The Impacts of Mass Incarceration on

the African American community.

By Alexandrine Dumont
November 12th, 2015
Pine Manor College
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the major in Social and Political
Science at Pine Manor College, Chestnut Hill Ma.

The impacts of Mass Incarceration and The African American

Community

Abstract

This paper works to understand Mass Incarceration and its impacts on the African
American Community, a topic that has been on the news for quite a while. Its a very dominant
social issue mostly among the African American Community. There have been talks about how
to resolve it and what it would take but the concerned instances have not yet come forward with
their ideas. This paper will accentuate on reasons why Mass Incarceration has been developing at
this speed as well as how it impacts the African American Community financially, socially and
especially in terms of impacts of families.
Introduction
Mass incarceration is defined as the extreme rates of imprisonment and by the
concentration of imprisonment among young, African American men living in neighborhoods of
concentrated disadvantage. Although there are several ways to define it and several ways to go
about mass incarceration, there is some level of disagreement over its causes and consequences.
Some say it deters and incapacitates; others say that it weakens poor families, keeping them
socially marginalized.
In his speech to the NAACP, President Obama stated; the real reason our prison
population is so high is that over the last few decades, weve locked up more and more nonviolent drug offenders than ever before, for longer than before. he also suggested that its all
happening because of the flaws of our criminal justice system. (Obamas speech,19) Michelle
Alexander,(2010) argues the social issue as a stunningly comprehensive and well disguised
system of racialized social control that functions in a manner strikingly similar to Jim Crow.
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There are so many similarities in the issues; just like the Jim Crow laws victim's, Ex cons cant
vote, be part of a jury , cant find well paying jobs, housing, education or public benefits... Mass
incarceration has occurred because too many people have been incarcerated for offenses related
to non-violent crimes mostly drug offenses. Particularly African American men have been
disproportionately affected by Mass Incarceration. According to a 2013 study by the sentencing
project judges issue sentences for minorities. (Williams, 2015). This paper will focus on the
causes of Mass Incarceration among the African American Community and the different
consequences on their social, financial and family life.
Amongst other things, this paper will underline solutions like job training, end of
mandatory sentences, prison reform, social services as well as rehabilitation for ex convicts but
mostly African American men who are at the bottom of the echelon. The causes of Mass
incarceration are very important because they make the issue what it is but the consequences are
even more influential because of the mess they create. the consequences do not only affect the
person in question, they also affect their surroundings and this is why I want to take part in the
discussion.
Development
Social aspect
Researchers have found that sixty percent of the nations 1.5 million state and federal
prisoners are black or Hispanic, and more than 90 percent are male. The United States has the
highest incarceration rate in the world, with 731 people per 100 000 residents in jail or prison.
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the prison population has increased 15 percent over the decade. the state and federal prison
population increased by 15 percent from 2000 to 2010, from 1.3 million to 1.5 million. Local
jails held an additional 748728 inmates in 2010. A total of 7.1 million Americans were under
some form of criminal justice supervision in 2010, with 4.9 million on probation parole. One in
10 black Americans ages 30 to 34 were incarcerated in 2010, as were one 26 Hispanics and one
in 61 whites in that age group. Forty seven percent of state prisoners in 2009 were convicted for
non-violent drug, property or public-order crimes. due to the growth in the population, Americas
incarceration vote has obviously risen overtime. (
Financial Aspect
Criminal records and life after serving time will be my main focus in this paper. Many
former prisoners are turned away from jobs because of their criminal record and it doesnt seem
like its going away anytime soon. It seems more like someones background is not something
thats hard to find. As of now, more than 30 cities and at least 26 states limit the kind of criminalbackground information employers can obtain or when they can obtain it. That process does not
make it easier on employees to find work. Our society makes it very hard on ex prisoners who
we forget are still people, people who make mistakes just like everyone else. Our society is harsh
on people and does not believe in rehabilitation.
According to Peter Katel in his article Criminal Records and Employment, Race and
ethnicity play a prominent role in the criminal records issue. their influence is inescapable: As
the United States has become the world incarceration leader with 2.3 million people behind bars
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in 2010 about 38 percent of federal and state prisoners are black and 22 percent Hispanic. Given
the disproportionate representation of black and Latinos in the inmate population, an employer's
blanket policy on criminal records tends to disproportionately affect those groups of applicants
and job-holders. For that reason, the U.s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
has long sought to regulate criminal-record use by employers. Now, with attention to the issue
growing, the EEOC is considering broadening its guidelines to deal more extensively with
records of conviction as well as arrest. and 26 states have enacted laws over the past two years
aimed at limiting or postponing employer access to criminal records, allowing removal
expungement of some records of minor offenses or establishing ways that people with records
can prove theyre rehabilitated. Some of the employers side argue that a growing thicket of
restrictions and limitations on background screening could be superfluous because many
companies dont want to impose blanket restrictions in the first place. Across the board,
generally speaking, employers dont want to hire someone whos a threat to their business or to
their customers or other employees, says Pamela Quigley Devata, a chicago-based employment
lawyer who represents employers. But they dont necessarily care that someone is not
intoxicated on the job.
On top of having a criminal record, African Americans also have to deal with stereotype.
Already, we can see that on an economic level, its a struggle for black people to survive after
serving time. Race does play an important role in the employment world. studies have shown
that employers are more likely to hire caucasians with criminal records than African Americans
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with a clean record. And while having a criminal background hurt all applicants chances of
getting an interview, African Americans with a non-violent offense faced particularly dismal
employment prospects.
Family aspect
Our society is shaped so that males have more power and opportunities opened to them
than females. Many times, when an African american man gets arrested, their family pays the
consequences in full. Considering that most arrests are for minor offenses, which does lead to
mass imprisonment, lots of families go through the system, mostly the less fortunate population.
People go to jail for minor offenses and leave behind their family struggling. One family
situation often leads to broken generations. Kids from those families grow up with family issues,
attachment issues, low self-esteem etc In general all kind of emotional distress that can
eventually lead them to become criminals themselves. For example, a lot of violent females do
have marriage or family issues because they did not have a father figure to teach them how to be
be treated or not get disrespected.
According to sarah Glazer in her article Sentencing Reform, African American adults
suggests that imprisonment diminishes their earnings, disrupts their romantic relations and
compromises their health. Likewise, the imprisonment of a partner, on average, compromises the
well-being of those who are left behind. Because incarceration harms adult men and women, it
may also diminish the life chances of children. If it does so, then the effects of imprisonment on
inequality are transferred intergenerationally. The potential intergenerational effects of
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imprisonment on inequality have not been lost on researchers, who have shown much interest in
this area. Given the negative effects of incarceration on familial resources, paternal involvement,
and family structure, we might expect these changes to link having a parent imprisoned with
poor child outcomes.
Yet recent research has found little evidence in support of any of these links. In fact, some
research suggests that it is the cycle of having a parent imprisoned and released or the stigma of
incarceration rather than these other changes that most harms child well-being. Researchers have
long been fascinated by the intergenerational transmission of crime. Until recently, most of this
research focused on the effects of parental criminality, rather than incarceration, on children, but
research in this area increasingly suggests that both parental criminality and incarceration
influence children's criminality. Isolating a causal relationship is difficult, but a number of
studies show an association between parental incarceration and the criminality of children.

Using data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, Joseph Murray and
David Farrington demonstrate a link between parental incarceration and boys' criminality and
delinquency throughout the life course. Other work using data from the Add Health Study, which
is more broadly representative of the children of the prison boom, shows a similar relationship
for contemporary young adults. Neither of these datasets makes it possible to consider the effects
of a change in parental incarceration status on children's delinquency and criminality, but other
research does. One analysis of data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study

indicates that recent experiences of paternal incarceration are associated with substantial
increases in the physical aggression of boys, but not girls. Although this study considers effects
only on children while they are still young (rather than following them as they become adults),
the repeated measures of paternal incarceration and a child behavioral problem that may be
associated with future criminality suggests the robustness of the relationship between having a
father incarcerated and engaging in criminal activity. (Murray, 2013)

Conclusion

The world has come to a point where many lives do not matter and unfortunately the
African American community is one them especially when criminal records comes into play.
Society needs to believe more in rehabilitation and for that to happen, it will take years and years
of hard work and dedication amongst the generations to come. Even after writing this paper, I
still dont know where I stand in terms of mass incarceration and its impacts on the black
community. Should we let minor offenses unpunished because of our scare of prison
overcrowding? Or should we keep it the way it is and think of other strategies to keep our
prisoners safe and sound and put in place a system where theres still hope for them and their
families to have a good life even after serving time? These are all perspectives but we need for
sure more actions than talks. Racism and non violent offenses are the main reasons for this
conflict. President Obama visited a few jails and African american inmates have spoken out loud
on what everyone else have not wanting to admit for the past few years. They blame structural
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racism for the imprisonment of so many people and prosecutors have grown to be tougher and
more consistent. Blacks have suffered more from being left unprotected law enforcement
authorities than from being mistreated as suspects or defendants. (Bibas, 2015). Criminals
deserve punishments but we should be more human to justify them with mercy.

Bibliography.

Bibas, S (2015, September 16). The truth about Mass Incarceration. National Review

Clark,C.S (2004, September 17). Prison Overcrowding. CQ Researcher, 4, 97-120

Glazer, S. (2014, January 10). Sentencing Reform. CQ Researcher, 24, 25-48

Jost, K. (2011, September 2). Fighting Urban Poverty. CQ Researcher, 9, 701-732

Katel, P. (2011, March 11). Downsizing Prisons. CQ Researcher, 21, 217-240

Katel. P. (2007, April 6). Prison Reform. CQ. Researcher, 17, 289-312

Katel. P. (2009, December 4). Prisoner Reentry. CQ Researcher. 19, 1005-1028

Katel P.( 2012, April 20). Criminal Records and Employment. CQ Researcher. 22, 349 376

Masci, D. ( 1999, September 17). Prison Building Boom. CQ Researcher, 9, 801-824

Molly K (2015, May 11). Incarceration and Education. Nation, vol. 300

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