Incarceration of African American Males Essay

Introduction The trend of African the Statesn viriles between the ages of 25 and 29 has seen a dramatic join on of incarceration. anxiety has been reduceing on argonas of housing, education, and healthc argon that when the close prominent problem for African American adolescent-begetting(prenominal)s is the increase in the incarceration treasure. African American males between the ages of 25 and 29 incarceration measure has been thought, by many, to be caused by economic doers much(prenominal) as under employment or unemployment, brusk housing, wish of education, and lack of healthc ar.Yet, otherwises view it is due to the imbalance of minorities within the illegal nicety system, such as judges, lawyers, and law sufficers. This account testament explore two diverse outlooks orderliness has come up with so far, as to why African American Males between the ages of 25 and 29 ar change magnitudely incarcerated. Finally, the information ordain ruin awareness to the problems that is faced by African American Males between the ages of 25 and 29. preponderance Problem 1 More than 40% of all American prison house houseers, men and women, are African American men, yet they grass up just 13% of the U. S. male tribe (Roberts, 2004).This statistic does not include those African American men who are in local jails nor does it include those African American men under custodial watchfulness ( tabulate 2). They enter the state and federal prison system, at the prime of their economic and productive lives and yet they exit prison roll in the hay both economically and affectionately. The lofty rate of incarceration among African Americans has been noted by the interconnection of suffering economy, lack of inexpensive housing, mental illness, significance corrupt, domestic violence, absence seizure of a strong macabre male role model, lack of admission fee to education, or some type of combine of these factors.Statistics hold outt even gi ve African American males a good befall to stay out of jail. They occupy a one in four-spot guess of macrocosm incarcerated, piece of music Hispanic American males fork over a one in six chance, and clean males only have a one in 20 three chance of incarceration. The color of African Americans sets them apart and makes them targetable. Prevalence Problem 2 at that place is evidence, in our American arbitrator System, of structural in compriseity as seen in the percentages of minorities to the percentage of majorities employed in advanced ranking positions, within the system.The percentage of linked States judges by race are 79% Caucasian, 12% African American, and 2% Hispanics American (Federal Judicial Center, 2012), as for the thousands of lawyers in the unify States it is approximate of 3% are African American (National Law convocation, 2010-2011), and rough 1 in 4 constabulary officers are members of a racial or ethnic minority in 2007 (Bureau of evaluator St atistics, 2013). An investigation into racial profiling showed that African American and Hispanic American offenders, who oft clock times are young unemployed males, are more likely than their face cloth counterparts (Spohn, C., 2000). Their prison sentences are besides typically overnight or they receive distinguishableial benefits from guidepost departures than do similarly situated white offenders (Spohn, C. , 2000). We must ack straight offledge the problems of racial dissimilitude within the savage judge system, overstep racial disparity within the distressing justice system with those we who are not informed of the problem, and stay committed to changing racial disparity within our justice system for change to begin.Causes In researching the luxuriously rate of incarceration in America it is more likely than not that the increase in African American Males being incarcerated is due to the War on Drugs (Table 1). It is earth knowledge that drug offence ranks high among the effects of poverty. These poor neighborhoods not only endure discourtesy they have poor schools, poor food, cramped living areas, and shortage of jobs if any jobs at all.Drugs and drug crime has force regularity in economic crisis income communities, perks of Hispanics made up 55% of cocaine powder offences and 52% of marijuana offenses and 49% involving opiates African Americans were hazard in 75% of crack cocaine cases White males were suspected in 41% all frosting cases (Motivans, M. , 2011). Decades of failed public and private remedies for chronic disparities and disadvantages in communities of color invite us to brush up systems and institutions that provide and restrict opportunity in new ways (Lawrence, K. , 2011).The causes seem to be intertwined being poor equals, equals a poor education, equals lack of employment, and ultimately equals an increased rate of crime. Consequences The causes seem to be intertwined being poor, equals lack of education, which e quals lack of employment, which equals increased rate of crime which equals impossibility to join criminal justice system. Also, many of these men are incarcerated while all the other non-incarcerated American young men are finishing school, first careers, earning seniority at pop off, marrying and having children thence gaining capital. flush when released from prison, these men return back to their communities with a felony record that will pose complete problems for them. The incarceration leads the released convict into a trim social class even if they were considered deject class Americans prior to their incarceration they now are lower in social class standing in most instances. This leads to a poor African American community, perhaps as many as 50% of the male population will have been in prison.These incarcerated African American Males, who are in their prime of life, also are leaving half the families in this community facing such things as poverty, lack of affordable housing, mental illness, substance abuse, violence, absence of a strong black male role model, lack of access to education, or some type of combination of these factors. The community ultimately will exit poverty stricken, struggling to survive, and ultimately under attack(predicate) to the situation repeating. Solutions How can this be changed? There are four key aspects to addressing racial disparity, in my opinion 1.Acknowledge 2. dialogue 3. Setback = Strength 4. Commitment not only is the problem of racial disparity under recognized by society it is not being egestd effectively to make change. Majority groups needs to acknowledge racial disparity and minority groups need to communicate their knowledge regarding racial disparity. As apiece group majority and minority begins to become share their information with each other and work together for a putting green solution acknowledging there will be setbacks but with continued commitment general change will happen.Conclusi on By refusing to tolerate disparate treatment of hoi polloi of color or anyone within the criminal justice system we induct ourselves and our country. It is time that everyone including our legislators, law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges work collectively and courageously to eradicate this prejudicial stigma. Despite, America being known for its equal rights we are living proof that in this era inequality is a factor that cannot be taken lightly. The statistics that are environ African American males is astounding.We need to pass African American males with the knowledge that they have a one in four chance of becoming incarcerated. It is also important to know that Hispanic males have a one in six chance, and white males have a one in twenty three chance of incarceration. alone of these statistics need to be addressed to empower each and every one us. throughout history we have not seen a change in majority groups (White, Male) and minority groups (W omen, anyone that is not White) although we have seen numbers of minorities increasing at a fast pace.Today, however, the pick of Barack Obama, not once but twice, may set the new ideal of what an American actually is. As we embrace different cultures and their ethnic backgrounds society will prosper. As society increases their knowledge, in regards to each individuals differences, they will acquire great strength and prosperity. The only issue, that can occur, will be in the short boundary empowering others to embrace diversity. When we look beyond short-term, focus will shift to diverse authorisation through embracing the knowledge of our differences thus making us stronger as a society.TABLE 1 BLACK affinity OF DRUG ARRESTS, EXCLUDING MARIJUANA POSSESSION grade BLACK % 1999 40. 1 2000 39. 3 2001 39. 1 2002 35. 8 2003 33. 8 2004 33. 1 2005 33. 2 Data calculated from drug arrest figures by race provided by the render Crime Reports division of the FBI TABLE 2 FBI CRIME REPO RT Arrests By Race, 2006 11,249 agencies 2006 estimated population 216,685,152 Total White Black American Indian or Alaskan indigenous Asian or Pacific islander Total White Black American Indian or Alaskan native-born Asian or Pacific island-dweller TOTAL 10,437,620.7270214 2924724 130589 112093 degree centigrade. 0 69. 7 28 1. 3 1. 1 Drug abuse violations 1376192 875101 483886 8198 9607 1000 63. 6 35. 1 0. 6 0. 7 DUIS 1034651 914226 95260 13484 11681 100 88. 4 9. 2 1. 3 1. 1 hard liquor laws 466323 398068 50035 12831 5389 100 85. 4 10. 7 2. 8 1. 2 Drunken-ness 408439 344155 54113 7884 2287 100 84. 3 13. 2 1. 9 0. 6 Dis-orderly conduct 5117264 325991 179733 7606 3934 100 63. 0 34. 7 1. 5 0. 8 (The FBI Uniform Crime Report, 2010) References Bureau of legal expert Statistics, 2013, http//bjs. ojp. usdoj. gov/index. cfm?ty=tp&tid=71 The FBI Uniform Crime Reports, 2010, Table 43, http//www. fbi. gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u. s/2010/crime-in-the-u. s. -2010/tables/table-43 Federal Judicial Center, 2012, Overview of the United States Court System, http//www. fjc. gov/public/pdf. nsf/lookup/FJC_Standard_PPT_English_June_2012. pdf/$ register/FJC_Standard_PPT_English_June_2012. pdf Lawrence, K. , 2011, Race, Crime, and Punishment Breaking the Connection in America, http//www. aspeninstitute. org/sites/default/files/ matter/docs/pubs/Race-Crime-Punishment.pdf Motivans, Mark, 2011, Washington, DC US Dept. of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, http//bjs. ojp. usdoj. gov/content/pub/pdf/fjs09. pdf National Law Group 2010-2011, http//blacklawyers. net/ Roberts, D. , 2004, Measuring the Social and moralistic Cost of Mass Incarceration, in African American Communities, http//www. law. fsu. edu/faculty/2003-2004workshops/roberts. pdf Spohn,C. ,2000, Thirty long time of Sentencing Reform The Quest for a racially Neutral Sentencing Process, http//www. justicestudies. com/pubs/livelink3-1. pdf.