African Americans In Prison Essay

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The United States of America currently holds the record for the most citizens incarcerated per capita in the world. From a period during 1978-2011 the number of African Americans in prison almost quadrupled (Hoffman). Some of those in prison are people who weren’t aware that what they did was illegal. Prosecutors are locking up more and more people, mostly due to our justice system today, which gives more power in the court to mandatory sentencing than judges. One judge said he wished that mandatory minimums were less harsh and rewritten to be more realistic (Too many laws, too many prisoners- The economist). A good percentage of people who get out of prison will end up back in within a few years, which seems to suggest that those who get put …show more content…
For profit prisons house more black men than other races for one big reason; it’s cheap. Rina Palta says that more black men are imprisoned because it is more expensive to house white drug users and older inmate with more health problems who are usually white. Healthcare regulations are more extensive for old inmates but the majority of black inmates are younger drug users, so the regulations don’t apply to them(Why for profit prisons house more inmates of color-Rina Palta). Profit is more why there are more black men in prisons, the trend just happens to be coincidental. Since 1978 to 2011 the per capita rate of incarceration almost quadrupled( How Incarceration Infects a Community-Emily Hoffman). Many people have been imprisoned since then including a large number of black men. A study was done to determine the reason why and the results concluded that those with family members in and out of prison negatively affects them(How incarceration infects a community-Emily Hoffman). Likely those with family members who have been in prison could influence them to become desensitized to crime, just living with bad role models, they could grow up knowing nothing
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