John Rawls Critique Of Mass Incarceration

Improved Essays
What is mass incarceration? Mass incarceration is the increase of people incarcerated in the United States prisons. America has a very high number of people incarcerated compared to other countries. This causes many problems and crime rates are still high. I do not believe John Rawls would agree with mass incarceration because it is not beneficial in some aspects and it goes against the veil of ignorance in certain ways. Although his critique of mass incarceration maybe harsh under several of his principles the problem can be fixed. Rawls suggestion is that you imagine yourself in an original position in society under a veil of ignorance. Being behind the veil means that you do not know anything about yourself and your natural abilities. You also are unaware of your race, sex, nationality, and talents. In other words, you are being born into the world blind to everything. If people came into this world under the veil of ignorance they would have a better chance of picking the person they would grow into. I say this because there are many stereotypes that makes a person who they are and some people follow those stereotypes and mold themselves into the person they are. For …show more content…
This means that mass incarceration would have to benefit poor people. The problem is that many people from low income places are being imprisoned for small to large crimes. The question then comes if all criminals are put in prison will that help society and encourage them to do better. Statistics state that the United States has the largest prison population and the highest incarceration rate in the world (Snyder, 2014). With this being said crime rates are still high and the imprisonment rate is steadily increasing. Rawls would go against mass incarnation because it is not beneficial to the least advantage people or

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    An act that John Rawls would disagree with is the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act was passed 2001 and it allows the government to wire tape and surveillance people who are suspected of terrorist related activities linked to terrorist groups. John Rawls would find this act unjust, because it violates individuals right to privacy and allows the government is profile “suspected” individuals. This act also opens to the door to allow the government to abuse their power, by spying on citizens. I would partially agree with Rawls for finding this act unjust however I think the patriot act is in the best interest for everyone.…

    • 164 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They then procced to write about how mass incarceration relates to inequality and how this effects the lives individuals labeled as a felon and their families. Throughout their article, Western & Becky uses many strong sources that strengthen their credibility and appeal to ethos, as well as structuring their argument. The sources include, “Punishment and inequality in America”, “Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration”, “Citizenship and Social class” and many more other sources. By citing these sources, the author maintains their credibility by showing that they have indeed done their research on the subject…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In today’s society, mass incarceration is becoming more and more prevalent in the lives we see today. The New Yorker portrays elements socially, financially, and morally to engross the problem with mass incarceration in society. People are trying to successfully reduce mass incarceration and achieving racial equality. Slavery ended years ago, and yet mass incarceration reminds us that our world is “basically divided in two.”…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    As stated in Alexander’s first chapter, “the seeds of the new system of control—mass incarceration—were planted during the Civil Rights Movement itself, when it became clear that the old caste system was crumbling and a new one would have to take its place” (Alexander 17). This shows how African Americans have long fought for a fair system that does not discriminate an individual based on skin color, but although there have been battles with improvements, new forms of alienation towards them emerge. Also, how mass incarceration is connected to government and political issues, she continues to elaborate on how issues were created and how they flourished after the Civil Rights Movement and continue to exist…

    • 1424 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As the author goes on throughout this article, he begins with basically stating that prison for poor people, and more specifically, poor black men, is just their ordinary life. He then compares this to privileged white men in college. Then he continues on the mass incarceration on a scale almost unexampled in human history is a fundamental fact of our country today, where he then states or tries to relate it to the slavery fundamentals from 1850. The author states that there is now over six million people under “correctional supervision” in America. The estimated amount of people in these facilities is just as startling as the people already in there.…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Alexander argues that mass incarceration has emerged as a “well-disguised system of racialized social control that functions in a manner strikingly similar to Jim Crow” (4). To be labeled a ‘criminal’ is to be “relegated to a permanent second-class status,” forever excluded from mainstream society by law as well as custom (14). Upon release, convicted felons face legal discrimination in “voting, employment, housing, education, public benefits, and jury service” (17). Just like its predecessors, this latest iteration of the racial caste system was largely accomplished “by appealing to the racism and vulnerability of lower-class whites” (16). How so?…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    2.2 million men, women, and youth are incarcerated in the United States right now (The Sentencing Project). The U.S. accounts for 5% of the world’s population, yet 22% of the world’s imprisoned population (Mass Incarceration). Mass incarceration has reached an increase of over 500% within the last 40 years (The Sentencing Project). Not only are more people being carelessly thrown into jails and prisons, but the number of people that are being released is less and not nearly equal to the number of inmates coming in because people are also being sentenced to longer terms. The $12.5 billion given to states with the 1994 Crime Bill “required inmates to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences” which is in part why sentences are longer served in the justice system (Brooke Eisen, Chettiar).…

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    I have studied a lot about mass incarceration because my concentration is criminology which allows to me focus and take courses on crime. I have also read the books, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, Punished: Policing The Lives of Black and Latino Boys by Victor Rios, and Between Good and Ghetto by Nikki Jones. I recommend reading these books to develop a better understanding on mass incarceration. “From a larger social perspective, this issue should not be the responsibility of corrections administrators.…

    • 1213 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    While slavery in America was ended by the US Civil War, racial discrimination was legally retained in the Jim Crow Laws. These laws, which were prevalent in all southern states, separating black and white Americans in all social settings. The Jim Crow Laws were turned over in the 1960s heavily due to the Civil Rights Movement. However, despite the trends in law enforcement allow discrimination to continue in other forms. Mass incarceration refers to America’s experimentation in incarceration, defined by historically extreme rates of imprisonment and by the concentration of imprisonment among young, African American men living in disadvantaged neighborhoods.…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Mass incarceration is said to help crack down on this phony war on drugs it is a war on people that the government is profiting from. Prisons across the nation get paid to keep prisoners in jail that oddly sounds familiar. People being isolated from society, kept captive by chains, wired fences, big structured walls and watch towers. Being told when to eat, when to shower, when to sleep, how to dress and when it is ok for them to be free. The concept of slavery oozes all over this, as we speak more black people are being placed behind bars guilty or not.…

    • 1449 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout FYS we have mainly been reading from James Kilgore’s Understanding Mass Incarceration. Also, we have read a number of different authors shorter articles. We have conversed amongst the class and occasionally looked for our own answers outside of the assigned text. With the overwhelming amount of information available to us about mass incarceration we can start to develop our own opinions regarding the subject. A couple questions that could help us delve deeper into the subject could be “why are so many people being put in prison”?…

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Rawls looks at what the proper role of government should be and he begins with the idea that there are primary goods, which include both material goods and goods of rights or opportunities. It is societies job to figure out how to help us cooperate to distribute those goods in a just way. Rawls does not claim that those goods must be distributed equally, unlike Marx, Rawls is advocating for a welfare state not a communist state. Rawls separates the distribution of material goods and rights, and determines that there are certain rights that must be…

    • 1636 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Veil Of Ignorance

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Essentially, Rawls argues that if everyone were asked to design a just society, but would be attributed a position randomly in that society, everyone or nearly everyone would seek to protect themselves. However, if those individuals remove themselves from society (orginal position) then they must design their system behind what Rawls calls the Veil Of Ignorance. Rawls claims that rational people will adopt his principles of justice if their reasoning is based on general considerations, without knowing anything about their own personal situation or environment. Such personal knowledge might tempt them to select principles of justice that give them unfair advantages. From what I understand, the idea behind this is that people will end up creating…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    John Rawls Thought Model

    • 1211 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In Rawls case, it very well may be that rational persons…

    • 1211 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    I think that Mill’s Theory of utilitarianism would be more achievable than Rawlls’ Theory. I believe that there is a huge difference between justice and fairness. Rawls explains the distribution of goods as making sure that everyone…

    • 1272 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays