnosed with having a mental health disability (New York City Department of Corrections, 2017). 54% of the inmates on Rikers Island are arrested for a minor offense and should be able to fight their cases from home; however, in many instances the family members are of low socio-economic status and unable to post bail (New York City Department of Corrections, 2017). Minor offenses include loitering, jumping the turnstiles, unnecessary Parole / Probation violations, and trespassing. In many instances, it is the mentally ill and homeless individuals who are arrested for trespassing as they elect to sleep in the subways instead of taking residency in a shelter. Moreover, many of these offenses does not have to result in an arrest. Police officers have the autonym to let some of these individuals go with a warning, desk ticket, and/or summons.

Mass Incarceration is a huge problem in United States culture. No other country in the world incarcerates its population the way that America does. “The U.S. incarcerates more people than any country in the world – both per capita and in terms of total people behind bars. The U.S. has less than 5 percent of the world’s population, yet it has almost 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated population.” Worse yet the majority of the incarcerated individuals belong to a minority group despite not participating in illegal activity any more frequently than their white counterparts. Is the United States criminal justice system racist and if so what is the cause behind this racism. After the end of slavery, many southern black Americans traveled to the north to escape endless violence and discrimination. In the south they could only find low paying field jobs whereas in the northern cities there were steady factory jobs promised as well as the hope that discrimination could be escaped. The northerners while against slavery were not egalitarian and were not in favor of hoards of black Americans surging into their cities and taking jobs away from the white working poor. The need for social control by white Americans only grew with the population of black Americans living in the cities and working in the factories. The rhetoric of “law and order” first came about in the late 1950s as white opposition to the Civil Rights Movement was encouraged by southern governors and law enforcement.

American prison systems encompass all three spheres of criminal justice: law enforcement, judiciary, corrections. Within this system, a massive problem exists. America is known as the “mass incarceration nation” (Hamilton, 2014, p. 1271). Comparatively, the United States encompasses the majority of global prisoners, yet the population is nowhere near that proportion. Just how “free and equal” is this system? Since Gideon v. Wainwright, the racial divide in the criminal justice system has grown, which is contradictory to its intentions. The American criminal justice system has failed to provide the justice and protections it promises. There are many injustices caused by the mass incarceration of American citizens, especially those of minority descent. More harm is done by incarceration to the individual, their community, and the nation, than if other forms of justice were used. The criminal justice system is divided, with racial and income disparities defining the nation in way never intended.

There are over one hundred twenty correctional facilities within America continuously growing over time. Within these facilities, more than two million prisoners are kept for committing various crimes during their lifetime. Out of the many people detained in these prisons, African Americans make up a significant portion of this population. Specifically, African American males contribute to its high number of inhabitants. From this information, it can be inferred that many families are left without providers and support. With this in mind, many poor neighborhoods and African American families lacking one or more providers struggle to maintain stability with jobs, financial dependency and

Mass incarceration is a real problem that is currently affecting minority groups across America. Even though the U.S. is a country where everyone is equal to the eyes of the law no matter their race, it seems that is not the case anymore. Throughout, its history the U.S. government has taken advantage of minority groups and has manipulated its laws in order cast out those who aren’t considered worthy enough to belong to the American society. The time has come to put a stop to this discriminatory government and the time has come for the judicial system to change its laws and policies to give an equal opportunity to any human being. Race shouldn't define your future or the probabilities of someone going to prison. Everyone should be given an

The role of the penal system in America is to uphold the rule of law by imposing punishment such as probation or prison time (depending on the crime) for people who violate the law. Few fail to realize the statistical makeup of the penal system, which includes factors such as race, gender, and criminal offense. After researching data on mass incarceration, it came to my attention that the criminal justice system, we want to protect us, is doing more harm than good. Mass incarceration is a form of racial injustice and economic inequality within America.

Over time, policies have been changed and implemented into our government system to enforce change in our society. Implementation of policies is meant to create a boundary line to minimize crime and maintain safety in communities. Most of the times, those policies are strictly enforced to disproportionately target certain ethnic groups under actions of racism and stereotyping. But the consequences of crossing that line to go against government policies cost you more than a bailout fine, resulting in a variety of punishments in which the government and the public see fit for the given crime. To show a deep understanding of the concept, Melinda Anderson explains in “How Mass Incarceration Pushes Black Children Further Behind School,” how the

Mass incarceration has had a huge impact in the United States on a multitude of levels. The costs of many people in jail has had a huge impact on the U.S. economy. Using taxpayers money for funding mass incarceration has left less money for other programs much needed in our society, such as higher education and health care. Mass incarceration has broken up families and led to the decay of communities. Without a doubt, mass incarceration has impacted the lives of African Americans. This group of people has been the most affected by this phenomenon. (Human Rights Watch & Golvin, 2008).

In the U.S. many people may argue that racial disparity is non-existent in today’s time. Those people usually are ignorant to the fact that even though america has come a long way they still have so far to go. From the slavery days, to segregation, to now, a time where a white and black person can sit down together in the same setting and be civilized is great, but if the two get into an illegal situation and both have to be put on trial, who will be the one that is cruelly convicted? Who sentencing will have more time? The Black man, in all cases this may not be true, but in most cases it is. So therefore, even though america came a long way there still needs to be an improvement in their legal system because African-Americans

In Trump’s America, it is difficult not to be distracted by the shiny objects presented, and look at real problems that face American society. One such problem is the history and ongoing effects of poverty in the United States. Even though it has been at the forefront of political discussion since Lyndon B. Johnson declared the War on Poverty during his 1964 State of the Union address, poverty has yet to be successfully eradicated. Using the three parts of the Sociological Imagination, linking past to present, linking microsociology to macrosociology, and recognizing the role of power, research can explain why one of the richest nations to exist has such a deeply troubling issue so ingrained in its history.

Incarceration should not be the only form of punishment in the United States just like it is not in most developed nations. I agree with Dr. Bryant’s week three statements about the word discretion being used as camouflage for discrimination. The stakeholders in the criminal justice system used huge amount of discretion when performing their duties. In this case, the law enforcement officers, prosecutors, defenders, judges etc. The police officer can decide when making an arrest to handcuff the accused, send the accused to the community based service program or gave the accused a ride to his or her parent and warn the accused not to do it again. It all depends on how the officer chooses to use the discretion at his disposal. Indiscriminate

America is experiencing a social phenomenon commonly referred to as mass incarceration, in which the rate of incarceration has increased by, “...has grown by 700 percent.(Goffman)” in the last 40 years. Mass incarceration is difficult to digest in totality due to its immense nature, nuance and variety of answers with the essence of ‘could be right’. In order to decipher the complex puzzle of mass incarceration, we must establish borders to manifest clarifying order in the overwhelming clutter of data. Theory will assist in demonstrating how the general and specific facts of issues, in this case mass incarceration, relate by essentially declaring the philosophical frame of the interpretation. In order to gain a nuanced understanding of America’s mass incarceration, three relatively distinct theories will be applied: conflict theory, structural functionalism and symbolic interactionism. These theories are categorized by two approaches of sociological investigation- macrosociological, which emphasizes the analysis of social systems and populations on a large scale, and micro sociological, which emphasizes the impact individuals have on social structure.

The Mass Incarceration in the United States is a major topic of discussion in our society and has raised many questions about our criminal justice system. There are few topics disputed as much in criminal justice as the relationship between race, ethnicity, and criminal outcomes. Specifically, the large disparities that minorities face regarding incarceration in our country. Minorities such as Hispanics and African Americans are sentenced at far higher rates than their white counterparts. There are multiple factors that influence this such as the judicial system, racial profiling by law enforcement, and historical biases (Kamula, Clark-Coulson, Kamula, 2010). Additionally, the defendants race was found to be highly associated with either a jail or prison sentence; with the “odds increasing 29 percent for black defendants, and 44 percent for Hispanic defendants” (King, Johnson, McGeever, 2010).

America; the land of the free and the home of the brave. Free, that is, until you break one of America’s many laws and are convicted and sentenced to incarceration in the prison system. Depending on the severity of the crime, one might be sentenced to either a minimum, medium, or maximum security prison.

The correctional system in America is an umbrella term referring to a range of mandates that entails the management, supervision, and rehabilitation of convicted offenders. These mandates are often carried out through incarceration, probation, or parole, while prisons are the most popular correctional agency in America. Prisons in America were among some of the first public buildings established in the New World. Early prisons were not considered “houses of punishment,” but were rather referred to as temporary holding cells. The history of U.S. prisons from the late 1700s to the late 1800s was marked by a shift from a penitentiary system primarily concerned with rehabilitation to one concerned more with warehousing prisoners. The failure of reform minded wardens to justify rehabilitation caused state legislatures to set economic profitability as the new goal for prisons.