Law and Power

Law and Power

Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow, highlights how mass incarceration is occurring as a result of institutionalized racism. The high rate of African American imprisonment has led to perceptions that crime is directly linked to an individual’s race. Consequently, this has further led to the need to continue with the adopted American social structure where blacks are at the bottom of the pyramid. Since the 1970s, incarceration in the US has continued to grow despite a reported decrease in criminal activities in communities. Alexander notes that although incarceration rates are used to measure illegal activity, they have been biased against the black community.

Notably, all races commit criminal activities at the same rate, but African Americans have a higher probability of being incarcerated compared to their white counterparts. For example, a majority of Americans link blacks to drug peddling and usage despite evidence showing that white people have a higher percentage of drug usage than other races. According to researches done, people purchase drugs from individuals of their race. However, African Americans continue to be victimized as the primary drug peddlers in America. This situation is worse among blacks residing in low-income regions, with many incarceration cases coming from these areas. Notably, 80% of arrests made between 1980 to date are for African Americans despite the lack of difference in criminal activities among the races.

The belief that Blacks have a higher probability of committing crimes is upheld in the judicial system to include prosecutors and the jury. Mainly, this is so considering lawmakers come from the same society that believes that blacks are the main perpetrators of crime. Also, law enforcers, including the police, turn a blind eye on victimization while policies have been put in place that overlooks such activities. It is common for raids to be conducted in black communities without evidence of these individuals committing the crimes on the basis that African Americans have a higher tendency to have committed crimes. The judicial system overlooks such instances giving the police an upper hand to conduct illegal searches and arrests without evidence in black communities.

A study done established that 90% of Americans are likely to link a criminal activity to a black person or respond more aggressively when attacked by an African American compared to when a white individual does the act. According to research done among citizens, this concept is common even among people who consider themselves not racist. Alexander argues that these results can be replicated among law enforcers, making it difficult for blacks to prove their innocence when charged with drug or assault cases. In the article titled To Protect and Serve Whiteness, Orisanmi Burton supports the views outlined by Alexander. According to Burton, the police fail to perform their duties but instead undertake punitive policing in black communities.

Burton highlights how blacks are subjected to police coercion regardless of their geographical location, family genotype, economic status, or family history. African Americans from low-income areas are more prone to police coercion leading to the rise of anti-black police violence movements. Statistics show that at least one black person is killed through extrajudicial killings, while human rights abuse cases continue to rise among African Americans. Also, blacks are subjected continuously to dispossession, psychic violence, and dehumanization from the police. Despite this, the media has not been at the forefront in addressing the lack of transparency on policing activities according to an article by Ben Brucato, The New Transparency: Police Violence in the Context of Ubiquitous Surveillance.

Studies show that the police force is already racialized, making it difficult for African Americans to have peaceful encounters with law enforcers. The case of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, who were victims of extrajudicial killings, lead to a widespread arrest across the country, bringing into light police violence against blacks. Police officers are structurally placed against blacks and will act based on this phenomenon, even in instances an African American does not cause any threat. In one incident, Burton notes that the police ignored illegal activities undertaken by white people in a park and instead focused on a sixteen-year-old boy who was accused falsely of being a threat. Although the law enforcers assured the boy that he had done nothing wrong, they escorted him out of the park to his home.

Mainly, this is one of the many cases where white supremacy is put into consideration rather than the law. Law enforcers focus on making the whites comfortable regardless of the false claims of being threatened by African Americans making the blacks lose trust in the police. In the case of the boy, he appeared to understand what was expected of him during questioning showing that this was not an isolated incident.

An analysis of the two articles shows that the police and white people have the power to act unlawfully secondary to the high racialization in American society. In turn, this situation is putting the African Americans in constant fear that their actions are being watched and could be incarcerated based on false accusations. The laws and policies should be reviewed to minimize racialization and desensitization among police when performing their duties. Transparency on police racialization will be an essential step in addressing the issues facing African Americans and the law.

Importance of History in Understanding Mass Incarceration

In the article titled Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the,  Alan Sheridan  Prison highlights how prisons have been used over the years to rehabilitate criminals to become respected members of society. The US has seen an increase in the rate of incarceration for the past forty years, with the country having the largest prison network in the global scene. Prisons were built based on various principles. One of the tenets was the isolation of the convicted individual from the external world and all things that could have motivated them to undertake the crime. Again, this principle aim was to isolate the convict from others and give individualized penalties. Arguments for this principle state that solitude enables one to reflect on their actions and precipitates reform. The convict learns to hate the crime they committed thus, becoming remorseful. The more a convict is in solitude, the more they reflect on their crimes.

Additionally, prison helps a convict achieve constancy as criminal activities are bases on inconsistency. The regular activities performed frequently create a habit in a convict who is deemed pleasurable over time. Convicts can derive pleasure from the practices, thus transforming their past. The third principle is that prison invokes the punishment given to the convict, which is aimed at reforming the individual. Criminals are detained based on the severity of the crime. Serious crimes are given more years compared to less se

vere offenses.

The classical period for incarceration to give punishment is used to reform a convict. Mainly, this led to the maltreatment of convicts and did not achieve the desired outcome of change in behavior. The carceral period followed where disciplinary careers were introduced in prisons. Prisoners received training on various jobs and were given employment opportunities based on their skills after their release. This strategy was successful in the rehabilitation of criminals back to society. The carceral system later introduced the use of two registers where one was the legal document outlining the punishment to be given to the convict. The second was the extra-legal register for convicts who had developed a tolerance for the sentence provided in courts such as slight limitations and hard labor. The carceral system has been amended over the years as a means of achieving rehabilitation of the convicts.

The carceral system is not currently effective as the number of prisoners has increased drastically over the years. Although incarceration is deemed beneficial in removing the convict from society, its intended purpose of rehabilitation is rarely met. Studies show that the effects of imprisonment are not as significant as during the twentieth century. Prisoners who have served their sentences are released back to the community regardless of not reforming. Notably, this creates a cycle where an individual is always in and out of prison. This cycle has adverse effects on the family, friends, and community circles.

According to Alexander, mass incarceration targets the African American population. Estimates show that 67% of convicted cases are violent. In particular, this has led the public to believe that African Americans are passionate about violence as they make the most substantial numbers in incarceration. The lack of a proper carceral system to ensure prisoners’ reform has led to the release of prisoners who lack skills that can fend for them in the community. Mainly, this has led to the continual poverty levels among blacks as discrimination continues to rise in the country. There is a widespread belief that convicts do not reform and that they have a higher probability of committing the same crime. Remarkably, this has led to many prisoners being subjected to poverty after serving their terms. Most end up homeless and are not eligible for welfare, hence creating a cycle of poverty among blacks.

Mass incarceration has equal statistics among black men and women, with the latter facing severe adverse effects such as rape and losing their children during the process. Remarkably, this has led to more blacks pleading guilty to charges that they have not committed so that they can be given parole. Although much researches have been conducted to determine the harmful effects of mass incarceration and recommendations outlined on how to achieve reforms among convicts, the activity is still prevalent in American society, with the African American community being the most affected. Mass incarceration in the US will continue as police racialization continues while rehabilitation is not being met among convicts.