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Mass Incarceration and Its Power Over Black Americans

A Review of the Literature

Josephine Kamara

Edina High School

Authors note

This paper was prepared for Pre-AP English 10 taught by Mrs. Discher, Hour 1
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Introduction

The U.S. is home to 5% of the worlds population, but is also home to 25% of the world's

prisoners. Mass incarceration can be defined as the large increase in the number of people placed

in prison. The United States has struggled with the control of mass incarceration for over 4

decades. The history behind the problem stemmed from the hypocrisy of those in power and the

ridiculous nature of high up authorities. Many do not see whats going on because they are not in

prison or they are not educated on the fact or they just do not feel like its their problem to deal

with. Racial disparities, the war on drugs, even private companies all play a part in the

dilemma. There needs to be changes within the system in order to fix this huge problem in the

United States. Furthermore, people of color have struggled to be seen as equal and valued as

humans since slavery began and won victoriously once slavery was abolished. However, the

increase of mass incarceration has promptly brought back the fear in people of color, which can

be alleviated once discriminatory practices, particularly racial profiling become unraveled.

History of Mass Incarceration

In order to completely understand, the history of the problem needs to be stated. People

of color have been subjected to discrimination since they came to America. They were brought to

this country in the early 1600s from Africa to help the productivity of money-making crops.

They helped the economic system strive throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Eventually colonists pushed for the termination of slavery because of the relationship similarity

it had to the Americans and British (History, 2009, para. 2). In 1865, slavery was officially

abolished with the thirteenth amendment, but that did not stop the segregation of people of color.

During the Reconstruction period, people of color struggled to compete for jobs against white
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people, received lower wages and had penalties for their skin color. In 1877, Jim Crow was put

into action and validated the oppression and segregation of Blacks and Mexicans. White people

were taught that people of color were inferior and incompetent; they were not treated as equal

and were portrayed as criminals in the media (Pilgrim, 2012, para. 1). The civil rights movement

pushed for equality and successfully gained The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. In

the 70s, the prison population increased and, majority, people of color were the ones being

arrested en masse for petty crimes (DuVernay, 2016). Nixon declared a war on drugs, which

was his way of hiding the fact that he is trying to target and lock up people of color. His advisor

admitted this in March of 2016, saying, We knew we couldnt make it illegal to be either

against the war or black but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and

blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities...

Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did (Hanson, 2016, para. 4). His

team covered up the fact that they were trying to discriminate against certain groups, leading the

country into the beginning of the the era of mass incarceration. Mass incarceration continues to

be a problem, the article How the war on drugs affected incarceration rates by Lauren Carroll

supports that it has increased almost 600 percent since 1974.

The Problem

Mass incarceration has wreaked havoc on the lives of people of color who are unfairly

judged by the stereotypes linked with their race. Nonviolent crimes have been the leading role in

the prison system and majority of the individuals arrested are black. African Americans

represent 12% of the total population of drug users, but 38% of those arrested for drug offenses,

and 59% of those in state prison for a drug offense (NAACP, n.d.). As a generalization,
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especially in the United States, people of color are typically associated with drugs. 5 times as

many whites are using drugs as African Americans, yet whites are not arrested at nearly the same

rate black people are (NAACP, n.d.). It has been like this since drugs were brought to the surface

and blacks were seen as inferior by majority of the world. African Americans serve virtually as

much time in prison for a drug offense (58.7 months) as whites do for a violent offense (61.7

months) (NAACP, n.d.). While black people are getting arrested more, they are also getting

longer sentences. It is unspoken the types of injustices that happen in the courtroom,

inconsistencies are not seen until they have been called out. It is clear that people of authority are

more suspicious of black people, which ties into systemic racism and how it becomes second

nature for policemen to target black people, especially in impoverished areas. Impoverished

areas are typically a police frenzy and are seen as the ghetto; mostly raided for drug possession

and dealings. Many individuals are put in prison and are only there because their family was too

poor to post bail. Blacks increasingly being targeted has given a negative and suspicious view of

the police and the justice system. Black people have been put through years of suffering as the

result of misuse of authoritative power. The system has taken advantage of their authority and

disregard laws that have been set to protect people of color. Latino and especially black people

are the majority of the incarcerated population of America (Wagner, 2012, para. 2). The

thirteenth amendment contains a loophole for slavery, the line except for a punishment for

crime and the justice system is taking advantage of it. Except shows that slavery is illegal, but

people who commit crimes can be considered slaves which is another form of the acceptance of

slavery. This can make it seem as if prisoners are not human. People of color are arrested or

killed for minor offences, such as a broken tail light, just because of the stereotypical notion in
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the minds of the individuals behind the badge. Being arrested or stopped for the color of an

individual's skin is morally wrong and sadly happens everyday. Racial profiling happens every

second of the day without anyone realizing because of societys projection of races.

Solutions

Body Cameras

Body cams are used in many states, helping to lower wrongdoing and unethical

encounters with citizens. Officers who did not wear cameras performed 9.8% more

stop-and-frisks and made 6.9% more arrests (Kelsh, 2016, para. 4). Body cameras have helped

police officers become more aware of what they are doing out in the field. It is great that the

cameras are finally catching police officers in the act of doing unethical actions, actions they

have probably been doing on the daily before the cameras became a part of the conversation.

Black people are most targeted and this is great news especially since anxiety skyrockets through

the roof when they are pulled over. They get trained to help citizens and protect their jurisdiction,

but they have let biases get in the way of doing their job.

Thousands of police run in cases have been ruled unfairly because of the lack of evidence

and the testament of a highly looked at police officers. Body cameras should be controlled by

their station to keep consistency in data distribution. Except as otherwise provided in this

policy, officers shall activate body-worn cameras to record all contacts with citizens in the

performance of official duties (LRIS, 2014, pg. 3). Body cams are great for solving

discrepancies of stories and better behavior, but there are some flaws that come with this new

practice. The officers themselves are allowed to turn the camera on and off with their discretion.
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They have guidelines to follow in order for them to meet policy, but giving them full access to

the camera is not a good idea. ...giving officers discretion on the issue resulted in a 42 percent

reduction in video files generated monthly (La Vigne, 2015, para. 7). A bad situation could be

in full status, but the police officer could be in the wrong from the get go and they dont turn

their camera on, lying and saying that they forgot to turn their camera on. Real evidence,

instead of the hearsay, can be brought to the table for better sentencing and verdicts. There has

also been less violent encounters in the field. In the 12 months from March 2014 through

February 2015, use-of-force incidents also known as response to resistance incidents

dropped 53 percent among officers with the cameras (Wing, 2015, para. 3). There have been so

many stories about forceful encounters with police, especially these past couple of years. For

example: Michael Brown, Alton Sterling, Eric Garner, and many more. It has brought havoc on

the communities of interests such as the Hispanic and Black communities. No one should feel

like they cannot trust the police, and this is one step into the right direction for black people who

are being unlawfully frisked or stopped. The time where they believe that there is no justice is

slowly but surely coming to an end.

What Needs to be Done

Private Prisons

Although there are steps being taken to further better our country, there are still things

that need to be done. Private prisons are apart of the problem of mass incarceration. The biggest

private prison owner in America, The Corrections Corporation of America, has seen its profits

increase by more than 500% in the past 20 years (Matthew, 2013, para. 3). Mass incarceration is

so out of control that there are companies solely focused on the increase of it. Furthermore, they
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make all of their money off of putting people in jail and thats all they want. According to the

Bureau of Justice Statistics, for-profit companies were responsible for approximately 7 percent

of state prisoners and 18 percent of federal prisoners in 2015 (ACLU, n.d., para. 1). Private

prisons help put people in prisons, pushing for policies that increase the number of incarcerated.

They are not only helping increase the number of individuals sent to prisons but as stated above

they are making enormous profit off of prisoners. Its beneficial to get rid of these prisons so the

focus is on keeping people out of jail not in. They are a part of the problem and need to be

stopped.

Sentencing

Sentencing in this country has gotten out of hand and unfair. The court system needs to

fix how they deal with sentencing people, especially for nonviolent crimes. ...the states

notoriously punitive three strikes law, which will send a third-time felony offender to prison for

25 years to life even for a nonviolent offense... (Myers, 2012, para. 6). There are laws extending

people's prison sentences, no matter the crime. A nonviolent offender with multiple charges

could receive the same amount of jail time as a violent offender with multiple charges because of

these laws. Each year, about 60 percent of all federal drug offenders are subject to a mandatory

minimum sentence (USSC, 2012). Mandatory minimums are harming the justice system as

well. Even if a judge wanted to give someone a lower sentence they cannot because these

sentencing laws. Many of the people still in prison are elder people still paying for what they did

when they were probably in their late teens, early twenties. These laws need to be appealed and

changed to give people a fair chance at life. People in jail right now for such petty crimes, like

carrying drugs for an abusive partner, will not be able to have the same opportunities as the rest
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of us. Alleviating these laws would help keep more people out of jail and better trials.

Conclusion

Mass incarceration has destroyed millions of people's lives. Millions of dollars are put

into keeping people in jail when majority of the incarcerated are often arrested for nonviolent

drug crimes and sentenced unfairly. Black people are targeted everyday and are not given a fair

chance to succeed. Everyone should be aware and speak out against these injustices to give their

peers a greater chance at life. In conclusion, there should be changes within the systems in order

to experience equality for all people in the justice system, no matter their race.
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References

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Carroll , L. (2016, July 10). How the war on drugs affected incarceration rates. Retrieved January

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http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jul/10/cory-booker/how-war-drugs

-affected-incarceration-rates/

DuVernay, A. (Director). (2016). 13TH [Video file]. In Netflix. Retrieved December 24, 2016,

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Hanson, H. (2016, March 25). Nixon Aide Reportedly Admitted Drug War Was Meant To Target

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History.com Staff. (2009). Slavery in America. Retrieved December 04, 2016, from

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LRIS. (2014, September 12). Body-Worn Cameras Policy [PDF]. Washington D.C.: Labor

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