The Epidemic Of Mass Incarceration Essay

Mass incarceration is one of very many huge problems we have here in America. But when you really look into the core of the situation, whose fault is it really. Right away you think it is the criminals fault for getting arrested in the first place right? More people should be well behaved and not end up in prison? But what a lot of people fail to notice are the ones that actual do the actual sentencing. In Paul Butlers book, Lets Get Free he writes, “I became a prosecutor because I hate bullies. I stopped being a prosecutor because I hate bullies.”

Mass incarceration became a public policy issue in the United States in the 2000s. Now in 2016, there are still many questions about America’s incarceration rate, 698 prisoners per 100,000 people, which is only surpassed by Seychelle’s at 868 for every 100,000. They concern the phenomenon’s beginning, purpose, development, and essentially resolution. In her book published this year, assistant professor of history and African and African-American studies at Harvard Elizabeth Hinton challenges popular belief that mass incarceration originated from Reagan’s War on Drugs. Mass incarceration’s function as a modern racial caste system is discussed in a 2010 book by Michelle Alexander, an associate professor of law at Ohio State University, civil

Recent sociological studies have focused on pressing social issues such as urban crime and mass incarceration, and examining the invisible link between urban crime, poverty and race. Research indicates that mass incarceration has always worked to the detriment of African Americans, especially the low-income earners (Western, 2006). The aftermath of this trend is that the employment prospects of former felons are significantly diminished (Pager, 2007). Felon disfranchisement in turn distorts the local and national politics of the county (Uggen, 2006). This paper focuses on addressing the contemporary trends and ramifications of mass incarceration of African Americans, and elucidating on the criminal justice policy and the factors contributing to the intangible but real racial divide.

Mass Incarceration is a predicament in the U.S. because in the land of the free, there are more than two million people in prison. Prisons are homes to the majority of twenty-two percent of the U.S. population. The U.S. has a massive incarceration rate, seven hundred and sixteen per every one hundred thousand. The U.S. makes five percent of the world’s population and the third country in which most people live in but number one incarcerating humans.

Over the last half-century, the United States has turned more and more frequently to the use of incarceration as a form of punishment. Sentencing policies and stricter laws requiring mandatory minimums for certain offenses, no matter the conditions of the offense, have boosted the incarceration rate in this country to staggering heights. The typical issues that affect America’s prison systems are reflected in Jennifer Gonnerman’s book, Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett. Elaine Bartlett’s life, along with the lives of surrounding family and friends, is forever changed by her 16 years of incarceration. Elaine Bartlett is only one of many Americans that have been wronged by the cruel and unusual punishments implemented by a society claiming to have a fair, balanced, and equal justice system. A fair and balanced justice system that convicts people who carries the right amount of drugs in weight to have a mandatory incarceration for a minimum of 15 years to life, yet those who commit murder or rape may receive a lesser sentence. There is also the issue of transitioning back into society after being incarcerated for so many years. Incarceration does not just punish the offender; the offender’s family and friends are also negatively affected by the conviction and imprisonment of a loved one. Children could be put in the system or need to be raised by other members in the family. This could lead the children to deviate down the same path as their parent who

Further forms of penal representation concentrate on illuminating the specific actions of policy makers and the consequences of those choices. Heather Thompson, a professor at the University of Michigan, historicizes American mass incarceration and, in turn, situates it from a perspective that allows both a discourse on the founding impetus and current harmfulness. Thompson

Piper Kerman offers to her readers an interesting story about life in prison in her book Orange is the New Black. One might be confused with such statement, as there is not much exciting happens in prison and to write an interesting book based on one year of confinement seems to be an impossible task. However, Kerman’s work appeals to much deeper topics than just a physical process of imprisonment or everyday routine of convicts. Being a memoir, Orange is the New Black provides personal insights of the author concerning the prison system in the United States, freedom, and experiences of women who happened to be behind the bars. Kerman seeks to encourage people to think about the necessity of criminal justice reform, particularly in respect

Christopher Wildeman, an Associate Sociology Professor at Cornell University, defines mass incarceration as,” the current American experiment in incarceration, which is defined by comparatively and historically extreme rates of imprisonment and by the concentration of imprisonment among youths (Robison, 2016).” This is especially apparent among youths with minority origins. For example, there are almost 7,000 youth behind bars for “technical violations” of the requirements of their probation, rather than for a new offense. (Wagner & Rabuy, 2017).

Although prisons have a few positive aspects such as keeping felons off the streets and being less final than the death penalty, they have many negative aspects as well such as tearing families apart, causing severe psychological harm to the children of inmates, costing 47,102 dollars a year in California alone (California Judicial website), and causing many problems for the inmates in the long run. Fundamentally the use of incarceration is intended to reform and rehabilitate offenders of society’s laws; however, America’s prison system usually makes matters much worse for the offender, his or her family, and society as a whole. The illustrations below show that there is a severe need for reform in the penal system.

To many people in society, the impact of imprisonment on the families of the incarcerated is a matter of little to no importance (Breen, 2008, pg. 59). However, there are many consequences for not only the prisoner but for the spouses and children they are leaving behind (Turanovic et al, 2012, pg. 914). The unintended punishment of prisoner’s families has led them to become the hidden or forgotten victims of crime (Breen, 2008, pg. 60). Rising levels of incarceration has led to unexpected outcomes and consequences for prisoner’s families (Christian et al, 2006, pg. 443). When Family members of prisoners have described their experiences, they often mention that they feel they are serving a prison sentence alongside their incarcerated family

The American corrections system has many facets to it as well as many challenges that each and every individual within its system must learn to cope with. Not everyone who is in some sector of the corrections system can deal with what corrections entails because the life that they led outside of the corrections system isn’t always the same. This can especially be said for women who find themselves part of the corrections system simply because of the role that women generally face within their homes.

When a person is put into prison, not only are they affected, but so are their families and communities. When incarcerated a person’s parental rights are terminated. Incarceration is also legal ground for divorce. Low levels of incarceration can actually be beneficial to communities, but high levels can be detrimental. High levels of incarceration can destabilize communities, making them more vulnerable to crime (O’Brien lecture)..

All through history the correctional framework has been seen as the vital method for managing culprits, however its capacity has changed all through time. It has served as a pit for confining suspected lawbreakers, a home for the vagrant, an organization for the crazy, a feared spot of notoriety, quarters for purging and restoration, and a multitude of listed charges. The trials and changes of history have created and molded the foundation that we perceive today. In a matter of seconds, the United States jail populace far surpasses that of some other nation on the planet. The political atmosphere, extreme on wrongdoing approaches, determinate sentencing, and expanding expense of detainment facilities have fundamentally expanded quantities of

Listwan, S. J., Sullivan, C. J., Agnew, R., Cullen, F. T., & Colvin, M. (2013). The pains of imprisonment revisited: The impact of strain on inmate recidivism. Justice Quarterly, 30(1), 144-168. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/

One reason for the eminent criminologist John Irwin to venture this project of writing a 380 page book on US prisons is because those over the last quarter of the century the number of prisons in the US has increased almost ten times. “The rate of incarceration zoomed from 100 to over 500 per 100,000. As a result of this expansion and the punitive ideology that underpinned it, hundreds of new prisons were built at a cost in the billions of dollars, and completely new prison regimens were introduced. In this book, I examine the causes of this binge, the new forms of imprisonment it produced, and the particular and broader effects it caused.”(Irwin, 1)