Strengths And Weaknesses Of The Abolitionist Perspective

Although the United States composes a mere five percent of the world’s population, it holds twenty-five percent of the world’s prisoners (13th 0:01-0:05). In recent years, mass incarceration, or the practice of arresting vast amounts of people, has become a relevant issue within the United States. As rising amounts of individuals, primarily minorities, are arrested, for both serious and petty crimes, government spending on jails and inmates has undergone a drastic increase as well. The large sum of money that has been directed toward correctional facilities has initiated a great amount of controversy, as many believe that it should be used to cover the rising cost of education instead. Since the majority of inmates are currently minorities,

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.

Slavery in the United States was a driving force of the economy from the inception of our nation until the mid nineteenth century. Enslaved peoples in the United States endured trials and tribulations that we today cannot fathom. Enslaved peoples were taken from their homes, separated from their loved ones, boarded onto ships and packed together like pigs headed for slaughter. One would wonder if death was actually more humane than what those people endured. Not everyone was a supporter of slavery in America. John Adams, Abigail Adams, John Quincy Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and Abraham Lincoln were known abolitionists who opposed slavery in the United States. “Abolition was a radical, interracial, movement, one which addressed the entrenched problems exploitation and disenfranchisement in a liberal democracy and anticipated debates over race, labor, and empire.” In January of 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing enslaved peoples in the southern states that had seceded from the Union. There have been abolition movements in the United States dating as far back as the eighteenth century. For abolition to work abolitionists needed the support of congress, be it to the chagrin of southern states where slavery was still a cultural norm, it did not gain traction early on. From abolitionists issuing pamphlets and writing plays and poems to bring awareness and solidify their cause for the abolishment of slavery, abolition had gained traction

The word abolitionist has lingered since the late 1800’s. Due to the fact that people wanted slavery gone and they wanted that immediately. But the word abolitionist isn’t just for the American Civil War it was made to hold the meaning of the act of abolition. Now what abolition means is to get rid of or destroy which is what they did to slavery after the Union won the civil war. Now what is an abolitionist was back in the 1800’s they were people who did their best to support the Union and fought slavery on their own accord whether it be speeches or protests, they did what they could to get rid of slavery.

Since the beginning of this great nation there has always been a racial caste systems due to slavery, money, and greed. The End of slavery was after the civil war and enfourced through the 13th Amendment. The loophole that was created that was the exception that criminals can be treated as a involuntary servitude, which was noted in the U.S constitution. To speed things along you have the slavery which transferred to convicted leasing to Jim Crow Era and now Mass Incarceration which all has striped millions of the people, whom are in the lower caste systems, away from their families similar to slavery. This paper focus on how mass incarceration has become the new form of Jim Crow and slavery. The United Stated population represent 5% of the world population, but we have 25% of the world prisoners (NAACP). In the USA people of color represent 30% of the populations but contributes to 60% of those who are imprisoned(NAACP). I hope that that this study will open up conversations that the we are in a new form of Jim Crow and how Mass Incarceration should be tentatively looked through and help come up with ways to make Mass Incarceration go away. As social workers we must advocate for the people who cannot advocate for themselves, rather it is because of money or lack of education they do not know how they are being taking advantage of. It is in our hearts to make sure that everyone is in the same postion so that they can be the best that they can be. The purpose of this study

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).

John Brown’s beliefs about slavery and activities to destroy it hardly represented the mainstream of northern society in the years leading up to the Civil War. This rather unique man, however, took a leading role in propelling the nation toward secession and conflict. Many events influenced Brown’s views on slavery from an early age. When he was older, his strong anti-slavery feelings had grown, and he became an extreme abolitionist. His raid on Harpers Ferry was one of the first monumental events leading up to the civil war.

During the eighteenth century, the opposition to slavery prior to forming the United States became increasingly stronger between the Northern and Southern territories. Prior to the 1830s, antislavery societies began to emerge from every corner to challenge the slave system and to help combat slavery. During this time, people had different ideas about how to confront the issue of slavery in the system and how to establish a freedom of oppression. In the eighteenth century, antislavery political activists believed the slave system would able to be changed through peaceful political reforms, while others felt that real change could only be achieved by violence. A radical white abolitionist named John Brown became a historical figure whose beliefs motivated the violent abolitionist crusade.

Mass Incarceration in the United States has been a large topic of choice because rapid growth in the prison and jail populations, the long sentences the inmates face, and the inability for some inmates to incorporate themselves back into society. Since the 1970’s the U.S. prison population quadrupled from 158 to 635 people per 100,000, causing the U.S. to gain the title of country with the highest incarceration rate. (Massoglia, Firebaugh, & Warner, 2013, p. 142; Muller, 2012) As the growth of the U.S prison and jail population rapidly increased, so did the growth of the three major contributors to that population – African Americans, Hispanics, and whites – with African American and

The U.S. prison system is one of many great controversies when compared to other correctional systems. America’s prison population has increased by 700% (2.4 million current inmates) since the start of the war on drugs in 1971. As a result of this “war”, people that fall into the racial minority have suffered as a direct consequence of unjust legislation. Our prison system is known for its overrepresentation of minorities such as Blacks and Hispanics. This unfortunately gives these groups of people a perennial negative stigma as a result. I argue that the U.S. prison industrial-complex emphatically displays signs of prejudice and racism and disproportionately incarcerates people of color at a rate higher than whites. Yes, there are skeptics who think “the left’s prison-complex” is wrong about their theory of mass incarceration but the statistical data and concrete facts in support of my argument are very compelling.

8) What were the goals and methods of the abolitionist movement? Who were the leaders? Why were they unpopular?

John Brown is an American Abolitionist who believed in abolishing slavery across the nation through killing any southern slaveholder or supporter that comes in his path. It is believed that he had a plan to gather all the free slaves and rebel against the southern states, but his rebellion never made it that far. His rebellion started in Kansas in 1855 and ended in December 1858 at Harpers Ferry leading to him being convicted and hung for his crimes. John Brown had one motive that made him do these so called “crimes” by justifying his actions as obedience to a just god (31). This is the same reason today 's terrorist do their acts of terrorism and his actions make me see him as a terrorist.

In the 1830’s to 60’s, tension was building up in the United States. The country was fighting with itself over the controversial topic of slavery- until it exploded into a civil war. During these times, states were split into south and north. Southern states allowed slavery, while Northern states were free states- The Abolitionist movement first sought to abolish slavery, and get rid of racial discrimination immediately. However, this did not work- in 1862, the Civil War started, which split the entire country in two over the issue. Abolitionists, people who opposed slavery, were continuing to work to try to continue their plan to end slavery. Some, like William Lloyd Garrison, wrote newspapers, like the Liberator. Well known speakers like Frederick Douglass and Lucy Stone supported the movement, as did many. Abolitionists were also known to protect fugitive slaves after the Fugitive Slave Act, passed in 1850, which meant slaves within the Northern states could be prosecuted and brought back to the Southern states,

This is where the abolitionist approach comes in. The term ‘crime’ when used with reference to the abolitionist position should be understood as ‘social conflict’, an ‘accident’ or a ‘problematic event’ from this point in the essay, as abolitionist believe in the reconceptualising of the notion of crime. Abolitionism emerged in the 1960s as an anti-prison movement, it was viewed as a way of reconstructing the social control of crime and deviance (Cohen, 1985). It holds that the role of the criminal justice system should be reduced drastically, and other methods of dealing with deviant behaviour should be adopted. The aim of this approach was to reduce the level of suffering offenders face, pushing for the state and society to rethink punishment and consider the human involved. They see crime as the result of social order and fail to see how punishment is an appropriate reaction. The view here is that there should be minimal involvement in personal lives of individual, but a central focus on care for all members of society. Seeing more importance in reconciliations, as a way to restore both the criminal and the victims of crime within society. Concerning themselves with the integrity and dignity of these individuals in society. The belief within the abolitionist approach is that threatening or punishing criminals is ineffective, sanctions clearly do not work and reoffending rates support this, making offenders feel oppressed and marginalising them within the community only

This week we read a journal written by Michael Walker “Race Making in Penal Systems”. Michael Walker writes about his experience in the prison systems of Southern California. His ethnography wasn’t planned and all his experiences were real. Walker who was a black man manage to fit in with the other prisoners and he talks about how different it is inside the system. From what I read, it seemed like the prison system was another playing field because the known rules of society weren’t applied. For example, the fact that facilitator of the prison encouraged segregation of race because he didn’t want interracial fights breaking out between the prisoners. When I was reading this paper I have to say that it seemed like prison system was its own society with its own rules. The fact that the legal system within the prison is enforcing these rules seemed completely outrageous to me. Walker states that