The law enforcement Act of 1994 stated that a state qualified to receive the federal grant for prison construction if it has; Increased the percentages of violent offenders in prison, had added an increase in the time that the violent offenders would serve in prison. This Act led to a change in State policies and resulted in the building and expansion of prisons. However, the trend that followed the application of these policies is a rise in the number of sentenced criminals (Centre for American Progress, 2019). The high rate of incarceration has resulted in being a burden to the criminal justice system and is clearly a practical problem that is evident in society.
Incarceration is highly associated with negative social and economic outcomes especially in societies mostly affected. Therefore, it causes more problems to the criminal justice system as there is a tension between law enforcers and these societies. In addition, the high rate of incarceration has led to overcrowding of the state prisons and Federal Bureau of Prisons. For example, in U.S, there are over 2.2 million incarcerated adults which is the greatest number in the world (Weiss et al.2018, pg.79). This means that the prisons carry more prisoners than their designed capacity. The Criminal Justice system also has to deal with the consequences of poor health care among prisoners and a higher risk of suicides.
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The criminal justice system aims to improve society by reducing the rate of crime. However, it causes more harm in giving longer periods of confinement instead of sufficient periods. This problem continues in the criminal justice systems as it accounts for the increase in social disparities and suffering, especially in minority communities. The criminal justice system should devise policies that help achieve the main purpose of sentencing criminals which is to correct their behavior and enable them to get back to society as better people.
Literature Review
Mass incarceration is a major issue that affects the U.S. justice system. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the U.S. is home to about 5% of the world’s population, yet hosts about 25% of the world’s prisoners (Kajsutra, 2021). A postulation from the 1970s shows that the U.S. prison population has increased by 700%, and currently registering at 2.3 million. The incarceration rates are affected by many factors, including poverty rates, race, gender, and religion (Kajsutra, 2021; Johnson, 2011). This literature review will analyze the issue of mass incarceration in the U.S. the analysis will be thematic, with emphasis on literature dating not more than ten years beyond, unless the findings of that research have not changed over time.
Women are the fastest growing group of incarcerated individuals in the U.S. According to a 2017 report by ACLU written by Aleks Kajsutra, over 200,000 women are locked up annually, making U.S. the nation with the highest number of incarcerated women in the world. Kajsutra (2017) notes that of the women locked down annually, over 60% are held in jails, awaiting trial. This observation shows an even greater problem with the U.S. criminal justice system: the clogging of courts and the inhibition of access to swift justice. According to his findings, Kajsutra noted that women are among the lowest income earning groups in the U.S., with a typical woman earning about $11,000 annually, making them virtually unable to raise the required standard bail of $10,000. The situation is even worse for the colored women, who suffer doubly: first, for being women, and secondly, for being black and discriminated against by the general justice system (Gramlich, 2019).
The mass incarceration of women, with the creation of a complex justice system that hinders them from posting bail of accessing swift justice is hindering them from access the full merits of women protection, a social factor of consideration. Gross (2015) notes that the American way reflects “legacies of an exclusionary politics of protection whereby black women were not entitled to the law's protection, though they could not escape its punishment” (p. 23). Cox (2012) confirms that a majority of incarcerated women are primary care providers in their homes and would therefore not escape nor have the luxury of being runaways from justice. Cox (2012) and Gross (2015) agree that mass incarceration of women is affecting their employment outcomes, their ability to care for their children, and further escalates mental health problem common among incarcerated persons.
The system is often faulted for being rigid, reminiscent of the structures of the antebellum judiciaries, and founded on laws that gave priorities to enslavement rather than rehabilitation of criminals. The womanhood a majority of enslaved women is therefore at risk. They have been placed at a position where they face the pangs of brutality, and absent ability to access avenues for redress (Gross, 2015). Gross analyses the case of women and mass incarceration, noting that the racial disparities that affect men are also evidenced in women incarceration. Gross notes that black women are disproportionately represented in the prisons system. Given that prisons are harbors for violence and other social vices, Gross notes that mass incarceration of Black women is affecting the politics of protection of the American woman.
Mass incarceration in the U.S. also poses a health risk to the incarcerated and those out of the prisons. Adams et al. (2018) notes that there are various potential drivers of HIV infections among the African American women that are directly related to mass incarceration. As noted by scholars like Shrage et al. (2016) and Adams et al. (2016), prisons provide an avenue for quicker and high rates of infections for individuals. The probability of rape is high in the prisons, and consequently, the probability of being infected by HIV are higher (Shrage et al. 2016). Adams et al. argue that incarcerations increase the chances of male prisoners to acquire HIV, and the cases are biasedly proportioned to the African Americans, among whom, one in every ten has been through a correctional center (Adams et al. 2018).
In the study conducted by Adams and her colleagues in 2018, they found that setting the duration of male, who are known for high-risk sexual behaviors, at just two years after their release, the number of infections of HIV among women increased by 20%. The consequences of such infections meant that HIV acquisition rates increased dramatically, while post-release HIV care decreased. Even if the scenario of post-release infections is eliminated, Adams et al. (2018) found out the incarceration increased the number of sexual partner contacts for women, which further increased their chances of being infected by HIV. The question of concern in this case is not the act of incarceration, but the effects of long-term incarceration on the health of African American women. Incarceration therefore affects them directly and indirectly (Adams et al. (2018). Men who are incarcerated may acquire the virus and spread it within their contacts due to their sexual activities. Similarly, women deprived of the presence of their partners are more likely to be promiscuous, thus increasing the chances of spreading the disease among the community members. Mass incarceration thus impacts the victims in many ways that cannot be fully understood.
Mass incarceration also increases the risks of future pre-term births among older women. According to Searly-Jefferson et al. (2020), pre-term birth (birth before reaching the term of 37 weeks) is a leading cause of infant mortality in the U.S. Theses scholars established a link between incarceration and the risks of pre-term child birth. Again, they note that the African American population is adversely affected due to their higher rates of incarceration. Studying with a population of a mean age of 27 years, they noted that the risks of pre-term birth increased among the unmarried, incarcerated and older women. While this issue may appear as a secluded issue for medical concern, its implications are greater in the social circle, considering that the African Americans are highly victimized by the criminal justice system. The study confirms that the risks of infant mortality biasedly increase among the African Americans as more of them are incarcerated. This is not only a threat to the current generation, but also a risk for the future of the African American women’s health.
America’s system of mass and long-term incarceration has also been found to have no impact in reducing recidivism rates among the population. According to Huebner, DeJong and Cobbina (2010), the risks of recidivism among prisoners increased with increase in their time in prison. The issues were more pronounced among women who fell addicted to drugs, had lower levels of education and had extensive history of criminal activities. The essence of long-term incarcerations has been faulted by many scholars (Li 2017; King et al. 2018; Monk 2019; Peck, 2016). The studies have noted that the costs of keeping prisoners in the systems are higher and demanding for the tax payers than keeping them free, yet, the long-term incarceration does not change the criminal, but sentences them to a life long of punishment. Suggestions have been that the criminal justice system should focus on restorative justice, rather than retributive justice. Restorative justice focuses on short-term, but effective rehabilitative procedures that keep the criminals engaged and increases their chances of reform. Jared Clark, in his article published by the American Phycological Association , titled Inequality in Prison (2009) , notes that m any long-term convicts come out of these systems in worse condition than when they went in.
This question of incarceration cannot be fully discussed without evaluating the perception of the people concerning justice. Gramlich (2019) and Johnson (2011) argue that although the justice systems were formulated to serve the citizens with presumed non-discriminatory approach, the perception of the public differs, and this is greatly influenced by race and racial politics. Mass incarceration in the U.S. is a serious issue. Hager (2020) notes that although the rates vary by race, obviously biased towards Black mass incarceration, in the recent trends, incarceration of the Whites has increased slightly while that of the Blacks has dropped. This source offers a universal review of how mass incarceration is affecting everyone in the U.S. The focus of this analysis is not to explore racial bias, but to inform on the trends of incarceration.
The revelation is that Black people are five times more likely to be incarcerated than white people (Hager, 2020). Hager notes that the mass arrests and victimization of black men has become a norm, and is ‘accepted’ by the media, who have since toned down in highlighting the implications of such activities (Hager, 2020; Moody-Ramirez, 2019; Stamps, 2020). Although Hager (2020) notes that the number of black men in prison dropped by 24% and that of the white men increased slightly, he notes that the number of black men in the correctional systems still remain high. The same trend was noted as the number of black women dropped by a surprising 50% while that of the white women shot up by 53%, yet, the black women still remained in higher representation in terms of numbers of prisoners (Hager, 2020).
Mass incarceration is not a criminal justice matter only, but a social matter as well. The Institute of Family Studies (2019) article published by Willis Krumholz asserts that 35% of American adolescents grow without either of their parents from the effects of incarceration. The consequences are the destabilization of family, disorientation of the children and a general lack of development for communities who are highly affected by imprisonment of their guardians. This study provides a social view of the problem at hand, and is vital in informing the social understanding of the consequences of incarceration Krumholz (2019) notes that mass incarceration leads to family breakdown, which affects the stability of children, and in the process, fueling poverty (Tucker, 2014; Roberts, 2003). The case is that with an absent guardian, more children drop out of the school. More so, since incarceration affects men more than women, yet men are the sole breadwinners in many families, the situation worsened (Roberts, 2003). The observations are that many families become dependent of welfare, which cushions the poverty, but does not provide an alternative way out (Jewkes, 2014; Roberts, 2003). Similarly, there is a perpetuation and intergenerational transmission of poverty, which affects the future of the coming generations, predisposing them to crime, and a predicted end in the criminal justice system (Earkens and Lipo, 2017; Roberts, 2003). The children are thus a victim of a system that failed their parents.
Juveniles form a good percentage of criminals incarcerated in the U.S. daily, yet the focus is often given on adults. Rovner (2017) notes that juveniles are often imprisoned in many states without the possibility of parole, thus defeating the essence of incarceration, which is to correct and rehabilitate. It notes that 24 states and the District of Columbia have banned life sentences without parole for juveniles. While this is a great move to end sentencing juveniles to a lifetime of service for a mistake unintended, there is still a problem towards incarceration of juveniles. Vera Institute, an organization dedicated at examining the social issues affecting the criminal justice system, notes that children should not be branded for one mistake made during their childhood, and their futures robbed from them.
Long-term incarcerations, life sentences without paroles and the mass incarceration of juveniles does more harm than good to juveniles. In this entry at the Vera Institute channel, Jafarian and Ananthakrishnan (2017) examine the effects of a punitive approach towards children in their stage of development as kids. The two scholars argue that the U.S. justice system is so incline towards retribution that it incarcerates children who sometimes skip school or violating curfew rules. This source is vital in examining incarceration among children, and more so, the systemic failure in the corrections department that has led to this anomaly. While children are not exempt from the law, the fact that children are the future of any society, affirm that they should be given more chances to reform, and those arrested should be rehabilitated instead of being victimized.
In summary, this analysis has shown that the American criminal justice system is inherently flawed, more retributive and less rehabilitative. As noted, the consequences of incarceration are great, and in most cases, very difficult to overcome within the victims’ lifetime. Webster (2014) and Thompson (2010) takes an alternative approach to the discussion on incarceration, arguing that mass incarceration is an inherent American problem, and that the current studies on progress made by the system towards the black men is a myth. He states that 2.3 million inmates sit invisible in 2009 in American jails, and those who left prison were faced with another major issue: reconnecting and fitting within the society. Summarily, since the American criminal justice system reforms may take a long time, the current focus should be reconstructing the system to be oriented towards rehabilitation.
References
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