I want to talk about incarceration in America. In the wake of the Ferguson unrest, I feel that it might be useful to shed some light on the issues that are driving the anger and protests there. To be clear, I am not making any comments directly about Ferguson, Michael Brown, or the on-going investigation.
I think it 'll be helpful to first state that we sadly need incarceration. In an excellent video on this subject, Hank Green states, "We send people to prison to be punished, to prevent them from doing bad things again, and to deter others from breaking the law" (2014). Remember that every citizen in America has rights and if those rights are violated that person has a right to some justice. Furthermore, if person-one violates person-two 's rights, person-one may lose some of his rights. This is the accepted form of justice our country, and many other countries, have worked under for years. But our incarceration system is terribly flawed.
While Hank Green 's video was on …show more content…
Essentially, being black in American gives you a 50/50 chance of spending time behind bars.
Additionally, once you have a record, life becomes much harder. "Convicts are ineligible for welfare, student loans, public housing, food stamps…In addition to having high recidivism rates, they have very high rates of homelessness and suicide" (Green, 2014). Being born black in America means the odds are against you. Yes, every individual makes choices that effect their lives. Those choices are their own, and they only must deal with them. But we are talking about percentages, statistics, and why there is such a huge disparity.
What is the cause of the incarceration problem for black males? Poverty is a great driver of crime. The Washington Post illustrates the wealth gap below. Here we can see that African-Americans, more than any other race, suffer from a disparity in earnings. (Plumer,
I think it 'll be helpful to first state that we sadly need incarceration. In an excellent video on this subject, Hank Green states, "We send people to prison to be punished, to prevent them from doing bad things again, and to deter others from breaking the law" (2014). Remember that every citizen in America has rights and if those rights are violated that person has a right to some justice. Furthermore, if person-one violates person-two 's rights, person-one may lose some of his rights. This is the accepted form of justice our country, and many other countries, have worked under for years. But our incarceration system is terribly flawed.
While Hank Green 's video was on …show more content…
Essentially, being black in American gives you a 50/50 chance of spending time behind bars.
Additionally, once you have a record, life becomes much harder. "Convicts are ineligible for welfare, student loans, public housing, food stamps…In addition to having high recidivism rates, they have very high rates of homelessness and suicide" (Green, 2014). Being born black in America means the odds are against you. Yes, every individual makes choices that effect their lives. Those choices are their own, and they only must deal with them. But we are talking about percentages, statistics, and why there is such a huge disparity.
What is the cause of the incarceration problem for black males? Poverty is a great driver of crime. The Washington Post illustrates the wealth gap below. Here we can see that African-Americans, more than any other race, suffer from a disparity in earnings. (Plumer,