The American Prison System: A Racist Institution
The United States’ incarceration rate is the highest in the world. In 2008, New York Times reported that the US accounts for about five percent of the world's population, but is home to a quarter of the world's prisoners—over 2.3 million U.S. citizens are behind bars. According to ABC News, the United States’ incarceration rate is five to eight times higher than any other developed countries. The American prison system seems to be in overdrive when compared with the rest of the world. What’s even more important than the prison population to take into account is the American prison demographics—i.e. exactly who fills the cells and why. The overwhleming majority of the inmate population is comprised of poor inviduals. It’s reported that “prisoners also tend to be less educated: The average state prisoner has a 10th grade education, and about 70 percent have not completed high school” (Western and Petit). Of those individuals, the majority are ethnic minorities—and in particular African Americans. Over half of the prison population serves sentences for victimless crimes and about a fifth of the population is there for drug-related crimes alone. The United State’s prison and jailing systems are pitted against poor, uneducated, ethnic minorities—especially African Americans.
Much of the rise in the prison population can be attributed to the “War on Drugs”. Strict drug laws demanding incarceration for even minor possesion offenses combined with extending sentence terms have created a grim scene comprised of many broken families and even more broken individuals. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice, since 1970, “drug arrests have exploded rising from 320,000 to close to 1.6 million” (Carson and Sabol). The amount of drug-related arrest has more than quadrupled in the past four decades. The Bureau of Justice continues, “More than 50 percent of people in federal prisons are incarcerated for drug law violations. About 500,000 Americans are behind bars on any given night for a drug law violation” (Carson and Sabol). Much controversy stirs over whether sending non-violent, drug law offenders to prison with violent offenders is effective in the least. In most cases, rehabilitation does not occur and instead non-violent inmates are pulled into even worse circumstances. Not only have individuals with drug problems faced detriment by the war on drugs, but also have the tax payers, “The pro-reform Drug Policy Alliance estimates that when you combine state and local spending on everything from drug-related arrests to prison, the total cost adds up to at least $51 billion per year. Over four decades, the group says, American taxpayers have dished out $1 trillion on the drug war.”(Huffington Post). Overall, the war on drugs has created an overpopulated prison system costing tax payers billions and billions of dollars each year.
While many in America have been negatively affected by the war on drugs, the groups hit hardest have been African Americans and Latinos, “Misguided drug laws and harsh sentencing requirements have produced profoundly unequal outcomes for people of color. Although rates of drug use and sales are similar across racial and ethnic lines, blacks and Latinos are far more likely to be criminalized than whites.” (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration). In America, just the color of your skin puts you at a greater chance of going to jail or prison. A great example of this circumstance is seen in New York’s controversial “stop and frisk” policies. The Huffington post reports, “The police stop blacks and Latinos at rates that are much higher than whites. In New York City, where people of color make up about half of the population, 80% of the NYPD stops were of blacks and Latinos” and that, “When whites were stopped, only 8% were frisked. When blacks and Latinos are stopped 85% were frisked according to information provided by the NYPD” (Huffington Post). The data indicates that ethnic groups are the targets of the police. If you are black or Latino, you are automatically more suspicious than someone who is white. There is a large disparity between black and white arrest rates with respect to drug offenses. It is reported that “African Americans are arrested for drug offenses at rates 2 to 11 times higher than the rate for whites” (Human Rights Watch). As a result, African Americans, “who are 13% of the population and 14% of drug users, are not only 37% of the people arrested for drugs but 56% of the people in state prisons for drug offenses” (Marc Mauer May 2009 Congressional Testimony for The Sentencing Project). It is blatently unfair that while African Americans drug users account for about a tenth of the general population, they represent more than half of the prison population. This theme of racial injustice is found throughout the penal system and American society today.
Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, posits that today’s prison system is designed to systematically oppress African Americans. Shockingly, “The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. In Washington, D.C., our nation’s capitol, it is estimated that three out of four young black men (and nearly all those in the poorest neighborhoods) can expect to serve time in prison” (Alexander). Poor black men are born with an almost guaranteed chance of going to prison at some point in their life. This is pathetic. Alexander claims that, “Nothing has contributed more to the systematic mass incarceration of people of color in the United States than the War on Drugs” (Alexander). Based upon the facts that implicate a black man’s likelihood of going to jail for a drug offense to be much higher than a white man’s, it is justified to believe Alexander’s statement. The most unfortunate effect of America’s broken criminal justice system upon black people is that of the one on their identity. Alexander writes, “Arguably the most important parallel between mass incarceration and Jim Crow is that both have served to define the meaning and significance of race in America. Indeed, a primary function of any racial caste system is to define the meaning of race in its time. Slavery defined what it meant to be black (a slave), and Jim Crow defined what it meant to be black (a second-class citizen). Today mass incarceration defines the meaning of blackness in America: black people, especially black men, are criminals. That is what it means to be black” (Alexander). The notion that to be black is to be a criminal is most terrifying. After years and years of racial bigotry in our nation, those with the power to eliminate it de jure do not. In a study the US Bureau of Justice concluded that a black male born in the year 2001 had a 32% of going to jail which means that for every three African American males at least one will go to jail. Latino American males follow close behind with a 17% chance while white males only having a 6% chance. Imagine if instead of prison many of these black males entered into rehabilitation programs aimed at helping them with addiciton as opposed to punishing them. Alexander writes, “The nature of the criminal justice system has changed. It is no longer primarily concerned with the prevention and punishment of crime, but rather with the management and control of the dispossessed” (Alexander). Alexander claims that today’s prison system aims to remove those who appear as ailments to society as opposed to treat them. More evidence of this can be seen in the statistic that states, “By 2007, states spent more than $44 billion on incarceration and related expenses, a 127% jump from 1987. Over this same period, spending on higher education rose just 21%” (American Civil Liberties Union). More spending on prison than on education clearly indicates a system where crime prevention is less of a priority than crime punishment. It is clear that blacks are targeted more so by police and convicted more as well. The higher rate of convictions has much to do with the poor judiciary review and trial systems that would be inmates face.
Racial injustice takes place after the initial arrest. Not only do you have a better chance of being arrested if you are black, you are also more likely to experience an unfair trial resulting in a more severe sentence. The Huffinton Post reports, “Once arrested, blacks are more likely to remain in prison awaiting trial than whites. For example, the New York state division of criminal justice did a 1995 review of disparities in processing felony arrests and found that in some parts of New York blacks are 33% more likely to be detained awaiting felony trials than whites facing felony trials” (Huffington Post). Black people are not a priority to the court system. If a black man is arrested for a charge as harmless as possessing Marajuana he could sit in jail up to months before his hearing if he cannot afford bail. Many of those waiting in jail cells for their trials will not even get a fair trial. It is reported that about 80% of people in the criminal justice system receive a public defender to work their case. Once again, race plays a big role in who recieves a public defender and who does not. Those who do not receive a public defender are much more likely to be taken advantage of by the system, "All too often, defendants plead guilty, even if they are innocent, without really understanding their legal rights or what is occurring...The fundamental right to a lawyer that America assumes applies to everyone accused of criminal conduct effectively does not exist in practice for countless people across the US" (Huffington Post). Furthermore, “only 3 to 5 percent of criminal cases go to trial - the rest are plea bargained. Most African Americans defendants never get a trial. Most plea bargains consist of promise of a longer sentence if a person exercises their constitutional right to trial”. Promises of longer sentences coerce defendents into pleading guilty. This is not how a justice system should work, but when its aim is to remove crime-doers from society for as long as possible it does quite the job. Race also plays a substantial role in determining the length of sentences given to defenders, “The U.S. Sentencing Commission reported in March 2010 that in the federal system black offenders receive sentences that are 10% longer than white offenders for the same crimes. Marc Mauer of the Sentencing Project reports African Americans are 21% more likely to receive mandatory minimum sentences than white defendants and 20% more like to be sentenced to prison than white drug defendants” (Huffington Post). In essence, if the term is longer, then it is most likely that a black man is serving it. Also, if a white man and a black man are arrested for the same crime, the black man will most likely pay a higher price. This is just ludicrous. True justice does not allow such trivialities as race to play such a substantial role. Overall, the implications of the effects of race on arrests on trials are unfair and startling to say the least. What then are the effects race has upon ex-prisoners rejoining society?
Serving time in prison takes its toll physically, psychologically, and financially. What’s worse is that for most, the effects of prison last a lifetime. We have seen that blacks are more likely to enter the prison system in the first place than whites are. Unfortunately, “even when released from prison, race continues to dominate. A study by Professor Devah Pager of the University of Wisconsin found that 17% of white job applicants with criminal records received call backs from employers while only 5% of black job applicants with criminal records received call backs” and even worse, “Race is so prominent in that study that whites with criminal records actually received better treatment than blacks without criminal records” (Huffinton Post)! A black man with a criminal record is much less likely to find a job than a white man. This not only harms him individually, but in effect society as a whole. The last thing our economy needs is more unemployment. Incarceration deeply affects the families of the inmates. Broken homes are a difficult place for love and growth to prosper. It is reported that, “2.7 million children are growing up in U.S. households in which one or more parents are incarcerated. Two-thirds of these parents are incarcerated for nonviolent offenses, primarily drug offenses. One in nine black children have an incarcerated parent, compared to one in 28 Latino children and one in 57 white children” (B. Western and B. Pettit). Children with incarcerated parents face more hardships and confusion than children with healthy and happy families. This aspect of the drug-related convictions is the worst part. Instead of helping those with problems, the system takes them from their families in turn causing ruin. For those who have seen the inside of a jail cell, their opportunities when they re-enter society are severely limited, “Punishment for a drug law violation is not only meted out by the criminal justice system, but is also perpetuated by policies denying child custody, voting rights, employment, business loans, licensing, student aid, public housing and other public assistance to people with criminal convictions. Criminal records often result in deportation of legal residents or denial of entry for noncitizens trying to visit the U.S. Even if a person does not face jail or prison time, a drug conviction often imposes a lifelong ban on many aspects of social, economic and political life.” (Meda Chesney-Lind and Marc Mauer) It is clear that a drug conviction, or any other felony crime for that matter, greatly limits upward mobility. This is why it is such a shame that colored people are predisposed to worse treatment by the system.
Much of the controversy surrounding the prison system is rooted in racism. The system we have in place today favors whites over blacks and Latinos. Also, it preys on the poor and uneducated. We live in a society today where if you are black, poor, and uneducated you will almost certainly find yourself behind bars at some point in your life. It could even be for the same crime a white man committed and was not even charged with. The war on drugs has been quite successful in putting people in jail, but has not done too much to better society. The prison system we have today is greatly flawed and racially prejudiced.
Bibliography:
- E. Ann Carson and William J. Sabol, "Prisoners in 2011," (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2012).
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, "Results from the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health," (Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2013), Table 1.24B; Jamie Fellner, Decades of Disparity: Drug Arrests and Race in the United States (Human Rights Watch, 2009); Meghana Kakade et al., "Adolescent Substance Use and Other Illegal Behaviors and Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice System Involvement: Findings from a U.S. National Survey," American Journal of Public Health 102, no. 7 (2012). While national arrest data by ethnicity are not collected, state-level data show that Latinos are disproportionately arrested for drug offenses. California Department of Justice, "Crime in California 2012," (2013); Harry Levine, Loren Siegel, and Gabriel Sayegh, "One Million Police Hours: Making 440,000 Marijuana Possession Arrests in New York City, 2002‐2012," (New York: Drug Policy Alliance, 2013).
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/drug-war-mass-incarceration_n_3034310.html
- - Bruce Western and Becky Pettit, "Incarceration and Social Inequality," Daedalus 139, no. 3 (2010): 8-19.
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/fourteen-examples-of-raci_b_658947.html
- Sonja B Starr and Marit Rehavi, "Mandatory Sentencing and Racial Disparity: Assessing the Role of Prosecutors and the Effects of Booker," Yale Law Journal 123, no. 1 (2013).
B. Western and B. Pettit, Collateral Costs: Incarceration's Effect on Economic Mobility (Pew Charitable Trusts, 2010), 4.
Meda Chesney-Lind and Marc Mauer, Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment (The New Press, 2011).
Much of the rise in the prison population can be attributed to the “War on Drugs”. Strict drug laws demanding incarceration for even minor possesion offenses combined with extending sentence terms have created a grim scene comprised of many broken families and even more broken individuals. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice, since 1970, “drug arrests have exploded rising from 320,000 to close to 1.6 million” (Carson and Sabol). The amount of drug-related arrest has more than quadrupled in the past four decades. The Bureau of Justice continues, “More than 50 percent of people in federal prisons are incarcerated for drug law violations. About 500,000 Americans are behind bars on any given night for a drug law violation” (Carson and Sabol). Much controversy stirs over whether sending non-violent, drug law offenders to prison with violent offenders is effective in the least. In most cases, rehabilitation does not occur and instead non-violent inmates are pulled into even worse circumstances. Not only have individuals with drug problems faced detriment by the war on drugs, but also have the tax payers, “The pro-reform Drug Policy Alliance estimates that when you combine state and local spending on everything from drug-related arrests to prison, the total cost adds up to at least $51 billion per year. Over four decades, the group says, American taxpayers have dished out $1 trillion on the drug war.”(Huffington Post). Overall, the war on drugs has created an overpopulated prison system costing tax payers billions and billions of dollars each year.
While many in America have been negatively affected by the war on drugs, the groups hit hardest have been African Americans and Latinos, “Misguided drug laws and harsh sentencing requirements have produced profoundly unequal outcomes for people of color. Although rates of drug use and sales are similar across racial and ethnic lines, blacks and Latinos are far more likely to be criminalized than whites.” (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration). In America, just the color of your skin puts you at a greater chance of going to jail or prison. A great example of this circumstance is seen in New York’s controversial “stop and frisk” policies. The Huffington post reports, “The police stop blacks and Latinos at rates that are much higher than whites. In New York City, where people of color make up about half of the population, 80% of the NYPD stops were of blacks and Latinos” and that, “When whites were stopped, only 8% were frisked. When blacks and Latinos are stopped 85% were frisked according to information provided by the NYPD” (Huffington Post). The data indicates that ethnic groups are the targets of the police. If you are black or Latino, you are automatically more suspicious than someone who is white. There is a large disparity between black and white arrest rates with respect to drug offenses. It is reported that “African Americans are arrested for drug offenses at rates 2 to 11 times higher than the rate for whites” (Human Rights Watch). As a result, African Americans, “who are 13% of the population and 14% of drug users, are not only 37% of the people arrested for drugs but 56% of the people in state prisons for drug offenses” (Marc Mauer May 2009 Congressional Testimony for The Sentencing Project). It is blatently unfair that while African Americans drug users account for about a tenth of the general population, they represent more than half of the prison population. This theme of racial injustice is found throughout the penal system and American society today.
Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, posits that today’s prison system is designed to systematically oppress African Americans. Shockingly, “The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid. In Washington, D.C., our nation’s capitol, it is estimated that three out of four young black men (and nearly all those in the poorest neighborhoods) can expect to serve time in prison” (Alexander). Poor black men are born with an almost guaranteed chance of going to prison at some point in their life. This is pathetic. Alexander claims that, “Nothing has contributed more to the systematic mass incarceration of people of color in the United States than the War on Drugs” (Alexander). Based upon the facts that implicate a black man’s likelihood of going to jail for a drug offense to be much higher than a white man’s, it is justified to believe Alexander’s statement. The most unfortunate effect of America’s broken criminal justice system upon black people is that of the one on their identity. Alexander writes, “Arguably the most important parallel between mass incarceration and Jim Crow is that both have served to define the meaning and significance of race in America. Indeed, a primary function of any racial caste system is to define the meaning of race in its time. Slavery defined what it meant to be black (a slave), and Jim Crow defined what it meant to be black (a second-class citizen). Today mass incarceration defines the meaning of blackness in America: black people, especially black men, are criminals. That is what it means to be black” (Alexander). The notion that to be black is to be a criminal is most terrifying. After years and years of racial bigotry in our nation, those with the power to eliminate it de jure do not. In a study the US Bureau of Justice concluded that a black male born in the year 2001 had a 32% of going to jail which means that for every three African American males at least one will go to jail. Latino American males follow close behind with a 17% chance while white males only having a 6% chance. Imagine if instead of prison many of these black males entered into rehabilitation programs aimed at helping them with addiciton as opposed to punishing them. Alexander writes, “The nature of the criminal justice system has changed. It is no longer primarily concerned with the prevention and punishment of crime, but rather with the management and control of the dispossessed” (Alexander). Alexander claims that today’s prison system aims to remove those who appear as ailments to society as opposed to treat them. More evidence of this can be seen in the statistic that states, “By 2007, states spent more than $44 billion on incarceration and related expenses, a 127% jump from 1987. Over this same period, spending on higher education rose just 21%” (American Civil Liberties Union). More spending on prison than on education clearly indicates a system where crime prevention is less of a priority than crime punishment. It is clear that blacks are targeted more so by police and convicted more as well. The higher rate of convictions has much to do with the poor judiciary review and trial systems that would be inmates face.
Racial injustice takes place after the initial arrest. Not only do you have a better chance of being arrested if you are black, you are also more likely to experience an unfair trial resulting in a more severe sentence. The Huffinton Post reports, “Once arrested, blacks are more likely to remain in prison awaiting trial than whites. For example, the New York state division of criminal justice did a 1995 review of disparities in processing felony arrests and found that in some parts of New York blacks are 33% more likely to be detained awaiting felony trials than whites facing felony trials” (Huffington Post). Black people are not a priority to the court system. If a black man is arrested for a charge as harmless as possessing Marajuana he could sit in jail up to months before his hearing if he cannot afford bail. Many of those waiting in jail cells for their trials will not even get a fair trial. It is reported that about 80% of people in the criminal justice system receive a public defender to work their case. Once again, race plays a big role in who recieves a public defender and who does not. Those who do not receive a public defender are much more likely to be taken advantage of by the system, "All too often, defendants plead guilty, even if they are innocent, without really understanding their legal rights or what is occurring...The fundamental right to a lawyer that America assumes applies to everyone accused of criminal conduct effectively does not exist in practice for countless people across the US" (Huffington Post). Furthermore, “only 3 to 5 percent of criminal cases go to trial - the rest are plea bargained. Most African Americans defendants never get a trial. Most plea bargains consist of promise of a longer sentence if a person exercises their constitutional right to trial”. Promises of longer sentences coerce defendents into pleading guilty. This is not how a justice system should work, but when its aim is to remove crime-doers from society for as long as possible it does quite the job. Race also plays a substantial role in determining the length of sentences given to defenders, “The U.S. Sentencing Commission reported in March 2010 that in the federal system black offenders receive sentences that are 10% longer than white offenders for the same crimes. Marc Mauer of the Sentencing Project reports African Americans are 21% more likely to receive mandatory minimum sentences than white defendants and 20% more like to be sentenced to prison than white drug defendants” (Huffington Post). In essence, if the term is longer, then it is most likely that a black man is serving it. Also, if a white man and a black man are arrested for the same crime, the black man will most likely pay a higher price. This is just ludicrous. True justice does not allow such trivialities as race to play such a substantial role. Overall, the implications of the effects of race on arrests on trials are unfair and startling to say the least. What then are the effects race has upon ex-prisoners rejoining society?
Serving time in prison takes its toll physically, psychologically, and financially. What’s worse is that for most, the effects of prison last a lifetime. We have seen that blacks are more likely to enter the prison system in the first place than whites are. Unfortunately, “even when released from prison, race continues to dominate. A study by Professor Devah Pager of the University of Wisconsin found that 17% of white job applicants with criminal records received call backs from employers while only 5% of black job applicants with criminal records received call backs” and even worse, “Race is so prominent in that study that whites with criminal records actually received better treatment than blacks without criminal records” (Huffinton Post)! A black man with a criminal record is much less likely to find a job than a white man. This not only harms him individually, but in effect society as a whole. The last thing our economy needs is more unemployment. Incarceration deeply affects the families of the inmates. Broken homes are a difficult place for love and growth to prosper. It is reported that, “2.7 million children are growing up in U.S. households in which one or more parents are incarcerated. Two-thirds of these parents are incarcerated for nonviolent offenses, primarily drug offenses. One in nine black children have an incarcerated parent, compared to one in 28 Latino children and one in 57 white children” (B. Western and B. Pettit). Children with incarcerated parents face more hardships and confusion than children with healthy and happy families. This aspect of the drug-related convictions is the worst part. Instead of helping those with problems, the system takes them from their families in turn causing ruin. For those who have seen the inside of a jail cell, their opportunities when they re-enter society are severely limited, “Punishment for a drug law violation is not only meted out by the criminal justice system, but is also perpetuated by policies denying child custody, voting rights, employment, business loans, licensing, student aid, public housing and other public assistance to people with criminal convictions. Criminal records often result in deportation of legal residents or denial of entry for noncitizens trying to visit the U.S. Even if a person does not face jail or prison time, a drug conviction often imposes a lifelong ban on many aspects of social, economic and political life.” (Meda Chesney-Lind and Marc Mauer) It is clear that a drug conviction, or any other felony crime for that matter, greatly limits upward mobility. This is why it is such a shame that colored people are predisposed to worse treatment by the system.
Much of the controversy surrounding the prison system is rooted in racism. The system we have in place today favors whites over blacks and Latinos. Also, it preys on the poor and uneducated. We live in a society today where if you are black, poor, and uneducated you will almost certainly find yourself behind bars at some point in your life. It could even be for the same crime a white man committed and was not even charged with. The war on drugs has been quite successful in putting people in jail, but has not done too much to better society. The prison system we have today is greatly flawed and racially prejudiced.
Bibliography:
- E. Ann Carson and William J. Sabol, "Prisoners in 2011," (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2012).
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, "Results from the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health," (Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2013), Table 1.24B; Jamie Fellner, Decades of Disparity: Drug Arrests and Race in the United States (Human Rights Watch, 2009); Meghana Kakade et al., "Adolescent Substance Use and Other Illegal Behaviors and Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice System Involvement: Findings from a U.S. National Survey," American Journal of Public Health 102, no. 7 (2012). While national arrest data by ethnicity are not collected, state-level data show that Latinos are disproportionately arrested for drug offenses. California Department of Justice, "Crime in California 2012," (2013); Harry Levine, Loren Siegel, and Gabriel Sayegh, "One Million Police Hours: Making 440,000 Marijuana Possession Arrests in New York City, 2002‐2012," (New York: Drug Policy Alliance, 2013).
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/drug-war-mass-incarceration_n_3034310.html
- - Bruce Western and Becky Pettit, "Incarceration and Social Inequality," Daedalus 139, no. 3 (2010): 8-19.
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/fourteen-examples-of-raci_b_658947.html
- Sonja B Starr and Marit Rehavi, "Mandatory Sentencing and Racial Disparity: Assessing the Role of Prosecutors and the Effects of Booker," Yale Law Journal 123, no. 1 (2013).
B. Western and B. Pettit, Collateral Costs: Incarceration's Effect on Economic Mobility (Pew Charitable Trusts, 2010), 4.
Meda Chesney-Lind and Marc Mauer, Invisible Punishment: The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment (The New Press, 2011).