The Incarceration System During The United States

Our incarceration system once pursued two firm yet opposing goals: retribution and rehabilitation. The Age of Enlightenment spurred an influx of imprisonment ideologies that soon congealed into a justifiable approach towards criminals. Jails, workhouses, and prisons aimed to reintegrate lawbreakers back into society but not before they were punished. The precarious balance between such contradictory motives unfortunately proved impossible. When did this system, once considered virtuous and just, become the hallmark of inequality? On September 27th, 2015, Pope Francis reflected upon this fact during a visit to a Philadelphia jail, â€Å"It is painful when we see prison systems, which are not concerned to care for wounds, to soothe pain, to offer new possibilities.† This moving sentiment resonated with the American population, the majority failing to realize that one third of the world s female prison population is incarcerated in the United States. If the magnitude of that figu re does not astound you, maybe the fact that every 1 in 15 American prisoners are black, while only 1 in 106 prisoners are white, will. These statistics, reported by Harper’s Index, quantify the blatant corruption of the American incarceration system and the institutionalized racism America has sustained throughout it’s short life in places where we may not have suspected. Since the inception of the United States, the government has had one definitive purpose: to protect the people’s rights to life,Show MoreRelatedLegislation and Incarceration in United States956 Words   |  4 PagesLegislation and Incarceration (Order #A2068178) The incarceration rate in the United States has steadily risen since 1973, and Franklin Zimring has examined the relationship between penal legislation and the incarceration rate. He has discovered three distinct periods which demonstrate three differences in the way legislation effects penal practices. During the first period in which there was a major rise in incarceration rates, 1973-1985, Zimring asserted that there was no relationship betweenRead MorePositive And Negative Impacts Of The Correctional System1514 Words   |  7 PagesFord Valdosta State University â€Æ' Introduction The correctional system as a whole has a significant impact on the United States. From policy, incarceration, sexual victimization, and those who oversee correctional facilities it all takes a toll on the country. Simply stated, it is the butterfly effect seen in action. When one decision, action, or lack thereof is implemented there will either be positive or negative consequences. Statistics encompassing sexual victimization, incarceration rates in theRead MoreThe Effects Of Mandatory Sentencing On The United States Essay1273 Words   |  6 PagesThe United States prison population has grown seven-fold over the past forty years, and many Americans today tend to believe that the high levels of incarceration in our country stem from factors such as racism, socioeconomic differences, and drugs. While these factors have contributed to the incarceration rate present in our country today, I argue that the most important reason our country has such a high incarceration rate is the policy changes that have occurred since the 1970s. During this timeRead MoreUnited States Prisons And Prisons1052 Words   |  5 Pageschapters. Chapter 5 the Court System, Chapter 6 Jails and Prisons, Chapter 7 Probation and Parole, and Chapter 8 the Juvenile Justices System. This being a hard choice to narrow these four topics down to one I have decided to discuss Chapter 6 Jails and Prisons. Jails and Prisons Jails and Prisons have no discrimination at all. You have all different kinds of people locked up behind bars different race, gender, beliefs, etc. They were first intended for incarceration of prisoners in Colonial AmericaRead MoreAmerican Incarceration : Where We Are, And What Can Be Done?1518 Words   |  7 PagesYasir Choudhury Dr. Joà £o Vargas UGS 303 Mass Incarceration 5 October 2015 American Incarceration: Where We Are, and What Can be Done From its early inception as a necessary aspect of modern society to its broken state that can be seen today, the American penal system has changed radically in recent history from an institution that performed the duty of safeguarding the public from those too dangerous to be left unsupervised to a business model concerned more with generating a profit for shareholdersRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration Essay1401 Words   |  6 Pages Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, examines mass incarceration in the United States, why the criminal justice system works the way it does towards minorities, the detriments associated with mass incarceration as it relates to offenders, and much more. In the introduction of her book, Alexander immediately paints the harsh reality of mass incarceration with the story of Jarvious Cotton who is denied the right to vote among other rights becauseRead MoreMass Incarceration In Mich elle Alexanders The New Jim Crow Laws1083 Words   |  5 PagesJim Crow laws were state and local laws that reinforced racial segregation in the South between the end of Reconstruction in 1877 and the beginning of the civil rights movement in the 1950’s (Urofsky). The laws mandated segregation of schools, drinking fountains, restrooms, buses, and restaurants. In legal theory, blacks received â€Å"separate but equal† treatment under the law--in actuality, public facilities were nearly always inferior to those for whites, when they existed at all. In addition, blacksRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration1370 Words   |  6 Pagesthe United States has not remained the same over time since its creation. Racism has shifted, changed, and shaped into unrecognizable ways that fit into the fabric of the American society to render it nearly invisible to the majority of Americans. Michelle Alexander, in her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color blindness shatters this dominantly held belief. The New Jim Crow makes a reader profoundly question whether the high rates of incarceration in the United States is anRead MoreThe United States Incarceration System1710 Words   |  7 PagesThe United States incarceration system is a structural foundation of punishment in which is formed by robust authoritarian power. The United States criminal justice system is not an institution to be underestimated, as it represents the highest incarceration rate of all world nations at a staggering 700 inmates per 100 thousand citizens (Krisberg, 7). Based on the social and political structure of democracy in the United States, it is argued that incarceration systems should follow the same rootsRead MoreIs The Mass Incarceration Of Blacks The New Jim Crow?1540 Words   |  7 PagesIs the Mass Incarceration of Blacks the new Jim Crow? American has a legacy of the mistreatment and disenfranchisement of African Americans. The same bad treatment that many think only took place in the past is in fact still intact, it’s just presented in a new way. The mass incarceration of blacks in the Unites States can be attributed to the â€Å"racial hierarchy† that has always existed. The U.S contributes to about 5% of the worlds overall population, and about 25% of the worlds prison population