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Essay On Mass Incarceration

643 Words3 Pages

Over the decades, mass incarceration has become an important topic that people want to discuss due to the increasing number of mass incarceration. However, most of the people who are incarceration are people of color. This eventually leads to scholars concluding that there is a relationship between mass incarceration and the legacy of slavery. The reason is that people of color are the individuals who are overrepresented in prison compared to whites. If you think about it, slavery is over and African Americans are no longer mistreated; however, that is not the case as African Americans continue to face oppression from the government and police force. The relationship of mass incarceration and the legacy of slavery is that people who committed felon were stripped of their rights like the slaves. It is similar to the way slaves were treated before the 13th Amendment and the Civil Rights Movement. Even though the 13th Amendment was passed, many individuals found a loophole, which was a person who committed a crime could not have the same rights as everyone. This eventually causes people to arrest people of color regardless of whether or not they committed a crime. When Angela Davis says “Historically, when one looks at efforts to create reforms, they inevitably lead to more repression”. It means that …show more content…

In addition, the society is blinded by their prejudice views of African Americans. Regardless if blacks are free or not, people still view them as violent and dangerous individuals of the society. But, to have a policy that can solve the situation would be difficult as the public may feel that it is best to keep the current system as it is due to the fear of African Americans. At the same time, Angela Davis does claim that reforms may not solve the issue, but, lead to more complicated issues in the

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