Essay On Incarceration

Abstract

The United States of America has 5 percent of the world’s population and currently is responsible for 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated individuals. This is an alarming number. This disproportionate ratio has been growing over recent decades. The war on drugs that was started under the administration of President Ronald Reagan has caused this measure to worsen. Most arrest are concentrated in lower income communities that are predominantly non-white and are at the lower end of the income range. This has caused an already medically underserved community to suffer further disparities in health care and overall health. This review concludes that the policy of over-incarcerating the individuals, who would be better served through rehabilitation and community intervention, is causing a devastating destruction of family units and the health of our citizens.

Introduction

The incarceration rate in the

An individual’s decision to commit crimes is not something that is passed on from their parents. In our urban communities, more often, among most populations that are nonwhite, the children of these households are exposed to the criminal justice system more frequently than their white counterparts. This happens because of the extreme disparities present in the prosecution of brown people in general. Children of our nonwhite families grow up with parents, uncles, siblings, and friends who are in and out of the jails and prisons in our country. This creates a normalizing undertone to criminal behavior and exposure to the criminal justice system. 75 percent of nonwhite youths between 15 to 18 years of age, would admit they expect to go to prison at some time in their lives. This acceptance of incarceration is a very undesirable aspect to our inner-city communities. The decision to commit crime is no longer weighed against incarceration or consequence because there is no shame or fear to the incarceration