BY: Carolyn D.

Thorne & Jessica Duran & Tori Aldinger

Source: Jail cell background. Retrieved on- October 14, 2012. From:http://www.google.com/search?q=jail+cell+background&hl=en&rlz=1W1ADRA_enUS461&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=3tx6UJLmGo GMiAKspoGQCQ&ved=0CCAQsAQ&biw=1600&bih=930

 In the beginning , ideas varied on how to treat crime and punishment under colonialism and slavery.
Originally, nonwhites were allowed to be dehumanized, brutalized, and even killed under American law. Even though America was founded on the principle of all men being created equal, justice was not always equal.
Source: 2010 The Mcgraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Retrieved on October 14, 2012. From. Racial Domination, Racial Progress slide 6.

 Laws of the time criminalized being poor. States made money off of convict labor. New kind of slavery, states rented out convicts. At one notorious prison farm, not a single leased convict ever lived long enough to serve a sentence of ten years or more.
Source: 2010 The Mcgraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Retrieved on October 14, 2012. From. Racial Domination, Racial Progress slide 11.

 In just over 30 years, starting in 1970, the number of prisons in the United States increased 7 times. Over 7 million people were under criminal justice system supervision as of 2003.

In 1983, there were 275 prisoners for each 100,000 citizens. In 2001, there are 686 per 100,000.
The newest figures show more than 1 in 100 behind bars in the United States.
Source: 2010 The Mcgraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Retrieved on October 14, 2012. From. Racial Domination, Racial Progress slide 12.

America does not have higher crime rates than other industrialized countries but
The U.S. incarcerates more of its citizens than any other nation on earth.
Source: 2010 The Mcgraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Retrieved on October 14, 2012. From. Racial Domination, Racial Progress slide 13.

"If locking up those who violate the law contributed to safer societies, then the United States should be the safest country in the world."
Canadian House of Commonss Committee

Source: 2010 The Mcgraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Retrieved on October 14, 2012. From. Racial Domination, Racial Progress slide 15.

 During the 1980s drug use declined

Michael Tonry wrote Malign Neglect

Minority group stereotypes have been associated with

deviant drug use.

 Psychological disorder: Phobia of black men

1984 Bernhard Goetz Charged: Criminal possession of a weapon NOT multiple counts of attempted murder! Ruth Jandrucko
Workers compensation

1997 Abner Louima

Beaten, tortured, & sodomized with a broomstick

1999 Amadou Diallo

Fired FOURTY-ONE shots

 Between 1941 & 1996

20 black undercover police officers
No white undercover police officer

 Whites
6x less than blacks 4x less than Hispanics 43% of NYCs population 13% of civilians stopped law enforcement officers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v42WLN_4Scw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsrvRSxP1a8&featu

re=related

 Women are the fastest growing section of the prison

population. The number of women in prison increased 750% between 1977-2004. As of 2010, more than 1 million women were under supervision of the criminal justice system, either through being imprisoned, on probation or paroled.

 The growth of incarcerated women has had the biggest

impact on minorities, especially on black women. In 2010, black women were incarcerated at nearly 3 times the rate of white women, and Hispanic women were incarcerated at 1.6 times the rate of white women. Black women make up half of the female prison population, with most serving sentences for nonviolent drug or property-related offenses. Lifetime likelihood of imprisonment: 1 in 18 black women, 1 in 45 Hispanic women, 1 in 118 white women.

 Mandatory minimum sentences

Three strikes laws Parole being limited or entirely eliminated African Americans are 21% more likely to receive

mandatory minimum sentencing than white defendants and 20% more likely to be sentenced to prison than white drug offenders.

 Between 1981 and 2001, national drug control spending

grew from $2 billion to $18 billion.

As drug arrests increased, African Americans and Puerto

Ricans were the most impacted.

 Whites and African Americans engage in drug offenses

at roughly comparable rates. Yet, while African Americans comprise 13% of the U.S. population and 14% of monthly drug users, they are 37% of the people arrested for drug offenses.
The gap between incarceration rates between white

offenders and black offenders is evident in the crack vs. powder cocaine sentencing laws.

 The disadvantaged are arrested at higher rates and are

forced to rely on public defenders who are often underpaid and overworked. 80% of people who are arrested are represented by a public defender. 3 to 5% of offenders go to trial, the rest plea bargain. Of those who plea bargain, some are unjustly sentenced because they plead guilty even when they are innocent, because they dont understand their legal rights or have inadequate representation.