The United States has only 5 percent of the world’s population yet 25 percent of the world’s prisoners (Kilgore 1). Of this 25 percent, nearly 38 percent identify as black which have been marginalized and criminalized throughout American history. The government implements laws and policies that serve no greater purpose but to oppress people of color. One of the most harmful of these racially biased practices is mass incarceration, a “current American experiment in incarceration…defined by comparative and historically extreme rates of imprisonment and the concentration of imprisonment among young African American men” (Wildeman). It is no coincidence that Black people are among the poorest racial. This dehumanizing method of punishing crime lowers the income of Black people and consequently decreases the quality of life for black generations to come.

The mass imprisonment of Black people can be traced back to as early as the late 1800’s after the passing of the13th amendment. The ending of slavery caused a decline in America’s economy because free labor was no longer legal (Averick and DuVernay). However, the 13th amendment contains a loophole. The amendment 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"(U.S. Const. Amend. XII. Sec. I). This means prisoners can legally be “slaves of the state”.  In an attempt to regain a sufficient economy in the south, America exploited Black people for their labor, causing America’s first prison boom (Averick and DuVernay). The police force arrested blacks for extremely minor crimes such as loitering and homelessness which society deemed acceptable because these people were criminals of society (Averick and DuVernay).

Around this time, the government enacted the Jim Crow laws which expanded the list of things considered unlawful for Black people to do. Some of these things included calling white people by their first names, playing in a park that is commonly visited by white people, and eating in the same room or near whites. During the civil rights movement, it became an honorable act to disobey these laws to show disapproval and resistance. Subsequently, black people were arrested in large numbers and labeled as delinquents sparking the mass incarceration movement in politics.

Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton capitalized off the system of incarceration the most. President Nixon created catchphrases such as “war on crime” and “war on drugs” which people believed was an attack on the black movement. In fact, years later Nixon’s advisor John Enrlichman confirmed the common belief on tape. He says, “The Nixon campaign in 1968 and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people…we knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black…but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities” (Averick and DuVernay). Reagan intensified the “war on drugs”. In fact, the law enforcement budget tripled due to it. Like the policies under Nixon, Reagan’s policies targeted black communities. Drug offenders received the same amount of prison time for 1 ounce of crack cocaine, associated with the black community as their equals received for 100 ounces of powder cocaine, even though it is the same drug (Averick and DuVernay). In courts, “guilty until proven innocent” rang true. Years later, Bill Clinton passed the infamous 1994 Crime Bill. The bill guaranteed longer sentences, less paroles, and placed police on the street which caused militant police behavior (Averick and DuVernay). Although he later admitted to the faults of this bill, the black community already faced the damage. The actions of these three presidents instigated the obsessive use of mass incarceration against African Americans which can be seen today.

Present day, race still deeply affects treatment in the criminal justice system. Officials give longer and often harsher sentences to Black people for the same or more minor crimes. The infamous Brock Turner case shows the criminal justice systems’ leniency towards white offenders compared to black offenders. In April 2016, a judge convicted Brock Turner of raping an unconscious young woman at a party. Turner received a sentence of 6 months, however only served three. In 2013, a judge convicted Corey Bates, a black former Vanderbilt University student of also raping an unconscious fellow classmate. Bates however, received a minimum prison sentence of 15-25 years. These examples are just a few that show that black people specifically black men are denied chances to rehabilitate and have a life after making a mistake. Whereas white men are given a second chance at life, these black men’s lives were ruined and they are refused the pleasure to go on with their lives and start a career to support their families. 

Over 50% of all prisoners reported living in poverty the year before their arrest (Pettus and Epperson), however once convicted the prison system exploits inmates for money that they and their families typically do not have (Pettus and Epperson). In fact, in Maryland a person must work an hour and a half at a minimum wage job to afford a measly ten-minute phone call from an incarcerated loved one which causes a lot of impoverished families to lose contact (Averick and DuVernay). Many prison systems do not even supply inmates with certain necessities. Author James Kilgore states, “Many prisons don’t even provide the basics of personal hygiene… In such cases, family members will often buy such items from an approved company and have them sent to the prison or send money to the prisoners’ accounts so they can buy them at inflated prices…” (Kilgore 14). Because most black prisoners come from an underprivileged background, the burden often becomes too much to bear for their families, often forcing them to move into badly kept homes or give up housing all together. 

The financial situation of black inmates does not improve much when they are released. Society ostracize people who have a record, making it near impossible to move on with their lives especially financially. Studies show that an history of incarceration reduces the annual income of men by nearly 40% (Pettus and Epperson). A previous incarceration record strictly limits eligibility for business licenses, student loans and ultimately formal employment. In a 2010 study, 80 to 90% of employers said they would hire poverty-stricken workers with little experience and lengthy unemployment. However, the number decreased to a mere 40% when asked if they would hire the same person after notified that they have a record (Prison Legal News). Many of the jobs available to former convicts are low paying thus an ex-inmate may and often does result to illegal means to supplement income. This means not only is it likely that they will be imprisoned again but that they will be imprisoned for a longer time. Again, their financial responsibilities fall on their families and they will likely have to support them again, making their financial worse than before, creating a perpetual cycle of imprisonment and financial instability for the black community.

Mass incarceration has an even more crippling impact on black children than on black adults. About 27% of black people report having a low income which inevitably causes 36% of black children to suffer from poverty. Since most of the incarcerated come from low-class upbringings and a prison record does not give them an opportunity to improve their circumstances, their children have a high likelihood of the same fate. An ex-convict’s inability to acquire and sustain a well-paying job results in their children having to grow up in a wretched overcrowded living area predominantly occupied by minorities also known as a “ghetto”. In fact, Author of The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, the Underclass, and Public Policy Julius Wilson, states, “In not one city over 100,000 in the United States do black peoples live in ecological equality with whites when it comes to …basic features of economic and family organization. Accordingly, racial differences and poverty and family disruption are so strong that the ‘worst’ urban context in which whites reside is considerably better than the average black communities” (Bobo and Thompson). In these areas, very little quality education and guidance for children exists. Schools in these areas fail to teach children adequately enough to be prepared for many higher education programs, if these students graduate at all, which as many as 25% do not (Morsy and Rothstein). Due to this, less and less poor black students pursue college, lowering their prospective income for them and their families. 

These places also typically have a higher crime rate than other neighborhoods. The underprivileged environments inadvertently teach the youth in them the same violent behavior these communities are associated with. Thus, these children get labeled as hoodlums in the eyes of the law and oftentimes they begin to believe it themselves causing a poor self-esteem.  Sayyadina Thomas, daughter of an ex-inmate articulates, “I didn’t know I had rights... I thought I was worthless, somebody without a family that nobody cared for” (Kilgore 144). In addition to that, children with incarcerated parents develop negative habits and health outcomes. Some children adopt more aggressive behavior while others become more withdrawn (Kilgore 143) They have a 33% likelihood of having speech problems such as stuttering and children with incarcerated fathers especially have a 72% likelihood of having post-traumatic stress disorder which causes self-destructive behavior (Morsy and Rothstein). Unfortunately, the families of these children usually do not have enough money to treat these seemingly minor issues. Children who must face these effects due to their incarcerated families ultimately lack the motivation and guidance to do more with their lives, continuing the pattern of poverty and contentment associated with the black community.

David Clarke, the 64th sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin with over 32 years of experience, shares a much different opinion on mass incarceration and the current law enforcement system. Clarke, whom is known to have pro-mass incarceration view, stated in a news conference that no problem with the criminal justice system exists. He believes that society’s problems are caused by “misfits” which he claims are fatherless boys in neighborhoods of poverty (PolitiStick).. He makes the declaration, “Stop trying to fix the police…fix the ghetto” (PolitiStick). Clarke himself represents one of the main problems with the American criminal justice system. He wrongly makes assumptions about a whole group of people without recognizing that the system he embodies leads to the dysfunctional “ghettos” he speaks of. The malfunctioning incarceration system unnecessarily removes these young men’s fathers from their homes which typically forces them into poverty and leaves them without direction that is crucial in the early stages of life. The United States government does not do much to help these boys cope with their loss or supplement income but quickly labels them for their misfortune which they had no part of. The American justice system practices presumption of innocence, meaning people must be treated as innocent until proven guilty. America cannot effectively practice this if public officials like Clarke label characteristics associated with urban black boys as criminal.

Barry Latzer, a writer for The Wall Street Journal, believes that mass incarceration does not actually exist. He says that the rise in incarceration rates has nothing to do with drugs or race but with the rise in violent crime and that Black people serve no longer for their crimes than whites.  He also states, “…prison rates won’t drop dramatically unless serious crime declines further, which is unlikely…Nor are racial disparities likely to diminish so long as African Americans commit a disproportionate number of violent crimes” (Latzer). Whereas Latzer argues that black people serve the same amount of time for their crimes as their white peers, a recent Sentencing Commission study shows that black males receive 14.5% longer sentences than white males. Ta-Nehisi Coates, a writer for The Atlantic also discredits Latzer’s claims in his publication “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration”. Although, Coates admits that Blacks relatively commit more crime, he argues that incarceration rates have no correlation with crime rates. He presents a graph based on data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. In this graph, crime rates reach its peak in 1990 but the incarceration rates do not reach a significant peak until 2005, 15 years later (Coates). By that time, the crime rate already begun to decrease on its own.

Black people deserve a safe place within American society and if America wants to be serious about reducing injustice and criminalization it needs to focus on improving the current incarceration system. The United States government needs direct attention to preventing crime rather than punishing crime and provide equal protection under the law. To do this, stereotypes such as the “poor fatherless boys” Sheriff Clarke speaks of must be removed. Every racial group and demographic must be a blank slate in the eyes of the justice system. We must also start with ex-inmates and the communities in which they live. The United States government should offer more rehabilitation before and after prisoners’ release. Many convicts want to improve themselves but lack the opportunity to properly do so. Therefore, instead of hanging them out to dry, we need to create more programs such as the Prisoner Reentry Institute at John Jay College of Criminal Justice that can teach them how to get back on their feet both in and out of prison. This program teaches inmates the skills they need to know to return to current society including how to use today’s technology and how to appropriately communicate with fellow citizens.  With guidance, less convicts will return to their old “criminal” ways because they will not feel as though they must.

Education in the “ghettos” must also take priority. The United States spends over 80 billion a year on incarceration yet many schools in black communities, especially those with high crime rates, use out-of-date learning materials. How can these children become doctors or attorneys learning from books printed in the 1950’s? Information is constantly changing and all schools should have the ability to teach current information in order for prepare students for the future. How can America expect these children from impoverished areas to want to achieve great things when they know it is nearly impossible given the quality of the education provided to them. Studies show that people with the least amount of quality education are more likely to commit crimes (Kilgore,14). Therefore, by supplying these students with up-to-date knowledge and hiring teachers who will instill in them confidence, the likeliness of these students turning to crime decreases. Not only that but these students will actually stand a chance to become professionals and break their family’s cycle of poverty.

Black people already face much discrimination and inequality in this country. To criminalize a race as the United States does African Americans has a more disastrous effect than people thought and only recently has the aftermath been thoroughly realized. Mass incarceration does not merely effect the criminal justice system or those convicted. The picture must be looked at from a larger spectrum. It effects the black community entirely. By limiting employability and consequently income, it limits housing and even the education of the younger generations. This makes it near impossible for the community to improve or escape the circumstances in which they were born into.In a time where Americans pride themselves on being antiracist and stressing “all lives matter” on social media, here is the opportunity to prove where we stand. As the saying goes, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor”.  By standing against the injustice that is mass incarceration, oppression will be challenged and one step closer to destruction.
