In addition to the war on drugs, the three-strikes law that came about under the Clinton administration allowed the private sector to gain access to the prison system which had a negative effect on the rate of incarceration and prisoner recidivism. “Bill Clinton, in maneuvering to the center, he signed all those crime bills, he made the American gulag, as vast as it is, with a lot of his legislation against the drug war, and he made it so that these disposable people could become grist for that horrible mill” (Moyers & Company). One of these laws that President Clinton signed was the three-strikes law, which basically stated that if a person has two prior convictions the third would sentence them to life in prison. Faced with the issues of …show more content…
“In early 2009, it was discovered that a private juvenile detention center paid two Pennsylvania judges $2.6 million over a five years to reject pleas for leniency and alternative punishment for hundreds of teens” (Anderson). Juveniles fall prey to the penal system due to discrimination, lack of education, and social status. As adults, we are tasked with the responsibility to protect, and educate the generation that is to be our successors, but it seems that not all kids fit the bill because some kids are selected for greatness while others are deemed expendable. The selection process is quite questionable because these expendable children largely reside in poor communities made up of minorities. An example of this discriminatory act can be seen in public schools in underprivileged neighborhoods where police officers are placed to push at risk-students out of the classroom and into the criminal justice system, opting for punishment such as suspension, expulsion, and arrest for minor offenses that would be best settled at an administrative level (Jackson et al.). He goes on to say, “70% of students arrested in school or referred to law enforcement are African Americans or Latino” (Jackson et al.). As such, the effects of these measures have resulted in an increase in the …show more content…
Members of the immigrant and juvenile population also find themselves being classified in this group, but this section focuses on how the incarceration rates disproportionately affect members of the African American community. Many Americans are serving time in prison on non-violent offense charges. As the rates of incarceration rise, so too has the number of private prisons increased from holding 7000 inmates in 1990 to holding 126,000 in 2010 (Brickner and Diaz). African Americans make up half of the state and federal prison population, “There are currently more black people under correctional control–either in prison or jail or on probation or parole–than were in slavery in 1850” (Jackson et al.). Because of the aforementioned war on drugs, blacks are targeted, arrested, and incarcerated on drug possession charges at higher rates than any other demographic “… there were 193 white American prison inmates per 100,000 whites, 688 Hispanic prison inmates per 100,000 Hispanic, and 1,571 African American prison inmates per 100,000 African American” (Irwin, Schiraldi and Ziedenberg 137). The ones who benefited from this disproportion were the private prison industries who took advantage of the influx of prisoners being supplied to the public sector prison because of the war on drugs. The members of the black community become the
The United States features a prison population that is more than quadruple the highest prison population in Western Europe (Pettit, 2004). In the 1980s, U.S. legislation issued a number of new drug laws with stiffer penalties that ranged from drug possession to drug trafficking. Many of those charged with drug crimes saw longer prison sentences and less judicial leniency when facing trial. The War on Drugs has furthered the boom in prison population even though violent crime has continued to decrease steadily. Many urban areas in the U.S. have a majority black population. With crime tendencies high in these areas, drugs are also prevalent. This means that a greater percentage of those in prison are going to be black because law
Gertner, N. (2012 May). On competence, legitimacy, and proportion. Pennsylvania Law Review, 160(6), 1585-1597. doi:Ebscohost database
The United States accounts for 5% of the world population, but our prison population makes up 25% of the world’s (Nagin, 2014). African Americans account for the largest percent of our prison population because they have the highest incarceration rate compared to other races. This essay will argue that African Americans are incarcerated at a higher rate than Caucasians. Proven by statistical data, there are grounds to establish that the racial disparity in incarceration rates is a social problem. To address this social problem, public policy should be implemented by the Federal Government.
In 1994 Polly Klaas was kidnapped from a slumber party at her home in California and later murdered by Richard Allen Davis who already had 2 prior convictions for kidnapping on his record. The public was outraged that a repeat offender was able to attack again. Politicians catered to this outrage and sold the public on a bill that would repeat offenders off the streets for good with the three strikes and you’re out legislation.
The criminal justice system in the United States promotes the mass incarceration of blacks can be seen through the high number of African-Americans going to jail for drugs compared to any other race. According to www.naacp.org “about 14 million Whites and 2.6 million African Americans report using an illicit drug”; if someone was to calculate this that means five times as many Whites are using drugs as African Americans.
In his book “Punishment and Inequality in America” Western discusses the underlying racial disparities that have lead to a mass incarceration in the United States. He states that incarceration rates have increased by a substantial amount. The race and class disparities viewed in impromesment are very large and class disparities have grown by a dramatic amount. In his book he argues that an increase in mass incarceration occured due to a significant increase in crime. The increase in mass incarceration can also be correlated with urban street crime that proliferated as joblessness in inner-city communities increased (Western, 2006). He also states that an increase in incarceration rates may be due to the changes in politics and policy which have intensified criminal punishment even though criminal offending did not increase. Although these are substantial reasons as to why incarceration has increased significantly in the US there are many underlying issues. The incarceration rates amongst young black men have increased the most in the United states, black men are more likely to go to prison than white and Hispanic men (Western, 2006). This may be largely due to factors such as unemployment, family instability, and neighborhood disorder which combine to produce especially high rates of violence among young black men in the United States (Western, 2006). A rise in incarceration rates may also be largely due to to increased drug arrests which represent the racial disparity.
African Americans constitute 12% of the U.S. population, 13% of the drug using population and fully 74% of the people sent to prison for drug possession. Studies have shown that minorities are subject to disparate treatment at arrest, bail, charging, plea bargaining, trial, sentencing, and every other stage of the criminal process. These disparities accumulate so that African Americans are represented in prison at seven times their rate in the general population; rates of crime in African American communities is often high, but not high enough to justify the disparity. The resentment destabilizes communities and demeans the entire nation. (Justice, 2004)
The “War on Drugs” established that the impact of incarceration would be used as a weapon to combat the illegal drug problem in this country. Unfortunately, this war against drugs has fallen disproportionately on black Americans. “Blacks constitute 62.6% of all drug offenders admitted to state prisons in 1996, whereas whites constituted 36.7%. The drug offender admissions rate for black men ranges from 60 to an astonishing 1,146 per 100,000 black men. In contrast, the white rate begins at 6 and rises no higher than 139 per 100,000 white men. Drug offenses accounted for nearly two out of five of all black admissions to state prisons (Human Rights Watch, 2000).” The disproportionate rates at which black drug offenders are sent to prison originate in racially disproportionate rates of arrest.
Of the many tribulations that plague Americans today, the increase in the amount of African American men and women in prisons is unbelievable. It would be naïve to say that the increase is due to the fact that more African Americans are committing crimes now than before. When in actuality it has very prevalent connections to a systematic plan to incarcerate a race of people by creating harsh drug laws to
The past quarter century has seen an enormous growth in the American incarceration rate. Importantly, some scholars have suggested that the rate of prison growth has little to do with the theme of crime itself, but it is the end result of particular U.S. policy choices. Clear (2007) posits that "these policy choices have had well-defined implications for the way prison populations have come to replicate a concentrated occurrence among specified subgroups in the United States population in particular young black men from deprived communities" (p. 49).
Since the policy was enacted in the early 1990s, three strikes laws have been one of the most controversial issues facing the American criminal justice system. In general, advocates believe that locking up criminals will protect society. Critics believe that three-strike policy can only be effective with offenders that are on their last strikes (Worrall, 2008). However, other critics explain how three-strike laws don’t significantly reduce crime because most criminals mature out of the criminal lifestyle (Worrall, 2004).
When I think of the Three Strikes Law, and how it has been in place for more than 40 years, I understand the tradition it carries with it, the “why fix what is not broken” attitude (Sutton 1). However, what may not be completely broken still needs a major renovation, especially when it comes to non-person felonies, specifically drug related crimes. Drug related crimes, still a part of the Three Strikes Law in many states come with a multitude of issues, yet I believe offering some sort of treatment option will prevent excess costs that follow the Three Strikes Law, and perhaps even prevent further crimes from happening. In order to present the best case, I will discuss the effects of safety, and costs involved with the Three Strikes Law.
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).
One of the most popular “get tough on crime” laws is the “three strikes” law. California adopted this law in 1994 and dramatically reduced the crime rate making it very effective (Lungren, 1996). The law basically states if convicted of a third felony, or violent crime, a person would face a life sentence (Lungren, 1996). The author points out an obvious fact to this “tough on crime” law, which is ignored by critics; “A criminal in prison cannot commit crimes against the general public (Lungren, 1996, para. 18). This law was also effective in two other aspects. California showed people with felony convictions leaving the state, and felons from other states no longer relocating into California (Lungren, 1996).
In essence, California’s Three Strikes Law, is a good idea. There should be firm rules that dictate convictions for various crimes. However, the three strikes law is too broad, “And anyone convicted of a third offense --- and the definition of a third offense included everything imaginable --- would run out of chances entirely and serve a mandatory sentence of twenty-five years to life. There were no exceptions or loopholes” (297). If someone has committed an offense that could be seen as a “gateway offense” such as, beating your wife could lead to killing her once the man gets out of jail, then this rule is applicable. A man or woman stealing a loaf of bread is not a crime worthy of a life sentence. Discretion needs to be used, and if the