The Incarcerated African American Male: The Impact on Children
America has by far the largest criminal justice system in the world. Locking up African American males have fueled the extraordinary prison expansion. From 1980 – 2013, over 800,000 African American men were imprisoned. African Americans have constantly been incarcerated at higher rates than their white counterparts, at least since detailed information has been accessible from those late nineteenth century (Western & Pettit 2010). As of 2014, approximately 7 million people under some form of correctional control in the United States, including 2.2 million incarcerated in federal, state, or local prisons and jails. America has the highest incarceration rate in the world, surpasses …show more content…
Racial disparities in the criminal justice system threaten communities of color. With thousands being denied equal access to employment, limited voting rights, unaffordable housing, public benefits, and education. African American are deemed as criminals such that the law enforcers are always keen to arrest them. It is shocking to realize that some African American go to prison for crimes they didn’t participate in, simply because white man was involved. Hattery & Smith (2014) found on an average, over a million African American men are imprisoned, and many more are in prison or under some sort of supervision from the criminal justice system. Incarceration has become a deep destruction of rubbing out African American men from their families and children. With that hundreds of thousands of children have a mother in prison and millions of children have a father in prison. There are literally millions of African American families that have been faced with the burden of incarceration. The researchers also found that there were great effects on children that fathers were imprisoned. The incarceration of their father lead children to have behavior problem and acting out. Hattery et al (2014) explains that the real tragedy is that most children of African American fathers that were imprisoned were likely to end up in prison by the age of
America has by far the largest criminal justice system in the world. Locking up African American males have fueled the extraordinary prison expansion. From 1980 – 2013, over 800,000 African American men were imprisoned. African Americans have constantly been incarcerated at higher rates than their white counterparts, at least since detailed information has been accessible from those late nineteenth century (Western & Pettit 2010). As of 2014, approximately 7 million people under some form of correctional control in the United States, including 2.2 million incarcerated in federal, state, or local prisons and jails. America has the highest incarceration rate in the world, surpasses …show more content…
Racial disparities in the criminal justice system threaten communities of color. With thousands being denied equal access to employment, limited voting rights, unaffordable housing, public benefits, and education. African American are deemed as criminals such that the law enforcers are always keen to arrest them. It is shocking to realize that some African American go to prison for crimes they didn’t participate in, simply because white man was involved. Hattery & Smith (2014) found on an average, over a million African American men are imprisoned, and many more are in prison or under some sort of supervision from the criminal justice system. Incarceration has become a deep destruction of rubbing out African American men from their families and children. With that hundreds of thousands of children have a mother in prison and millions of children have a father in prison. There are literally millions of African American families that have been faced with the burden of incarceration. The researchers also found that there were great effects on children that fathers were imprisoned. The incarceration of their father lead children to have behavior problem and acting out. Hattery et al (2014) explains that the real tragedy is that most children of African American fathers that were imprisoned were likely to end up in prison by the age of