While in prison criminals become part of the gang or a member of the gang's victim pool. Race and culture seem to be the major factors in the victimization of inmates. The inmate may not be racist when he enters the system, however the need for survival against other inmates may force these characteristics to become more prominent. In the summer of 1998, a young man named William King was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of James Byrd Jr. Byrd was a black man from Jasper County, Texas, whom was bound at the ankles and dragged to death behind a truck. Why would this young man commit such a terrible and seemingly racist crime? Most would agree that it was his time spent in prison that led William King to take the life of James Byrd Jr. Friends and family of William stated that he was a pleasant before he went to prison for burglary. When he was released, he was a different person who spoke about white supremacy and was anxious to initiate his own supremacist gang. King’s defense attorney explained that it was the high rate of violence in the Texas correctional institute that caused him to become a gang member for a sense of security. William's defense attorney argued that he was merely a victim of the deteriorating prison system in this country (Racism, tolerance, and perfected redemption: A rhetorical critique of the dragging trial, Larry A. Williamson, 2009). The reality of prison gangs is nearly impossible to ignore. King's story, although not a defense for his crime, sheds light on today's prisons and the gangs within them. Newly admitted convicts are often victimized to no end until they join a group or gang that displays power and their intentions to survive prison life. Violence, rape, and murder are just a fe... ... middle of paper ... ...view of the Challenge of Prison Gangs Fleisher, M. S. Decker, S. H. Corrections Management Quarterly, 2001, VOL 5; ISS 1, pa 1-9 Organizational Structure of Prison Gangs: A Texas Case Study R S Fong Federal Probation Volume:54 Issue:1 Dated:(March 1990) Pages:36-43 Prison Gang Members' Tattoos as Identity Work: The Visual Communication of Moral Careers. Phelan, M. P. and Hunt, S. A. (1998), Symbolic Interaction, 21: 277–298 Racism, tolerance, and perfected redemption: A rhetorical critique of the dragging trial Larry A. Williamson, Southern Communication Journal, Vol. 67, Iss. 3, 2009 The influence of prisons on inmate misconduct: A multilevel investigation Scott D. Camp, Gerald G. Gaes, Neal P. Langan, William G. Saylor Justice Quarterly, Vol. 20, Iss. 3, 2006
In June of 1998, a sadistic murder of a middle-aged black man from Jasper, Texas, rekindled memories of lynching practices from the blood stained American past. James Byrd, Jr., 49, was beaten savagely to the point of unconsciousness, chained to the back of a pickup truck by his neck, and dragged for miles over rural roads outside the town of Jasper. It is believed that Byrd survived through most of this experience, that is, until he was decapitated. Three white men, John William King, 23, Shawn Berry, 23, (both of whom had links to white supremacist groups) and Lawrence Brewer Jr., 31, were arrested. Brewer and King were sentenced to death for a racial hate crime that shocked the nation. Berry was sent to prison for life.
Chapman’s research shows evidence of 211 stabbings taking place in three years at one prison in Louisiana. Bloody riots, rape, robberies, and exhortation are just a few of the everyday occurrences that can be expected when entering a penitentiary.
Although prisons have the primary objective of rehabilitation, prisoners will likely go through many other troubling emotions before reaching a point of reformation. Being ostracized from society, it is not uncommon to experience despair, depression, and hopelessness. Be that as it may, through reading various prison writings, it can be seen that inmates can find hope in the smallest things. As represented in “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminally Insane”, the author, Etheridge Knight, as well as other black inmates look up to Hard Rock, an inmate who is all but dutiful in a world where white people are placed at the top of the totem pole. However, after Hard Rock goes through a lobotomy-esque procedure, the motif
1-The story tells, Real facts occurred in the 1940s, where it was a racist society. Gangs were scattered throughout the cities, and regions, and the streets. To live, you have full get away, or belonging to one of them. You should help the gang members that they were right or on falsehood. Also, it is a kind of bigotry, not much different from intolerance, national, ethnic, and sectarian That were prevalent in American society. in fact, it is the inevitable result of this society. When the corruption becomes prevails, injustice and lawless prevails too, and justice will disappear.
The majority of our prison population is made up of African Americans of low social and economic classes, who come from low income houses and have low levels of education. The chapter also discusses the amount of money the United States loses yearly due to white collar crime as compared to the cost of violent crime. Another main point was the factors that make it more likely for a poor person to be incarcerated, such as the difficulty they would have in accessing adequate legal counsel and their inability to pay bail. This chapter addresses the inequality of sentencing in regards to race, it supplies us with NCVS data that shows less than one-fourth of assailants are perceived as black even though they are arrested at a much higher rate. In addition to African Americans being more likely to be charged with a crime, they are also more likely to receive harsher punishments for the same crimes- which can be seen in the crack/cocaine disparities. These harsher punishments are also shown in the higher rates of African Americans sentenced to
This piece is clearly an excerpt from a series of books, which are published for general readers with some academic backgrounds, such as politicians, teachers, students and white collar workers. The article was written in 1996, with contemporary information, and it can somewhat reflect the current issues and it definitely shows how visionary the author is to prevent violent crimes. Not only does Dr. Gilligan write this article to spread his ideas about the truth behind violence and how to prevent violence, but he also intends to call attention to reform the prison system. In order to stop the endless cycle where prisoners become more violent when they are punished harder, Gilligan had one on one conversation with prisoners and he learned that all they want are “Pride. Dignity.
Humanity instructs us that we must behave with tolerance and respect towards all. Just Mercy exemplifies how that is not the case for many Americans. Critical Race Theory is a theory which focuses on the experiences of people who are minorities. It argues that people who are minorities in the United States are oppressed and, because of the state of being oppressed, creates fundamental disadvantages (Lecture 4.7). A study conducted for the case McCleskey v. Kemp revealed that when a black defendant killed a white victim, it increased the likelihood the black defendant would receive the death penalty (Stevenson, 2014). Looking at this fact through the lens of a critical race theorist, it illustrates how unconscious racism is ignored by our legal system. The actuality that, statistically, people of color have a higher chance of getting sentenced to death than white people is a blatant example of inequality. In Chapter 8, Stevenson discusses the case of multiple juveniles who were incarcerated and sentenced to death in prison. These juveniles who were sent to adult prisons, where juveniles are five times more likely to be the victims of sexual assault, show an innate inequality towards minors (Stevenson, 2014). Ian Manuel, George Stinney, and Antonio Nunez were all only fourteen-years-old when they were condemned to die in prison. Although they did commit crimes, the purpose of the juvenile justice system is to rehabilitate young offenders. Trying juveniles in adult court represents a prejudice against age, which Stevenson sought to fight by working on appeals for Manuel and Nunez (Stevenson, 2014). His humanity shines through once again, as he combats the justice system to give the adolescents another chance at life, rather than having them die in prison. The way prisoners with mental and/or physical disabilities are treated while incarcerated is also extremely
From the era of Reconstruction in the U.S. to the 1950’s chain gangs were used to punish prisoners of homelessness and petty larceny. The conditions of chain gangs were similar to slavery, “Living conditions for chain gang convicts were frequently horrific, with sanitation practically nonexistent and diseases and illnesses common” (Ireland). This quote shows the similarities of chain gangs to slavery. Slaves were
From the summer of 1979 to the summer of 1981, at least twenty-eight people were abducted and killed during a murder spree in Atlanta, Georgia; these killings would come to be known as the Atlanta Child Murders. While the victims of the killings were people of all races and genders, most of the victims of the Atlanta Child Murders were young African-American males. These murders created great racial tension in the city of Atlanta, with its black population believing the murders to be the work of a white supremacist group. (Bardsley & Bell, n.d., p. l) However, when police finally apprehended a suspect in the case, they found it was neither a white supremacy group, nor a white person at all; it was a 23 year-old African-American man named Wayne Williams. (“What are”, n.d.)
This paper will cover issues that young minorities encounter in the movies; Crips and Bloods: Made in America (2008), Gran Torino (2008), A Better Life (2011). Movies will be summarize, and compare and contrast youths experienced. Criminological theories shall be utilized to further elaborate issues. Finally steps and theories will be utilized towards solving issues, also possible methods to correct the issues will be addressed in the end.
Prison gangs are originally formed by inmates as a way of protecting themselves from the other inmates. These gangs have turned out to be violent and thus posing a threat to security. This paper will have a look at the different gangs in prisons, their history, beliefs and missions, and the differences and similarities in these gangs.
According to the 2015 National Gang Report (NGR) from the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC) almost half of law enforcement juristictions across the United States reported a rise in street gang membership and street gang activitiy. My communitty is no exception.
Ralph, P.H.(1997). From Self Preservation to Organized Crime: The Evolution of Inmate Gangs. In J.W. Marquart, & J.R. Sorensen (Eds.). Correctional Contexts: Contemporary and Classical Readings (pp. 182-186). Los Angeles: Roxbury
Also, some behavior mirrors prisoner ways developed outside the prison walls (Skarbek, 2014, p. 27). Prison gangs partially have emerged in response to the correctional system. Its ways of dealing with inmates have left a huge impact on individuals who feel deprived of their rights. Single person feels weak and helpless, thus it is easier for them to join a gang to represent their stance. At some point prison gangs acquire so much power that they are a force to reckon with. Their organizational structure creates uneasy topic for the penal system to deal with (Skarbek, 2014, p. 30). There are instances where groups use the system in their favor to achieve their
From the moment a new inmate is processed into a prison facility, they are immediately “sized up” and preyed on by perpetrators who tend to be more established in the inmate hierarchy. Usually they are members of a gang with a wide network of allies both inside and outside of the prison. Gang rapes are common, most likely because a less established prisoner may be coerced into sexual submission with a dominant or powerful gang member for fear that, if they tried to refuse, a violent gang attack would result. (Mariner, 1997) In other instances, some new inmates that are younger and less strong, will realize the importance of maintaining sexual intimacy with inmates who are able to protect them from other violent prisoners by exchanging loyal, sexual favors in return.