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Nicholas OConnor

Pre-English

Mr. Carlos Chism

Audience Analysis

In my research paper, my intended argument is geared towards legislatures and the Supreme
Court. Our mass incarceration system has many flaws and several areas that can be drastically
improved. Instead of focusing on criminalizing as many people as possible, there are many
different tactics that we can use to help offenders and criminals instead of simply throwing them
in jail. I will be presenting an argument in which I shed light on the pearls of our mass
incarceration system and how it disproportionally attacks minorities. My audience is well aware
of the issues allocated with mass incarceration. Many officials in the government know of the
disparities between African Americans and other minorities in comparison to Caucasians. An
abundance of research and statistics prove that minorities are taken advantage by our criminal
justice system and this is a known fact among courts, Congress, and officials in government. Yet
despite this, our justice system has continued to incarcerate minorities even though the
circumstances they are in influence their decisions to commit crimes. Barely anything has been
done to rectify this problem seeing as though the number of minorities incarcerated has steadily
increased. The audience I have identified is very important to this topic because legislatures and
the Supreme Court have authority and influence which can be used to end mass incarceration.
Legislatures can pass laws that will increase intermediate sanctions instead of automatically
sending offenders to jail or prison. The Supreme Court can rule in favor of minorities in order to
establish more rehabilitation centers and schools for minorities in poverty. My desire is to
present compelling evidence that will prompt my intended audience to end racial disparities
associated with mass incarceration.
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Mass Incarceration

Our criminal justice system is full of many flaws and problems. From the abusive power

police officers have, to the unfair disadvantage attributed to the poor, the justice system does not

always have justice for all. This creates the irony in that the system often fails to do what it

originally was made to do. We have different laws and regulations that cater towards those who

are wealthy and of a specific race, instead of those who desperately need the governments

assistance. As stated by Bryan Stevenson, Our criminal justice system treats you better if you

are rich and guilty than if you are poor and innocent. Instead of prioritizing justice, making

money has been the goal of our system. As long as one has money, the justice system is more of

an ally than an adversary. Wealthy individuals are able to easily pay bail or use their money to

reduce their sentences. In contrast, most poor individuals cannot afford bail and are held in jail

for weeks and maybe months awaiting trial. This endless cycle of the criminal justice system

wrongfully using its power has led to issues such as mass incarceration.

Mass incarceration is a major problem in America. It is defined as the unique way the

U.S. has locked up a vast population in federal and state prisons, as well as local jails (Medium

Corporation Nott). Over the years mass incarceration has subtly increased in size, By the end of

2002, the number of inmates in the nations jails and prisons exceeded two million (Dorothy E.

1272). Slowly different policies were implemented that would not only increase the multitude of

prisons, but it also made it easier for police officers to make arrests. As a result, the

imprisonment rate today is five times as high in comparison to 1972 (Dorothy E. 1272). This has

become a recurring issue that has plagued many poor people in America. Ironically, the United

States only has 5% of the worlds population, but it is has 25% of the worlds prisoners (13th

DuVernay). This alone shows the magnitude of negatives our justice system is associated with.
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To add unto this our criminal justice system has various racial ties and issues as well. One in

three black males are expected to go to prison while only one in seventeen white males are

expected to go to prison (13th DuVernay). A clear contrast is evident as seen by the racial

statistics, but this also subtly indicates that our justice system favors whom it favors and

condemns whom it condemns.

I have learned several attributes and characteristics of our criminal justice system that led

me to question the effectiveness of mass incarceration. Our justice system has various powerful

corporations and business that secretly act and it disrupts the essential goal of justice for all.

Mass incarceration offers no solution or remedy to the reasons why people commit crimes or the

communities that influence crime. In this paper, I will discuss the issues of mass incarceration,

and why our mass incarceration system should be reformed because of a history of racism, lack

of rehabilitation, and intentional attack on minorities.

The most troubling current day issues of mass incarceration stem from a stereotypical

racial background. The current system that we have today roots from a time period in which our

government legalized segregation and proposed various ideas to incarcerate minorities. Dating

back to the times of slavery, after the civil war four million slaves were free due to the thirteenth

amendment. Despite the initial jubilee this created a prominent issue because the Souths

economy plummeted due to the free labor the slavery provided. This led to African Americans

being rapidly incarcerated in order to rebuild the Souths economy. Incarceration became less

about community protection and doing justice and more about placing minorities in jail in order

to strengthen the economy. This was clearly evident when Ronald Regan issued the war on

drugs. Crack (the colloquial term for cocaine) was mostly an inner-city issue while Cocaine was

used mostly in suburban areas. Yet despite being the same drug, the administration created a
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mandatory sentencing for crack, that was much harsher then powered cocaine. This furthered the

incarceration of minorities while White offenders were omitted for the same crime. The mass

incarceration system that we have is deeply rooted in racial segregation and racial labeling. The

fact that one in three black males are expected to go to prison is not a new principle but it is a

recurring issue due to the racial background of mass incarceration (13th DuVernay).

Research has explicitly proven that minorities make up a high percentage of prisoners in

jail. Not only does mass incarceration racial attack minorities but it does very little to rehabilitate

those in correctional facilities. The NAACP did research on mass incarceration and found that it

barely provides the proper help that inmates need while in prison. Even with that disturbing truth

minorities are still constantly consumed by the system while dominate ethnicities are given

significant leeway. In 2008, African American and Hispanics comprised 58% of all prisoners in

2008, despite African Americans and Hispanics making up about one quarter of the US

population (NAACP). Even though minorities are less in population, due to the racial

implications of mass incarceration they are often subtly targeted and attacked by our criminal

justice system.

The mass incarceration system needs to be reformed because of its intentional assault on

minorities. In her work Moore (From The Ground Up: Criminal Law Education For

Communities Most Affected By Mass Incarceration) Rosario-Moore claims that In the last 25

years, the American criminal justice system has increasingly marginalized and criminalized low-

income communities of color. By criminalizing low income communities of color, the system

has more opportunities to incarcerate minorities. Many minorities end up committing crimes

because of the circumstances that they are such as poverty or lack of influential education. As

stated by Moore mass incarceration is a result of a national decline in civics education and a
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deep skepticism of criminal defense lawyers. This indicates that mass incarceration is not solely

an issue of crime but also an issue of an attack on minorities and insufficient education for

everyone.

Despite the varying statistics that highlight the racial disparity in mass incarceration

many people still believe there is nothing wrong with our system. This is largely due to how

society views minorities and refuting the truth is much easier than accepting it. The continuation

of this paper will discuss the misconceived notion that mass incarceration is positive and fair

while also including support that debunks those beliefs.

Some may argue that minorities have themselves to blame for their crimes and excuses

should not be made for criminal activity. This level of thinking believes that minorities are no

different from other criminals despite the racial statistics. Yet, the NAACP believes that most

crime is Inner city crime prompted by social and economic isolation. This would mean crime

committed is not due to greedy or evil mindsets but because the circumstances many minorities

find themselves in increases the chance of crime. If an individual is surrounded by drugs,

murder, and various crimes, then that person will be more inclined to participate in illegal

activities due to their upbringings. This primarily separates minorities who commit crimes in

comparison to other offenders.

Another commonly misconceived notion is that mass incarceration protects communities

by placing offenders in jail. While it is true that offenders can no longer commit charm by being

placed in jail, this belief neglects the rippling effects caused by sending offenders to jail. When

offenders are sent to jail the children of these offenders are more likely to experience family

disruption (Clear 5). The rippling effect continues in which a lack of parental supervision

occurs and this leads to children also committing crimes (Clear 5). Research proves that this
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creates an absence of the social controls that would otherwise serve to deflect the young from

criminal behavior (Clear 5). Therefore, even though offenders may be incarcerated more times

than not the younger generation begins to commit crimes due to a lack of social construct. As a

result of this, the community constantly experiences crime even though offenders may be

incarcerated.

The United States mass incarceration system is full of racial disadvantages and

disparities. Black men are eight times more likely to be incarcerated than whites, and large

racial disparities can be seen for all age groups and at different levels of education (Western and

Wildeman 228). In order to rectify this problem, our mass incarceration system should focus on

rehabilitation and assisting minorities that are in poverty instead of criminalizing them for their

circumstances. Despite the argument that mass incarceration is a positive system, research has

proven its negatives and attack on minorities. If the United States truly wants to exhibit justice

then reforming our mass incarceration system and ending racial disparities is a necessity.
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Works Cited

Andrew Coyle; Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes Disadvantaged

Neighborhoods Worse. By Todd R. Clear (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009, 253pp.
$21.95 pb), The British Journal of Criminology, Volume 50, Issue 5, 1 September 2010, Pages
975977,

Criminal Justice Fact Sheet. NAACP, www.naacp.org/criminal-justice-fact-sheet/.

Nott, Daniel. What Is Mass Incarceration? Daniel Nott Medium. Medium, Medium, 25
May 2016, medium.com/@dan_nott/what-is-mass-incarceration-ff737196580.

Roberts, Dorothy E. "The Social and Moral Cost of Mass Incarceration in African American
Communities." Stanford Law Review 56.5 (2004): 1271-1306.

ROSARIO-MOORE, EDITHA and ALEXIOS ROSARIO-MOORE. "From the Ground Up:

Criminal Law Education for Communities Most Affected by Mass
Incarceration." Clinical Law Review, vol. 23, no. 2, Spring2017, pp. 753-774.
EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=122299752&site=eds-live.

The Black Family and Mass Incarceration. The ANNALS of the American Academy of
Political and Social Science,
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002716208324850#articleCitationDownloadCon
tainer.

13TH. Netflix Official Site, 7 Oct. 2016, www.netflix.com/title/80091741.