Abstract
I’m about to tell you about a problem that’s been going on for years.A problem that leaves cities broken and leaves families in tears.A problem that we won’t face.A problem that includes race.A problem that we need to figure out before it’s too late.Theories made for why it happens but not a way to fix it.A problem with no resistance,and no one ever listens,cause they only see the person for as the one that’s been convicted.This is just another plague that been used by the nation.Today i will talk to you about mass incarceration.
Background
Mass incarceration has been a major problem in the U.S since the 1860’s.Most of the inmates in prison are black and hispanic.Afro-Americans makeup ⅖ of the prison population in the U.S.This continuous population of blacks can be traced back all the way to the 1860’s during the times of reconstruction and the Emancipation Proclamation.The Emancipation Proclamation declared that all people held by the south as a slave are “free”.The Southerners didn’t take too kindly to that as their economy was built off slavery and the oppression of afro-americans.With this proclamation and the Reconstruction Amendments.The southerners had to use a more conniving way to keep their economy from changing.They changed the laws of their judicial system to specifically target the newly “freed” slaves to keep them under a state of oppression.
First with Black Codes,which were laws passed by Southern States in 1865 and were specifically designed for with the purpose of restricting Afro-American freedom,compelling them to work in a labor economy based on low wages and debts.At the time the South was heavily watched over by Radical Republicans and the black codes were quickly repealed in 1866.However,due to the Northern exhaust along with southern protest,the federal government withdrew from the South.Black disenfranchisement as well as unchecked oppression began to thrive.Southern states began to enforce laws that unfairly penalized Afro-Americans for their crimes.Pig Laws made it a sentence of five years to steal a farm animal.Vagrancy laws made it a crime not to have a job or not have proof of employment.Although these laws were not specified for Afro-American,they were rarely enforced for whites .
This led way to more blacks being charged and convicted of crimes,which led to an uprising to a practice known as convict leasing.Convict Leasing is a practice to where a person convicted of a crime can be leased out to a private holder or enterprise for hard labor,in exchange for paying the workers minimal rate,and also be responsible for their housing and feeding.This benefited the South’s Economy by saving money on prison construction as well as making a profit.This also helped their underlying goal of oppression because the system was almost synonymous to slavery as people did hard labor in order to be in a horrible,life-draining,torturous living condition.Another way that Afro-Americans were forced into labor was a system known as “peonage” or debt slavery .Peonage was a system to which a employer compelled a worker to pay off debt.
This banned practice began to flourish in the South after Reconstruction.Using a loophole in the Thirteenth Amendment that declared involuntary servitude as illegal except as punishment for a crime,they were able to argue peonage as a lawful practice and argue its ban as not being in violation of the Constitution. There were two methods to peonage.The first would be overfining the “criminal”,and having a local businessman pay the fine.The convict then had to sign a contract and agree to work with him until the debt was paid off.The second method was that if the person would “confess” before there was a trial a business man would step forth to act as a “surety” vouching for good behavior and forfeiting a bond to pay for the crime.
The defendant would then sign a contract agreeing to work without pay until the surety bond was paid off.By the 1890s,blacks were suffering the worst kind of treatment in the South since the end of the Civil War.It became highly segregated due to jim crow laws and black were denied their rights stated in the Reconstruction Amendments.But a new political and social movement was rising,a movement called progressivism which eventually abolished convict leasing.After the outlawing of convict leasing,there was still an issue with the expense and difficulty of housing convict. That’s when a new system called chain gangs were used a a solution to the problem.Chain gangs were convicts forced into labor to make improvements in rural areas.These areas made transporting their crops to the market quicker and easier.These forced labor practices were used frequently until 1941,when the government worked aggressively to protect all its citizens from forced labor.
Theories of Criminology
Although these times of labor are over,mass incarceration is still a huge problem in the U.S.There are theories developed as to why this is still a huge problem even in today’s society.Most theories are based on the impacts of the environment.Some theories are based of off the different aspects of identity and societal beliefs of their environment such as the Social Disorganization Theory.Others focus on the types of crime people commit as well as why they commit them The Differential Opportunity Theory.These two theories as well as many others were made to give us insight and to help make the best formed explanation for criminal activity.Social Disorganization Theory is a theory that group cohesion,social integration,and trust are all factors in people engaging in criminal activities or becoming criminals.Societies have a “collective conscience” with shared values and attitudes which act as a glue that holds society together and places restraints on individual behavior.When the “collective conscience” is weakened by societal roles or factors such as population size,density, or heterogeneity,it leads to community differentiation and weakens the controlling force as a whole.
This gives different groups within the community an outlet to internalize a diverse set of thoughts,ideas and attitudes that may be in conflict with societal beliefs already founded.These leads to alienation and separation of identification,values,and perspectives of what is right and wrong in society.The deviations of values leads to unstableness and therefore sets up a divide.With this divide you can see a show of crime and delinquency in these communities.This also goes hand in hand with Differential Opportunity Theory.Differential Opportunity Theory states that people from low socioeconomic backgrounds,who have few opportunities for success,will use any means at their disposal to achieve success.It is proven that different aspects such as where you live and how you grew up play a factor in your roles in society.
People coming from a lower class background are less likely to succeed then someone coming from a higher class background.People result in criminal activity because they feel that their dreams and goals are unreachable in today’s society.For example,in Kendrick Lamar’s song called “Money Trees” he says “dreams of living like rappers do”which insinuates that he wants to live in higher class society but further along in the song he says “Back to reality,we poor,ya bish”which shows that he believe his goals are unreachable,and his reality is that he is poor and will always be poor.Kendrick came from a lower class community and didn’t have the same opportunities as presented to people of middle or higher class society,he just was one of the very few able to catch a lucky break.For most people in those circumstances, they see their goals as unreachable using conventional societal methods so they resort to crime.Considering that most people in these predicaments are Afro-Americans,it would explain the amount of Afro-Americans in jail as well as the amount of police surrounding Afro-American neighborhoods.All in all,These theories help breakdown the aspects of a criminal from environment to thought process,as well as different classifications of criminals in society.
Discussion
Mass incarceration is more than just a bunch of people being locked up,its effect on society as a whole is extremely damaging to communities and families. The cycle of mass incarceration is what keeps society in shackles,unable to break through it hate and cruelty personified through its twisted morals and values.Having anything on your police report can have massive damage to your success in the world,but being a convict makes it almost impossible to re-integrate yourself into Society today.Some would even call it a “Life Long Sentence” even after serving their time and being released back into the world.Bobby,who is a previously incarcerated convict,talked about how hard it was to get back to being a part of society.He says that even tho he went to prison and did his time,people still have that view of him and automatically objectify him still as a menace to society.When he fills out job applications and he’s obligated to tell that he’s been convicted,it puts him at a severe disadvantage for the job.Not only with jobs,but renting property as well as being trusted in his community are a huge problem as well.
He even explained how people in his community turned his back on him and treated him like he was a criminal,and that’s suppose to be the few to have his back the most.Bobby’s Testimony and problems are very unaware to the public eye.No one ever sees the convicts point of view and the trials as well as tribulations they have to go through when coming back home.If the purpose of prison is to rehabilitate,why is it so difficult to be re-accepted back to society?Not to mention,taking strong figures in the community such as parents,will leave it in disarray.More than five million kids has had a family member serve or due time in jail.Due to the emotional turmoil and struggling the kids face,the Parents fate can even be call a “shared sentence”between them and the child.We need to work on our prison being an actual rehabilitation system as well as society viewpoints of released convicts.We have to understand that despite these theories and our history,we as a people should act as one.There are a ton of underlying factors that matter so much,such as race and privilege,but at the end of the day we as people have to come to a general census and fix the problem.
A person whose does the time for their crime should not still be serving outside of jail.If they never stop suffering,what’s the point of sending them to jail in the first place?This system goes against their Civil Rights,Human Rights,and breaks them down as people.You have a system that will always have people suffer in jail and out of jail as a way to oppress and punish.Is this really what due process is?Sentencing someone to a lifetime of discrimination and judgement of their past decisions?How is that fair or just judgement?This has made people turn back to their old ways even after getting out,because it was easier to go back to crime than be a better person.How can you expect someone to change their ways and lifestyle if they have a better chance at being a criminal again,than being a good wholesome citizen?It’s bad enough that they already face prejudice as Afro-Americans,but now there not even seen a people,just nuisances that society doesn’t want to deal with anymore.This isn’t justice,this isn’t right,this isn’t a solution,its a scam that’s been going on for decades and needs to stop.We have to put this to an end and do better to thrive as a society.Help not hinder,share the wealth,and feed the growth.I think the best way explain this would be a chinese proverb which state “if you want one year of prosperity grow grain,if you want ten years of prosperity,grow trees,if you want one hundred years of prosperity,grow people”.
