African American Incarceration Research Paper

Race, Class, and Incarceration The main goal of the U.S. law enforcement has been to make the world a safer place but in the process of making the world a safer and “better” place there have been quite some downfalls. One of those many downfalls would have to be the American prison system. In today’s society police enforcement has given so much focus on prosecuting street crime while failing to acknowledge white-collar crime and other major crimes that occur every day.

The way African Americans are treated inside of jail and outside is actually disturbing. The United States is home to 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prisoners. To think about how big this number is disturbing and numbers keep increasing. The United States prison population in 1970 was just above 327,000, and now the current prison population is just over 2 million. On the one hand I feel American Americans deserve some of the punishment that they get, but on the other I wonder why they are treated the way they are.

When talking about prisons, race is always talked about because it’s assumed that more black people are in prison than white people. When in all actuality, it’s pretty close to even between white and black prisoners. When the police crews were told to surprise certain neighborhoods, majority of the neighborhoods were black. On the flip side, as a police officer it must have been functional to assume the black neighborhoods would have more drug dealers because they’re black right? Overall, race does play a major factor in Mass Incarceration that simply will not change for many years to

The sentencing disparity for drug use by race is disproportionate for African Americans because of The War on Drugs. Matthew Lassiter (2015) explains, “In 1951, Harry Anslinger, the commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, collaborated with senate of criminal investigations to target black ‘dope peddlers’ who were luring pretty white blondes into drug addiction”(2015:128). According to Lassiter (2015), Anslinger believed that peddlers, who destroyed teenagers’ lives, required the most sever punishment (2015:129). Using this rhetoric, presidents like Nixon and Reagan would shape the way drug laws are enforced.

CNN.com). For many years, African American did not got the rights that they deserve, and because of that, they were barely making the livings in the United States for many years prior the ending of the discrimination against the color of the skin. Which made them low-income and because of that much crime were happening in the African American community. But even after many decades, many people still discriminate against the color of the skin. Still, African American people are

Even though Nixon started the war on drugs and focused on law enforcement, his administration still allocated some money to treatment and prevention, whereas the Reagan administration focused only on law, order, and punishment. In Ronald Reagan’s radio address to the nation on October 2nd of 1982 he declares, that the battle flag is up, and the United States is going to win the “War on Drugs”. Drug enforcement had seen major increases to their budget, while money for treatment was almost non-existent. Since then, the war on drugs has only caused more racial tension between majority groups and minorities. One major cause of added tension is the practice of racial profiling by law enforcement which increased significantly in the 80’s, when “the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) developed profiling of drug couriers to intercept and reduce interstate drug trafficking” (Sirin 4).

The overcrowding of prisons in California and the rest of America is the result of “manufactured crime”. These are crimes which have no victim yet are considered felonies and follow the three strike law. Many people do not know that there are more incarcerated people in America than any other country on earth. According to the American Civil Liberties Union “America contains 5% of the world 's human population while also containing 25% of the world’s prison population.

Over the last 40 years, we have spent trillions of dollars on the failed and ineffective War on Drugs (Aclu). Drug use has not declined and drug markets are become more resilient to the mass incarceration of drug offenders. There is always another drug dealer standing by, ready to replace the one who has been sent to prison. Along with the War on Drugs, the changes in sentencing policies contributed to higher levels of incarceration at both the state and federal levels.

“African Americans are frequently illegally excluded from criminal jury service,” The Huffington Post explained. This piece of evidence justifies that black people are often excluded from jury time on cases. Another issue is how rare trials are for African Americans. Of the African American cases, only three to five percent of cases get a trial, the rest get plea bargained (The Huffington Post). This shows how the majority of African Americans never have a trial.

It is easy to see the incarceration rates rising while turning on any news station or reading any newspaper. Crime is prevalent throughout the United States, and our prison systems continue to grow in size without any real sign of slowing down. Overpopulation of our prison system is slowing becoming a reality, if it has not already. According to the Population Reference Bureau since 2002, the United States has had the highest incarceration rate in the world. There are many reasons why in the United States there are about of about 500 prisoners per 100,000 people, or about 1.6 million prisoners in 2010.

Between 1999-2016 there were more white victims than black killed by law enforcement , however, blacks only make up 12% of the population. Breaking it down, this shows that blacks are at a 3.5 times greater risk of being one of the 776 killed by police shootings. Are blacks becoming the victims of these shootings? What might have caused these statistics? Recent studies show minimal to no consequences for misconduct

(Michelle Alexander, 2010:58) The three strikes law targeted the communities affluent with minority groups. At the turn of the 21st century the majority that entered the prison system were African Americans and Latinos. (Michelle Alexander, 2010) The reason behind mass incarceration was due to the crack down on the deteriorating communities where the majority of minorities lived. Authors Scott Ehlers, Vincent Schiraldi and Jason Ziedenberg of Still Striking Out: Ten Years of California’s Three Strikes (2004) report that African Americans in prison because of the three strike law is higher per every 100,000 African American than Whites and Latinos in California. (U.S. Census Bureau

In 2010, the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported that African Americans receive 10% longer sentences than whites through the federal system for the same crimes. In the 19th and early 20th century, that percentage was higher. Many people think that the US 's legal system truly provides justice for all people unlike back in the early 1900s, but the fact written above could be very easily compared to what racism was like in the 1930s. Although the United States’ legal system has improved some over the past 60 years through the Great Depression and many other hardships, this country’s legal system is still failing at providing justice for all people.

According to New York City Police Department, “NY police 80% stops were of blacks and Latinos, when whites were stopped, only 8%” (Quigley). Blacks and Latinos aren’t treating equally in NY City. Also, in California, American Civil Liberties Union found blacks are three times more likely to be stopped than whites. This shows institutional discrimination, mainly against Blacks, Latinos and they treated based on their race

The story of Troy Davis and his conviction can be seen as an example of how the criminal justice system has been manipulated into a system of racial segregation. In this situation, Davis was convicted as the shooter when evidence of his innocence was provided. In addition, a lack of evidence against Davis, including the lack of a murder weapon, one of the most crucial pieces of evidence in a murder case, generates further curiosity as to how Davis was found guilty of the shooting. The fact that the officer killed in this situation was white almost certainly increases the significance of the case. A white officer, serving his country, shot and killed by a black man, made the headlines and further portrayed the image that all black men are criminals.