The African-American Male and the Criminal Justice System

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.

Recent sociological studies have focused on pressing social issues such as urban crime and mass incarceration, and examining the invisible link between urban crime, poverty and race. Research indicates that mass incarceration has always worked to the detriment of African Americans, especially the low-income earners (Western, 2006). The aftermath of this trend is that the employment prospects of former felons are significantly diminished (Pager, 2007). Felon disfranchisement in turn distorts the local and national politics of the county (Uggen, 2006). This paper focuses on addressing the contemporary trends and ramifications of mass incarceration of African Americans, and elucidating on the criminal justice policy and the factors contributing to the intangible but real racial divide.

Although the majority of Americans preaches that the days of racism are far behind, it is clear that institutional racism still exists in this country. One way to look at this institutional racism is to examine at the United States prison system and the gap of incarceration rates among African Americans, Hispanics, and White males. According to a research by Prison Policy Initiative both African Americans and Hispanics are imprisoned at 5.1 times and 1.8 times higher than the rate of White Americans for every 100,000 incarcerations, respectively. Throughout the history of the United States, it is obvious that the reasons for the disparity of the incarceration rate are related to policies, irregularities, and implicit prejudices. Families and children of the incarcerated are adversely affected due to the discrimination. However, many white Americans don’t see how racism affects incarceration rates and they would argue that the economic situation and past arrest patterns are responsible for the sustainable increase in the incarceration rate for African Americans and Hispanics. While the economic opportunity can indeed play a role in decision making, this argument doesn’t fully explain the real reason of this occurrence. In order to fully understand the reason, there is a need to review the history of the United States. Through the review, it is clear that the past arrest patterns is more an indicator of institutional racism still exists in this country. The New Jim Crow: Mass

The disproportionate number of African-American males incarcerated within the United States is a difficult social dilemma that needs to be more fully understood and addressed. This paper will explore the mass incarceration of African-American men. The paper will look into the prevalence, causes, consequences, and offer solutions to this crisis. Specifically, seeking to find what factors have created such high levels of criminal justice control for African-American males, and explore the impact on the family and community.

A problem in the United States today is that there are too many people in prison, especially African American males. “African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at a rate that is 5.1 times the imprisonment of whites” says FARS News Agency. Many conservatives say “ do the crime do the time”, but are African-Americans committing as much crime as the incarceration reports tell us? Michelle Nealy’s Diverse Issues in Higher Education “Black men: left out and locked up” informs the reader “There are an estimated 1.5 million African American men in prison and another 3.5 million on probation. Black males make up more than 70 percent of the total prison population, even though they make up only 6 percent of the U.S. population.”(Nealy). Majority of African American men are put in an environment where there are high rates in poverty, availability of drugs, low employment rates, and low graduation rates. These are all important factors to consider because they all

Disparities of race, class, gender, and age have produced extraordinary rates of incarceration among young African American men with little schooling. Radical changes in crime control and sentencing polices led to an unprecedented buildup of the United States prison population over the last thirty years. African Americans comprise a disproportionate percentage of the individuals imprisoned in State correctional institutions across the United States. . There are 5 main reasons as to why African Americans repeatedly go to prison. These reasons are racial discrimination, the war on drugs, traffic stops, unemployment, and wage trajectory.

Racial background is a key factor for mass incarceration in this country which leads to segregation. The U.S. holds over 2.2 millions convicts across all of its prisons. Michelle Alexander, a writer and civil rights advocate, mentions that out of that number “more than 60 percent of those in prison come from African American and Latino communities”(Alexander). There’s to be a direct correlation between an individual's race and their likelihood of going to jail. Ethnic minority groups are destined on being sent to jail at one point in their lives. As nowadays, prisons are being used as a tool to segregate minorities from the rest of the American society by dividing them and by placing them in jail. Alexander also mentions that “mass incarnation

imprisoned in any other country.” What was not surprising was the fact that African Americans once again were the ones who were the most unfortunate, recording the highest imprisonment rate among all races and sexes. The numbers before the 1960s do not even compare to the numbers following. For example, numbers taken from the document show that 35 years before the 1960s, the number of American people imprisoned had increased by 52,249 people. However, the 35 years after, the same group had increased by a drastic 1,266,2435.

When we think of prison, we imagine it’s existence only for the good of our society, its purpose to lock up the “bad guys” and keeps the streets safe and people from harm. But what if, in the recent years, imprisonment has shown different results? While in the past couple of years, the rate of crime has declined, it seems as if the rate of incarceration has only gone up. Well, that’s because it has. Reports show that, “In 1974, 100 out of every 100,000 citizens of this country were in prison; today, there are roughly 700 people in prison or jail for every 100,000 Americans” (Madden 14). Despite these statistics, this rampant imprisonment of people, especially of color, has negatively impacted our society. By discussing the harmful effects of the large rate that men of

Previous research conducted was biased, and provided stereotypical information about African Americans. This limitation left the researcher with limited research to review to understand how incarceration impacts the lives of African American men, women, and children. The stereotypical nature of the existing literature may be due to the history of discrimination that African Americans have been subjected to, faulty media portrayals of African Americans and the perception of African Americans within society.

Crimes in America are committed by people of all ages, races, and genders, but somehow the incarceration rate of black males is substantially higher than any others. According to the NAACP, African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population, and are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of white citizens. One in six black men have been incarcerated as

In 2009 the imprisonment ratio for African American men in state and federal jails was 6.7 times more than the ratio for white men (4,749 versus 708, respectively, per 100,000). The imprisonment rate for Hispanic American men was 2.6 times higher than for white men (1,822 per 100,000). There were likewise variations in the imprisonment of white and African American females, however not as terrific when it comes to males (BJS, 2010).

The American conflict on crime has shaped an increase in mass incarceration averaging the largest on earth. This explosive increase in incarceration has echoed way further on the outer surface of prison walls. 1 in every 4 citizens of the U.S. have been slapped with a criminal record, that can inflict enormous restrictions when acquiring for housing, applying for loans and finding a job. Throughout the United States, younger black men who live in disadvantaged areas are improperly imprisoned under correctional jurisdiction. This exaggerated use of imprisonment as well as correctional jurisdiction, particularly amid individuals of colour, is regularly associated with mass incarceration. The U.N. Human Rights Committee, have spoken about

The United States leads the world in incarceration, with over 2.4 million people behind bars—a 500 percent increase over the past 30 years. America’s criminal justice system should keep communities safe, treat people fairly, and use fiscal resources wisely. But more Americans are deprived of their liberty than ever before-unfairly and unnecessarily, with no benefit to public safety. In “Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Race and Ethnicity,” Michelle Alexander draws attention to the racial imbalance in America’s prison population and presents a compelling analysis of wide-ranging social costs and divisive racial impact of mass incarceration. She argues that similar to black people living under the old Jim Crow, a convicted criminal of today becomes a member of a stigmatized past, virtually condemned to a lifetime of second-class citizenship. Mass incarceration of Blacks and Latinos is the new Jim Crow because they are demoted to a permanent second-class status and it’s a contemporary system of racial control.

For a great many poor people in America, particularly poor black men, prison is a destination that braids through an ordinary life, much as high school and college do for rich white ones. According to recent estimates, 1 of every 14 black men is currently imprisoned compared to 1 of every 119 white males (Currie, 2017). If current trends continue, a black male baby has a one in three chance of encountering prison at some point during their life (Knafo, 2013). This racial disparity has had a major effect on African American communities where incarceration rates are disproportionately high.