Ethnic Disparity In Prisons

Racial disparity is highly controversial in all areas of our judicial systems starting with the arrest and ending with the imprisonment. Racial and ethnic disparity exists in nearly all of America’s legal systems, despite the progress over the recent years in social and economic status; the numbers still remain high for minorities in our prison system.
Is America’s prison system the new housing complex for disadvantaged minorities? The numbers don’t lie when it comes to the studies completed on this issue there are many reason for minorities in prison. We can start with the high percentages of broken/ fatherless homes, lack of role models, the war on drugs, poor education and racial divide by geographical location. I guess the next question

is where does the blame lie? Is it the poor choices minorities make, the “War on drugs”, or maybe a racist format committed to locking up minorities for same crimes committed by whites, but with a dramatically different rate and impact.
Is something wrong when our current president states “blacks and whites, are arrested at very different rates, are convicted at very different rates, [and] receive very different sentences . . . for the same crime”? (Mac Donald, 2008) According to Mac Donald President Obama wasn’t the only one stating this questionable issue? Unfortunately this topic has been researched and discussed among scholars for many years with no sound proof but statistics show otherwise. As we looked into the data from past studies it was found that more than 60% of the people in prison were racial and ethnic minorities. According to the Bureau of Justice statistics, “1 in every 13 Black males ages 30 to 34 was in prison in 2011, as were 1 in 36 Hispanic males and 1 in 90 white males in the same age group”. How could the numbers show great separation of nearly two-thirds of minorities in prison compared to their white counterparts? Some will say it was the great “war on drugs”, and the numbers will show that two-thirds of all persons in prison for drug offenses are people of color. Since 1980’s, the “War on Drugs” has costs millions, with thousands of arrests, and yet the war continues into today’s world of budgetary storms and media blitz as if it just started. Let’s take a moment to discuss the drug issues and race as they seem to co-exist in the data collected and researched.
For example, according to an article from the Stanford Law and Policy Review, the government’s handling of the distribution and using of illicit drugs has been in question. The article questions how the law enforcement agencies tactics have cost so much money and man power without the expected outcome of curbing the still lucrative and danger drug market. It also talks about how the public officials have shown little to no interest in the disproportionate arrest and incarceration of minorities for drug offenses.
The article states “The costs and benefits of this national "war on drugs" remain fiercely debated. What is not debatable, however, is that this ostensibly race-neutral effort has been waged primarily against black Americans. Relative to their numbers in the general population and among drug offenders, black Americans are disproportionately arrested, convicted, and incarcerated on drug charges.”( Fellner, 2009).
The author’s statement is truly questioning as to whether the “war on drugs” was for stopping the torrid dilemma or a targeted effort towards arresting the minorities’ committing the drug crimes. It seems that the war on drugs barely affects whites compared to minorities and from the outside looking in it appears that law enforcement is offering a great service to the minority communities, so how could race be an issue? The media paints a vivid picture of the horrible conditions left from drugs deals, gang violence, addiction, and destroyed communities, while presenting law enforcement as the strong pillar of reason in this dilemma, but is there another agenda? Fellner also talks about how the supporters may not view the efforts of law enforcement as a targeted effort to harm the minority community, but merely as just doing a job to help get the drugs off the streets and out of minority communities.
So for now, let’s just say that the “war on drugs” is a component for the disproportionate numbers, but what else could contribute to the high rate of minorities in prison?

If I was standing in a group of educated peers and we were having this discussion, my next question would be “What causes so many minorities to commit crimes?”
The many issues of the minority community seem like Pandora’s Box when discussed in certain circles. Many researchers have found that the impact from the high incarceration numbers drastically affect the minority community on levels not seen by the public eye. As we look into how and why this vicious cycle continues to rise and hinder the growth in the minority community, we find that three different aspects are greatly affected family, political, and earning power.
“We do not develop habits of genuine love automatically. We learn by watching effective role models – most specifically by observing how our parents express love for each other day in and day out.”– Josh

McDowell
Family is a huge aspect affected by incarceration due to absence, the family quote above states that we learn from watching effective role models, but what if they are missing?

According to Western, he states that “incarceration has its most corrosive effects on families” I see this to be very true based of the generational influence from parents, siblings, and close relatives to the next generation of the family. He also feels that incarceration and single parenting coupled with poor education among minority men and women, produces a higher rate of imprisonment among fathers in disadvantaged families. Western was one of the many researchers to look at data to find out how the lack of fathers in homes and communities greatly impacted the families. The fact that these men incarcerated were parents before, during, and after their incarceration has left a visible void in the parenting realm. According to researchers, they estimate that children of prisoners are five times more likely to engage in criminal behavior and or serve jail or prison time than those who never experience the pain of having one of their parents

imprisoned.
In Mac Donald’s article she quoted Columbia Law professor Jeffery Fagan stating this “sending black males to prison “weakens the general social control of children and especially adolescents,” (Mac Donald, 2008). It has been shown that the high incarceration numbers has also caused the single parent homes to increase in numbers as well. Mac Donald also points out that the missing fathers from the community; the boys in that community are unsupervised. They are more likely to commit crimes and will most certainly keep the cycle going.

In conclusion, while minorities have in many states improved economically and in some ways socially; the high incarceration numbers have not dropped for minorities. In many states where the crime rate is high, the prison rates are high, and poverty is prevalent, one can only point to the poor educational outlets, drug infested neighborhoods, gang violence, and poor representation of minorities in the legal system.
The “War on Drugs” and the numerous drug policies have made a major impact on both the numbers and composition of people who are incarcerated. Because minorities are more likely to be in prison than are whites, having a structured program while they are incarcerated is an important part of reducing overall disparity. Inmates who do not receive appropriate services in prison are more likely to return to jail and/or prison for a new offense.
As prison and jail populations have increased, the resources available for institutional education, counseling, and skills development programming have not kept up with the increased demand. This increases the problems of prison management, and often returns prisoners to the community unprepared for effective and law-abiding lifestyles than when they were first imprisoned. The families of the prisoners suffer a great blow in life as well.
As I review this topic there are many points of view as to why and very little solutions on how to slow this issue down. Will the next generation continue to take up housing in the prison systems or will our education increase in order to help prevent further racial disparity?