Essay On Carceral State

The carceral state includes police, prisons, jails and those that are in the system. However, as you look closer into this system, you realize that the carceral state is more than the justice system- it also affects our society and how our governing systems work.Ideas like class and race play a part into how the carceral state works and who it impacts. America preaches ideas of the American Dream, however, when someone falls victim to the carceral state, they are labelled as second class citizens and are sentenced to, “civil death,” by being prevented from making a life for themselves outside of the system. In order to create a new carceral system, there must be a new political and social environment that is open to changing this damaged system. There are two different solutions that can possibly create change to the carceral state and that is race and nonpartisan path. With race, Michelle Alexander argues that mass incarceration is the New Jim Crow; a system that actively targets those that are African American. In order to solve these issues there needs to be an end to the racism. However, Alexander doesn’t include …show more content…
There is a significant number of African-Americans and Latinos that are in the system. For these minority groups it is even worse when they are poor and uneducated. However, we must also consider how the government affects the carceral state. Because of the War on Drugs, there was a heavy reliance on the police and justice system. The government has given billions of dollars into the carceral state. Since the Great Recession, governments are realizing what kind of financial burden maintaining the carceral system is becoming. I think by focusing on these issues we can come together and make a significant difference in how the carceral state operates and how society looks at criminal justice