In 2010, historian Heather Thompson published the paper, “Why Mass Incarceration Matters: Rethinking Crisis, Decline, and Transformation in Postwar American History. Within this comprehensive article, Thompson analyzes the social and economic effects of mass incarceration in the last third of the twentieth-century, and explains why historians must take on this important aspect of American history. The three areas she analyzes concern mass incarceration and the origins of the urban crisis, the decline of the American Labor Movement, and the rise of the Right in postwar America. Not only did (does) mass incarceration permanently criminalize individuals in society and deter them from reaching their full potential, it also negatively impacted urban
In the article, Unwinding Mass Incarceration by Stefan Lobuglio and Anne Piehl, they argue that unwinding the mass incarceration “well neither be cheap nor easy, and to be done responsibly will require a new infrastructure of coordinated community-based facilities and services that can meet evidence-based incarceration needs while also ensuring public safety.” Hence, their argument is clean-cut with evidence in the article to back up their argument of unwinding the mass incarceration. Similarly, a solid fill of a concluding statement upon the unwinding of the mass incarceration as stated in the article, “requires much more than stopping current practices or reversing course by mass commutations and early release programs.” Subsequently, from this article, there are numerous interesting key points, and perspective of unwinding the mass incarceration.
Teen pregnancy- Force teens into birth control as soon as the teen turns 13. Global Warming- Everyone gets electric cars so we don 't have to use fuel ever again.
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.
The deterrence theory suggests that “the severity of criminal sanctions dissuades other potential offenders from committing crimes out of fear of punishment. ”4 That is applicable to the individuals that are punished and to people in the community. Nevertheless, prison’s effectiveness is often questioned as an effective deterrent to crime. Studies have shown that longer sentences have a small effect on whether offenders commit crimes or not, and the National Academy of Sciences determined that “insufficient evidence exists to justify predicating policy choices on the general assumption that harsher punishments yield measurable deterrent effects.
In this article Nagel discusses an era of “the new Jim Crow” where racism ad sexism is appernt in the United States jail system. Nagel uses statistics to show how the prison population is growing to be black women and more gilrs than there are men. Nagel disccuses ways inpoliticans look at racial discrepancy ehrn sentencing. Her end argument is that it is time to transform our jail and justice system so that a black and female life can be considered a human life in the United States. This academic journal article will help support my argument that most of the politicians use the fact that these immigrants or people of color are dangerous and need to be kept off the streets as a political campaign to keep the white minority “safe”.
Mass incarceration of minorities has been considered one of the numerous pressing issues of civil rights. Public policies, criminal justice officials, lawmakers, and the media has contributed to this issue. Issues underlying this injustice include other injustices such as racism, class inequalities and inequalities in education. In turn, the injustice of mass incarceration of minorities also play minor and major roles in disproportionate effects on employment, housing, and standard of living. Rawls believed that society cannot be organized in a way which disadvantages the worst off.
Slavery, Jim Crow, the ghetto, and the carceral apparatus are all structural institutions that share a mutual beneficial relationship where each has supplemented and historically progressed into more advanced subtle forms of oppression and racism. Past and current regimes served as social functions with the objective of encompassing African Americans in a permanent subordinate position. In each generation, newer developments of a racial caste emerge with the same objective of repudiating African Americans citizenship. The only thing that has changed since Jim Crow is the language we use to justify racial exclusion (Alexander, 2). These four regimes are genealogically linked because they all advanced and developed from one another.
7). Such an idea is evident in Western Australia when mandatory sentencing laws, types of laws within determinate sentencing, were introduced and ultimately, reduced crime. The state government claimed that downward trends in car theft and juvenile convictions were due to the deterrent effects of the determinate sentencing legislation (Roche 2009, p. 4). However, leniency on women’s punishment may undermine efforts of determinate sentencing to deter crime.
The United States is faced with a major issue of mass incarceration and prison overpopulation. With the largest prison population in the world and the second highest incarceration rate per-capita (1 in 100 citizens is behind bars), the United States’ corrections system needs to be reformed now, through both policy and administrative changes. While I am certain you are familiar with these statistics, I would like to emphasize that using incarceration as the primary response to social problems as is happening today in the United States not only impacts those individuals incarcerated and their families, but also costs tax payers billions of dollars. I would encourage you to consider ways to downscale the prison population. One of them would
With the topic that I have chosen to do my paper it somewhat difficult getting information on the different causes of mass incarceration and thus reentry, and also to find ways to prevent this from happening over and over again. It seems as if today’s society would like to just see individuals that mess up and commit a crime, but rather lock them away instead of just finding ways to help rehabilitate them. Yes, it is very important to hold every person accountable for their actions and stupid “mistakes” that they make. However, at times trying to control or prevent mass incarceration and mass reentry may be something that is very difficult saying that it start decades ago and was something very popular to the people.
This issue led to what is now resulting in mass incarceration. Mass incarceration has been shown to affect mostly poor and minorities. Individuals living in poverty are not afforded the same royalties as those who are not in poverty. They are more willing to commit crimes because of their lack of fortune. The crime rate is more prone to be in urban communities, which hold a significant number of minorities.
As discussed within 13TH and according to Pressbooks (n.d.), since the implication of the "get tough" on crime policy, which started in the 1970s, people have questioned whether the policy has reduced crime and its cost. While the "get tough" on crime policy was intended to increase harsher punishments, it ultimately led to higher and more costly incarceration rates. The policy, according to Pressbooks (n.d.), had done more harm than good as mass incarceration rates skyrocketed. Not only were the rates and cost of policy an issue, but people's rights and liberties, specifically African Americans, were being infringed as their sentences were cruel and unusually long. According to Pressbooks (n.d.), the situation of the "get tough" on crime policy became so bad that upon examining the effects of the policy, advocacy groups were created to call attention to the unjust policy and to showcase to the state and federal legislators the urge of needing to reform the sentencing practices to help inmates and those being introduced into the system.
In America we firmly believe in you do the crime you must do the time and that all criminals must serve their time in order of crime to be deterred. We have come now to question the 13th amendment which states neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” This leads us now to question how we ourselves punish other humans. Many prisons have come into question how they treat the inmates. Many inmates are forced in to living in horrible conditions that threaten their health and wellbeing.
Racial Discrimination Detorio Brown Argosy University 3/22/17 What is/are the problem/s to be solved in the most fundamental terms? What is the history of the problem/s in the United States?