Do people really understand what mass incarceration is? African Americans and Latino’s are the ones being thrown in prisons and jails over white people. Why is that? Who is protecting our society when individuals are being thrown in jails for committing nonviolent crimes? “African Americans are subject to legalized discrimination in employment, housing, education, public benefits, and jury service, just as their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents once were.” (Alexander 2010) What is this teaching our younger generations? We use our criminal justice system to label people ‘criminals” and then leave them behind bars. It is legal to discriminate which is insane. As time goes on, we have not ended racial discrimination in America, but
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Some people need prison/jail , as where others don’t. Preferably, we might want to restore them, and have them in controlled and directed situations and stable living conditions. Individuals trust that by isolating them from society for a specific time frame will protect society. However, jails wind up being exclusively distribution centers rather than spots for individuals to end up restored. Rehabilitation occurs when an individual (after being incarcerated) CHOOSES to change. Everyone wants to live in a safe society. People don’t want to be scared while walking their dog down the street that there is a criminal behind them. Isolating criminals from the society can either do two things. 1. Understanding their consequences and caring and 2. They will continue to not care and become more violent while they are in prison. For some people, mass incarceration never existed for them. “I think most Americans have no idea of the scale and scope of mass incarceration in the United States. Unless you’re directly impacted by the system, unless you have a loved one who’s behind bars, unless you’ve done time yourself, unless you have a family member who’s been branded a criminal and felon and can’t get work, can’t find housing, denied even food stamps to survive, unless the system directly touches you, it’s hard to even imagine that something of this scope and scale could even exist.” (Alexander
Some people need prison/jail , as where others don’t. Preferably, we might want to restore them, and have them in controlled and directed situations and stable living conditions. Individuals trust that by isolating them from society for a specific time frame will protect society. However, jails wind up being exclusively distribution centers rather than spots for individuals to end up restored. Rehabilitation occurs when an individual (after being incarcerated) CHOOSES to change. Everyone wants to live in a safe society. People don’t want to be scared while walking their dog down the street that there is a criminal behind them. Isolating criminals from the society can either do two things. 1. Understanding their consequences and caring and 2. They will continue to not care and become more violent while they are in prison. For some people, mass incarceration never existed for them. “I think most Americans have no idea of the scale and scope of mass incarceration in the United States. Unless you’re directly impacted by the system, unless you have a loved one who’s behind bars, unless you’ve done time yourself, unless you have a family member who’s been branded a criminal and felon and can’t get work, can’t find housing, denied even food stamps to survive, unless the system directly touches you, it’s hard to even imagine that something of this scope and scale could even exist.” (Alexander