Mass Incarceration?
August 15, 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGLccvmI7Q8&feature=em-uploademail
What you think about mass incarceration probably depends on where you come from. Where do you come from and what do you think about mass incarceration?
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CJS-360 Diversity Issues 
I believe that mass incarceration is absolutely real and living in America today. There are different cultural or ethnic groups targeted in this country but I also think it depends on the locations across America. For instance, on the west coast, drug cartels of the Latino decent are a huge problem and are taking this section of the country by force with prostitution and drugs that are being smuggled across the border to and from Mexico. Compared to the mid-west where African American gangs have gone to war because of turf arguments and the drug battle in the streets of Chicago.
These mass incarcerations are targeting these groups of people because they are often times the offender that needs to be taken on the street but what the link is showing is that often the privileged do not understand that this is a problem within the United States and that they turn a blind eye to what is really going on. But what should be done with the criminals, drug dealers, and ring leaders? Should we leave them and their entourage to roam the streets to create more havoc? Or will someone just take their place when they are locked up? I feel as though we need to enforce drug crimes but on a lower spectrum, we are overcrowding our prisons with petty drug offenses when there has to be a bigger priority to get the more violent offenders and the higher up cartel/gang leaders incarcerated in order to place a higher punishment on the crime so the benefits for this lifestyle do not out weight the punishments.
As far as the people that are privileged that don’t see people getting “locked up” that is just how it has been, people do not want to see themselves or their family in any situation or any harmful vision that could be a threat to their perfect livelihood that they live in day to day. Out of sight out of mind is what keeps tranquility, safety, and normalcy in the lives of people that are not affected by crime and incarceration in America.
Mass incarceration is a big issue in today’s day and age in America. I come from a small town in the sticks of Minnesota. Prisons are over populated because there are many people there that do not necessarily need to be there. There are people who need to be locked up and put away from society because they are dangerous, but there are also individuals who need rehabilitation more the punishment. A person who is a drug abuser is not receiving the help they need in prison to become a clean and productive citizen when they get out. They are learning new and better ways to become a criminal and finding new hook ups for their next high inside the prison. Prison is also over populated with individuals that are involved in street crime. Most people who are involved in street crime such as selling drugs and gangs are African Americans, Hispanics and other people of color. We do not picture a white male that has been committing some kind of white collar crime over populating the prison system. We picture a black male who is armed and dangerous because that is what the media has painted for us.
It is also the families that are suffering from their loved ones being in prison. Children may be missing out on vital time with their mother or father. Children may even follow in the footsteps of their loved one because they do not know any different or they look for comfort in all the wrong places for example a gang. Therefore mass incarceration stays the same because we are not breaking the cycle or putting the correct people in prison.
believe in the concept of incarceration if it’s done the right way. Mass incarceration cal also be due to the degree of recidivism. The Criminal justice, particularly the prosecution still seeks to enhance the reabilitative programm. I think, incarceration is a way to get these criminal off the street. As it was pointed out, it will generate peace within the community and it would minimize the commission of certain crimes
F.Barukzoy
I agree. I also feel that we live in a world where it is better to lock up than rehabilitate. Yes, the idea of rehabilitation has been surfacing but funding for it has been cut. I believe the rate of incarceration is increasing because of our sentencing guidelines. If we change those then maybe things will be better.
Mass incarceration is a very real issue, but why is that? I believe it could be for two reasons which are recidivism and societies view on crime.
When an individual commits a crime, goes to prison and then comes out of prison back into society, they are facing very real issues. It is hard for them to find jobs and homes among other opportunities. If someone can’t get a job to support their families or themselves or provide a roof over their heads they will be put into a situation where reoffending seems like the way to go and consequently will find themselves behind bars once more. What’s supposed to happen is an individual commits a crime, they go to prison, they learn from their mistakes, and they leave and never come back which will make room for more people to come, but that not happening. An individual goes in comes out and recidivates, so no wonder there is mass incarceration.
Societies view on crime also plays a factor in mass incarceration. The criminal justice system and the powers in our society show a distorted view of the dangers that threaten us. According to what we are told, crime comes from low income areas usually by a minority and more specifically by young black males. However, according to crime reports in 2010, black males only made up 29 percent of all crime. Those with the power to define crime and the power to implement laws negate to show society any other picture. Therefore, those urban areas have a magnified lens on them which is where the most of those in prisons come from.
The United States is one of the worlds leaders for incarceration. Unfortunately, most of the people we lock up are low level offenders that could be treated through less expensive rehabilitation methods. Lawmakers in this country have molded the criminal justice system to suppress the poor. For example, a crack cocaine offense would have a sentence twice as hard as powder cocaine. Why? Because crack is cheaper, poor people can afford it. Contrary, powder cocaine is expensive, rich politicians, lawmakers, and other influential people tend to dabble in the powder form. What I am trying to say is that we not only have a mass incarceration problem, we have a problem targeting certain demographics for mass incarceration.
I think mass incarceration definitely depends on where you come from. I grew up in North Minneapolis and most of the people I attended High School with are in prison. The lack of concern for education among students and teachers in the inner cities
Is ridiculous. Our criminal justice system is not fair. We focus more on putting people away then rehabilitating them. There are offenders who get more time for drug offenses than murder. We need to reestablish effective sentencing guidelines. Non violent, violent and the mentally ill are all house together. The majority of the men in prison are African American. There is defiantly something wrong with that picture. Mass incarceration accounts for the bias, unequal justice system.
I come from the suburbs south of the Minnesota River. Mass incarceration doesn’t seem to touch the communities I’m around but it’s impossible to avoid seeing the impact it has on the country as a whole. It’s become a massive money drain on the economy both in prosecution of offenders for relatively petty crimes, and housing the same offenders in prisons for years on end. In our prisons we aren’t doing anything to make the world a better place except giving people a false sense of security. We aren’t prosecuting those who are actually harming a majority of citizens (2008 financial crisis). We also are doing nothing to help rehabilitate criminals once they get to prison.
Mass incarceration is an important issue in our criminal justice and corrections system in the United States today. We incarcerate more people than any other country in the world. Mass incarceration targets lower income, minorities, the mentally ill, and the addicted. This is not to say that people who truly commit crimes should not serve time for it…but are we really attacking society’s issues when we repeatedly lock up minor offenders or the mentally ill as opposed to real criminals? Legislation such as mandatory minimum sentencing leaves no room for interpretation, disgression, good decision making and community based rehabilitation in our system. Further, there are many who suffer from this such as children, families left without resources, addicts who will not receive assistance. I know I am sounding very bleeding heart but there is a place and time to be realistic and look at how what the system is doing, isn’t working. It is not achieving the intended goal of removing criminals from the streets; making the public safer; and making individuals and families whole again.
Issues with the American prison system aren’t just a symptom of racism, although the majority of those incarcerated in American prisons for violent crime and controlled substance violations happen to be black males; they are a symptom of a failing criminal justice system. Prisons are overcrowded for a few reasons, including general American over-population (especially in large cities), mandatory sentencing of non-violent drug crimes, and ever expanding criminal statutes, putting more people in prison for more things.
Recidivism, as mentioned in the comments above is also astounding; some reports show that inmates that have even gone through treatment for drug crimes have almost a 25% recidivism rate. The issue is not only treatment before they get out; it’s about offering a life beyond bars. Rehabilitation and reinstatement in society need a greater focus if the U.S. wants to change the outlook on life for this segment of the population.
As far as it goes, I believe the video is spot on; wealthy Americans often aren’t the focus of police action. You don’t see squad cars sitting in residential blocks of Edina or Minnetonka (rich Minnesota suburbs). This is because the wealthy have jobs with health benefits that include rehabilitation programs, they aren’t compelled to steal to support their families, and they have opportunity because they can afford higher education.
There is no question that the rich and the poor experience two different worlds.
Mass incarceration is a problem that keeps growing in America. Personally, I feel like the system is not designed to protect all citizens but yet does a better job on protecting those who have money and power. For example: think about the different levels of crimes and how these crimes are treated based on race and social class. These two categories alone illustrate how crimes and criminal activities are evaluated by the criminal justice system. Race and social class are two of the major factors on why and how an individual ends up being part of the mass incarceration population. According to the Governing website (www.governing.com) regarding U.S. incarceration rates it indicates in 2010 the Federal and State authorities were accounted for more than 1.6 million prisoners. That is an estimate of 497 sentenced prisoners per 100,000 residents again this rate varies throughout the country. I am pretty sure different incarceration rates could be found through the National Prisoner Statistics (NPS) and National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP) database. The University of Chicago Crime Lab (http://crimelab.uchicago.edu/page/incarceration) states that the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate as well as the most number of people in prison in the world. The war on drugs is another issue that needs to be addressed but our prisons are over populated with those who have committed petty crimes. The criminal justice system needs to do a better job on evaluating the seriousness of crimes that are committed by all individuals no matter the status and power that individual might hold. If the seriousness of crimes are better evaluated and fairly treated than we can began to work on resolving mass incarceration as well as bettering the criminal justice system and how it operates.
I think that mass incarceration is a big issue today I think that if we had different programs and resources to help some of these people it would make a difference. I think that people on drugs needs treatment and other resources while sittiing in prison they are not getting what they need to help them for when they get out. People are in prison these days for domestic and breaking no contact orders when they should just be sitting in jail or doing community service or working with someone that will help them with their feelings towards the person they have a no contact on. The number is getting higher and higher of who is in prison and what they there for. We as community memebers need to be more active and more willing to help our selves and where our children are growing up and the surroundings around us. If we worked together more maybe things would not be so bad out there for kids,.
To me the words “mass incarceration” suggests over populated prisons across America, which is a huge issue in some states, California is a good example of this. Violent offenders and sex offenders cannot go unpunished, and rehabilitation is not a quick fix. Rehabilitation for these serious types of offenses require decades in my opinion to allow an offender to rationalize the negative impact their crimes have had on victims and families of victims.
Where the problem lies with mass incarceration is nonviolent offenders such as fraud and drug possession. These types of offenders should be placed in strict rehabilitation programs allowing the violent offenders to be incarcerated.
I also believe in capital punishment, this is not the solution for the problem of mass incarceration but it would provide some wiggle room in the prison systems.
It is the same taxpayers who vote the elected officials into office that make the decisions on sentencing guidelines so if they choose to elect an official that is against capital punishment then it will be the taxpayer who pays for the offenders housing, food, and medical needs as he or she serves out their murder sentence which could easily extend beyond the offenders life existence.
For a taxpayer like myself who does agree with capital punishment my only option is to move to a state that utilizes capital punishment as a resolution to offenders that fall under this jurisdiction. The fallback is it is likely to be a state that does have overcrowded prisons to begin with so I wouldn’t be much better off. I guess it is a no win situation which ever angle it is looked at.
I agree with many off your responses to this post. Mass incarceration is a growing problem which, needs to be addressed. I believe this is the result of racial profiling which is a big problem with in our countries police departments. Society is set up to fail with in police cultures if they adopt the idea of racial profiling. I think racial profiling is morally wrong. It promotes the internal segregation of suspects with in the minds of police officers and it creates a second-class citizenship for Black and Latinos or any race for that matter. We learn about community policing and its benefits to both the community and the department. I think that many communities would not want to work with a department where racial profiling is in place. Racial profiling sends a message that whites are law-abiding citizens and other races are assumed criminals. I do not think that racial profiling should be allowed in any police department, even if results prove it to be affective. Also I think that if some one is in favor for this then they are practicing vicarious racial discrimination. This is the reason as to why we have this problem with in our prisons. Our society allows this to happen and I don’t understand why? Is it because the Government is run by powerful corrupt white males? I’m not saying the government is corrupt, I’m simply asking the question. This problem stems from the ideas placed in our ancestor’s frame of thought and still continues today. It is clear that our society needs a lot of work to address the real problem that have been taken place in our criminal justice system that is rooted deep in our governing system.
The number of citizens we lock up as compared to other developed nations is astronomical. There needs to be real reforms especially regarding non violent drug offenses, it is absolutely silly that marijuana which is fairly innocuous in its effects on ones health is treated as a schedule 1 narcotic while alcohol and nicotine are completely legal both of which kill thousands a year. As we can see from Colorado and California change is coming. Some drugs like meth and heroine are extremely damaging to individuals and communities and should be criminalized but the larger issue surrounding narcotic manufacturing and trafficking is that there is a market for the drugs. I believe this nation must focus more on the demand for the drugs rather than on the supply because as we have seen the supply always manages to meet the demand. The root of many of these problems is poverty and lack of opportunity to achieve an acceptable standard of living. I can buy into strain theory and anomine. In the communities where the majority of the people are impoverished and the only viable opportunities that provide reasonable incomes are illicit, the presence of the police would logically be seen as adversarial. Moreover, prison is a reality and it must be extremely frustrating to watch those trying to survive go to prison for crimes that were committed due to circumstances of poverty. Obviously not everyone fits this profile and some people legitimately need to be in prison for violent offenses but does the corner drug dealer need to be in the same place as rapists and murderers? I think there is a better way to address the issue of narcotics and by proxy incarceration.
I agree that there is mass incarceration occurring in our society. I feel that there are people who are incarcerated that should not be there. I think that there are people of color or minorities being convicted of crimes and sentenced that those of the majority are not necessarily charged for because of their status in society. Coming from a big city, Minneapolis, I see crime happening every day. I follow where crime is happening and it happens mostly in areas of lower class. I feel that racial profile is still alive and well and that can lead to mass incarceration because people are being arrested for crimes that those of the majority may not be. I think that if there was more funding for programs that help rehabilitate and educate those who have been incarcerated, we could help reduce recidivism and those who are in prison or jails. I feel that once we let people out of prison, we are not doing all that we can to help them succeed out in the real world. These people should be getting help in finding jobs, and functioning as a law abiding citizen, otherwise they could end up back in prison. I feel that our prisons are disproportionately occupied by minorities and those of color because society feels that they cannot be helped. I hope that someday we can help rehabilitate those who need our help.