Why The Incarceration Rate So High For Young Black Males?

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.

Racial disparity in sentencing in the criminal justice system is a problematic issue. Individuals often believe that racial disparity in sentencing does not exist; however, substantial proof in the criminal justice system proves otherwise. According to statistics of Marc Mauer, “unprecedented rise in the populations of prisons over the past three decades is a six fold increase, resulting in the incarceration of nearly two million Americans.” The breakdown of statistics is as follows: “One in every eight African-American male groups between 25-34 year old is a result of incarceration and 32% of African-American males born to society can expect to spend a term in a federal or state prison if the current

Racial inequality is growing. Our criminal laws, while facially neutral, are enforced in a manner that is massively and pervasively biased. My research will examine the U.S. criminal justice policies and how it has the most adverse effect on minorities. According to the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, out of a total population of 1,976,019 incarcerated in adult facilities, 1,239,946 or 63 percent are

The disproportionate numbers of African Americans in the prison system is a very serious issue, which is not usually discussed in its totality. However, it is quite important to address the matter because it ultimately will have an effect on African Americans as a whole.

Black and Hispanic Americans are more likely to end up in prison. As Carroll writes, “According to the U.S. census, blacks are incarcerated five times more than whites are, and hispanics are nearly twice as likely to be incarcerated as whites. Hispanic men are 2.4 times more likely, to a sentencing project analysis of the data”. Given these statistics, the most important question is: why is the disparity so great between whites, blacks and Hispanics in terms of the prison population.

There is a racial connection between the United States criminal justice system and the overrepresentation of black men in the United States prison system. There are over 2 million people in the U.S. prison system exceeding that of any other nation and represents 25% of the world’s prisoners (The Sentencing Project, 2016). According to Prison Policy Initiative, African American communities are the most impacted with African American men representing nearly 40% of all U.S. prisoners, though African Americans represent less than 13% of the U.S. population (Wagner & Rabuy, 2016). In fact, African American males are six times more likely to be incarcerated than white males (The

As reported by the U.S. Justice Department, there has been significant increase in incarcerated African American males, in comparison to Hispanic and White males. It is believed that social interaction, area of residency, and social networks have major influence on the increasing crime and incarceration rates of African American males. A larger portion of White males hold more positions within the U.S. Judicial system than African American males who make up a larger population of prison inmates and less involvement in legislation. This coincides with data suggesting that African American’s have lower percentages of receiving or obtaining higher education, placing them in areas of low-income and less opportunities. Social inequality in the judicial system is questioned as well as demographics and economics will be researched in order to provide in depth analysis of these national percentages of African Americans. Additional research is conducted to investigate circumstances once an African American male enters the criminal judicial system, and a generational cycle of crime. There is more knowledge and potential opportunities within the prison system versus the lack of resources these prisoners would feel they would have upon their release.

The United States currently has the most prisoners than any other industrialized nation in the world. In December of 2013 there were more than 1.57 million inmates in federal, state and county prisons and jails. There has been a 500-790% increase in prison population in the last 30 years, resulting in overcrowding and lack of funds to support the system. More than half of the prison population are minorities. One in nine men are likely to be in incarcerated compared to one in fifty-six women. However, African American men have a higher possibility to end up in jail compared to other ethnic groups (e.g., 1 in 1 black men, 1 in 6 latino men, 1 in 17 white men, 1 in 18 black women, 1 in 45 latina women and 1 in 111 white women). Clearly, evidence demonstrates a racial disparity among the prison population in the United States.

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.

that 52% of African American males who do not complete high school have been incarcerated at

The objective of this study is to examine the disparities that exist among minority inmates in the American Prison System.

In the readings for this week, I learned that 2.2 million US prisoners are actually African-American males. In other words, this means that around one in nine African-American males between the ages 20 and 34 are now in prison. I also learned that one-third of all African-American men will be imprisoned at some point in their lives. I think that the main reason why there is a disproportionate number of people of color in prison is due to the lack of opportunities and how they grew up. Many of these people are surrounded by drugs or have no family or relatives to rely on. This causes them to continue following the bad path that then results in them going to prison. If little children get no education, no love, no housing stability, no jobs,

Approximately 12–13% of the American population are African-American, but they make up 35% of jail inmates, and 37% of prison inmates of the 2.2 million male inmates as of 2014. How is it that 13% of our population makes up 35% of our jail inmates. How can this minority group have such high statistics? This statistic proves how corrupt our judicial system is. The

In 2005, racial disparities led to approximately thirty- one million incarcerations of juvenile offenders (Crutchfield, Fernandes, Martinez, 2010 p. 912). Statistics from the criminal justice department show a disturbing trend of adversities between the black and white races in United States institutions. Data from national and individual state show an increase in each stage of the juvenile justice program due to racial disparities. Studies show that confinement rates reflect that the juvenile justice system treats minority youths more punitively than white youths. When African American juveniles

In the past four decades, there has been a shocking growth in rates of incarceration in the United States unlike nowhere in the world that has been largely attributed to policies such as “mandatory minimums”, “three strikes and out”, “stop and frisk” and “life without parole” among many other state policies. In the ongoing debate seeking causes and consequences of mass incarceration and increased police activity, the fact that tightening of incarceration laws began in the same time period of intense political conflict when relations of the US to the Black race was evolving, it has been imperative to question whether arrests and sentencing are racially motivated. A commonly asked question is: Who are the biggest victims of the policies behind mass incarceration? Are Black people unfairly arrested? Do offenders suffer more when arrested because they are black? Are Black people hit the hardest due to the actuality of incarceration? The work of many social and political scientists have attempted to dissect the circumstance in full light.