Injustice Vs Incarceration

In most cases of injustice, individuals that do not directly experience unjust acts can generally overlook the fact that the acts occur at all. However, listening to our peers and treating the downtrodden with the same respect we give ourselves can change ignorance into progressive change. Some of the grave injustices of the late twenty first century can be seen when free individuals listen to their currently or previously incarcerated peers. The majority of policies and practices affecting incarcerated people, such as shackling, poor medical attention, and extreme sentencing, successfully serve to restrict bodily rights, despite the existence of a few policies that strive to expand said rights, like fair chance hiring and Farmer Vs. Brennan …show more content…
During Clinton’s administration, twenty-four states adopted the 3-strikes law, mandating that individuals convicted of three violent felonies be automatically sentenced to life without parole. Also, under Clinton, The Crime Bill of 1994 expanded the federal death penalty and gushed money into the U.S.’s incarceration system, providing new financial incentives to increase the average time that individuals serve (Mauer 62-63). This idea, that tough sentences meant decreased crime, ironically led to prison populations growing at a rate three times that of the United States, which led to the 2.3 million people incarcerated today (Mauer 72). By increasing the frequency of the death penalty and the average amount of time that people spend in jail, incarcerated people are either being denied their right to live, a restriction that clearly pertains to the body, or their right to live in physical freedom after release from serving an appropriate sentence …show more content…
Fair chance hiring is a policy that, first, requires private businesses to consider an applicant’s qualification before running an authorized criminal background check and, second, eliminates the employer’s ability to revoke an offer based on information revealed by the background check. In states like Texas, this policy helps minority populations get favorable jobs, as one third of the adults have criminal records and sixty eight percent of Texas’ incarcerated population is African American or Hispanic (Lecture #10: 02/24/2016). Surely, the act of providing the protected right to compete freely in a social and economic setting should be considered a form of protecting the right to freely use one’s physical brain or bodily labor for profit. Fair chance hiring works to expand the physical opportunities for incarcerated individuals and eliminate any restrictions on their potential for