Higher Percentage of Minority Inmates
Nichelle McClain
Prof. Shaner
GSW 1110
15 November 2010
Higher Percentage of Minority Inmates There are over millions of people incarcerated but African Americans and Latinos make up most of the prison population. To attempt to stop certain problems, the criminal justice system just put people behind bars and expects that everything will be fine, when in reality it isn’t because now the jails are becoming overcrowded. Dealing with the drug war, racial profiling, and people growing up in low-income neighborhoods and high-poverty rates, minorities have a higher inmate ratio but the drug war is the greatest cause of why the minority inmate ratio is so high. Since the year 1980 the numbers for incarcerated minorities has been staggering but for some reason they have always been higher than the whites. According to the new Census data, “In 1980, the number of blacks living in college dorms was roughly equal to the number in prison.” Following the years after 1980, minorities began to get a higher percentage each year, and these results are shown in the most recent census. Minorities and whites got treated differently when it came to suspecting crime and giving punishments for the crime especially after the war on drugs started. Throughout the years minorities in the U.S. are receiving high incarceration rates because of the drug war that eventually failed. People only blame the drug war to the reason why minorities have a high incarceration rate but there are more possible, exceptional reasons. The least probable cause is growing up in low-income and high-poverty neighborhoods. Minorities have a tendency to grow up in high poverty and low-income neighborhoods, which cause them to want to commit crimes, mostly robbery, to apprehend money so that they can support their family and their supposed needs and wants. But, being unemployed, having a hard time finding a job, living mostly in bad neighborhoods with trash and run-down houses, should not be the need for
Prof. Shaner
GSW 1110
15 November 2010
Higher Percentage of Minority Inmates There are over millions of people incarcerated but African Americans and Latinos make up most of the prison population. To attempt to stop certain problems, the criminal justice system just put people behind bars and expects that everything will be fine, when in reality it isn’t because now the jails are becoming overcrowded. Dealing with the drug war, racial profiling, and people growing up in low-income neighborhoods and high-poverty rates, minorities have a higher inmate ratio but the drug war is the greatest cause of why the minority inmate ratio is so high. Since the year 1980 the numbers for incarcerated minorities has been staggering but for some reason they have always been higher than the whites. According to the new Census data, “In 1980, the number of blacks living in college dorms was roughly equal to the number in prison.” Following the years after 1980, minorities began to get a higher percentage each year, and these results are shown in the most recent census. Minorities and whites got treated differently when it came to suspecting crime and giving punishments for the crime especially after the war on drugs started. Throughout the years minorities in the U.S. are receiving high incarceration rates because of the drug war that eventually failed. People only blame the drug war to the reason why minorities have a high incarceration rate but there are more possible, exceptional reasons. The least probable cause is growing up in low-income and high-poverty neighborhoods. Minorities have a tendency to grow up in high poverty and low-income neighborhoods, which cause them to want to commit crimes, mostly robbery, to apprehend money so that they can support their family and their supposed needs and wants. But, being unemployed, having a hard time finding a job, living mostly in bad neighborhoods with trash and run-down houses, should not be the need for
Cited: Huffington, Arianna. “The War on Drugs is Really a War on Minorities.” Alternet.org. Alternet.org. 03 Mar 2007. Web. 11 Oct 2010. Krager, Aaron. “More Minorities in Prison Than In College.” Faithfullyliberal.com. Faithfullyliberal.com. 27 Sept 2007. Web. 11 Oct 2010. “Minorities, Whites Getting Similar Prison Sentences.” Freerepublic.com. Freerepublic.com. 6 Jun 2002. Web. 11 Oct 2010. “Race and the Criminal Justice System.”Drugpolicy.org.Drugpolicy.org. N.D Web.11 Oct 2010. “Racial Profiling of African, Hispanic (Latino), and Asian Americans.” Ethnicmajority.com. Ethnicmajority.com. N.D. Web. 11 Oct 2010. “Study: More Whites, Fewer Blacks Going to Prison.” CNN.com. CNN.com. 15 April 2009. Web. 11 Oct 2010.