Although America hosts about one-twentieth of the world’s population, it records the highest rate of incarceration worldwide. This rate outstrips even Rwanda, Russia, and Kazakhstan that are known to be in the forefront of crime rates. There is irrefutable evidence that Hispanics and blacks comprise a disproportionate share of the United States' prison population. According to Wildeman & Wang (2017), the American pattern of mass incarceration operates through models of racial and gender discrimination that unfairly targets the African American men. In 2005, there were more than one million individuals incarcerated in the American state and federal prisons. 40% of these prisoners were blacks particularly males in their early twenties and thirties. In other words, blacks comprised two-fifths of the American prison population at the end of the year 2005 (Wildeman & Wang, 2017). This was historically high since the blacks comprise 12% of the American population. Scholars cite that societal racism in the forms of residential segregation, as well as federal policy, produce and normalize this incarceration rate. Therefore, this essay seeks to examine the relationship between race and incarceration, the changing justifications of imprisoning different demographics as well as the consequences of disproportionate imprisonment.
Statistics confirm that racial minorities such as Blacks, Latinos, and Hispanics face a disproportionately high risk of incarceration in America. This is usually as a result of discrimination based on their skin color and originality that contributes to their unequal treatment through unfair practices and policies in the United States. A study conducted by Muller & Wildeman (2016), depict that Hispanics are imprisoned 1.8 times, Blacks 5.6 times, and Latinos 1.4 times the rate of Whites. However, there is a substantial ethnic and racial difference in the possibility of imprisonment of these minority groups. Although some liberals argue that these numbers only denotes a difference in outcome, it is evident that incarceration rate in America is tantamount to discrimination. If this imprisonment rate remains the same, one in four people in the racial minority groups will go to jail in their lifetime.
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Different justifications have been used to imprison certain demographics and among them is the notion that blacks tend to engage in drug offenses. Meyer et al. (2017), document that most young and unemployed black males engage in drug trafficking in an attempt to earn their living. In 2005, 24% of the blacks in prisons were incarcerated for drug offenses. Therefore, most scholars argue that many African Americans engage in drug offenses hence explaining their high numbers in prison. Besides, these individuals state that drug offenses and other related crimes constitute a large share of the rapid growth in the United States prison inmates for minority groups than for Whites. Moreover, it is recorded that 40% of African Americans are unemployed due to their lack of education hence they live below the poverty line. As a result, these people engage in violent crimes such as robbery in an attempt to earn a living hence their high number in the American prisons.
The impact of disproportionate imprisonment in America extends beyond the prison gates. As noted by Cox (2012), numerous problems stem from being a prisoner, and they prevent an individual from adjusting to the outside world. When prisoners are released, they are confronted by mental and emotional challenges such as fear of failure, post-release disorientation, mistrust, as well as intricacy adjusting to change. Due to these psychological impediments, inmates remain unemployed since most of their opportunities lie in unskilled jobs sector with low wages. Besides, family relationships that can help in social readjustment may be strained due to a prisoner’s absence. Therefore, it is evident that the unfair incarceration of individuals based on their race and ethnicity distorts their minds and lives since it becomes impossible for them to cope with the outside world. This contributes to the high number of uneducated and unemployed people from the racial minority groups.
Additionally, disproportionate imprisonment produces a negative stigma toward the minority groups, which undermine their social and human capital. For instance, in the United States, the African Americans are believed to engage in drug offenses. This, therefore, creates a negative reputation that hurts the public image of the minority group. Further, incarceration generates grave problems to a community since it contributes to the removal of many people from society (Wang & Green, 2010). Although scholars argue that removing criminals from the society is a good idea, mass imprisonment carry the unintended effect of pushing struggling groups further into nadirs of despair. This, therefore, increases the suffering of these minority groups.
In conclusion, it is evident that the mass incarceration in the United States is associated with racial discrimination in the society. The reason is that individuals from the minority groups are imprisoned even for low-level offenses dissimilar to the Whites. Individuals justify the unfair imprisonment by arguing that minority groups tend to engage in crime since they are poor and unemployed. The above discussion makes it abundantly clear that penitentiary reduces the human value and darkens the future of the prisoners. The reason is that inmates are unable to cope with the outside world which results in withdraw and other social and psychological problems.
References
Cox, R. (2012). The Impact of Mass Incarceration on the Lives of African American Women. Review Of Black Political Economy , 39 (2), 203-212. doi:10.1007/s12114-011-9114-2
Meyer, I. H., Flores, A. R., Stemple, L., Romero, A. P., Wilson, B. M., & Herman, J. L. (2017). Incarceration Rates and Traits of Sexual Minorities in the United States: National Inmate Survey, 2011-2012. American Journal Of Public Health , 107 (2), 267-273. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2016.303576
Muller, C., & Wildeman, C. (2016). Geographic Variation in the Cumulative Risk of Imprisonment and Parental Imprisonment in the United States. Demography , 53 (5), 1499-1509. doi:10.1007/s13524-016-0493-7
Wildeman, C., & Wang, E. A. (2017). Mass incarceration, public health, and widening inequality in the USA. Lancet , 389 (10077), 1464-1474.
Wang, E. A., & Green, J. (2010). Incarceration as a key variable in racial disparities of asthma prevalence. BMC Public Health , 10 (1), 290-298.
