Mass Incarceration and the Effect on Black Men

Mass Incarceration and the Effect on Black MenIn the United States of America, the probability of a black man getting sent to jail is higher as compared to their white colleagues. By the age of fourteen years, nearly 25% children of Black descent have witnessed a parent, and mostly the father, being put behind bars for a certain time period. As a result, over 10% of schoolchildren of Black descent have a parent in prison or jail, as opposed to 4 percent of White children (Morsy & Rothstein 1). Such mass incarceration of Black men indicates that an African American child is 6 times more probable to have a parent incarcerated. The reasons behind these sentences are often non-violent offenses and these injustices lead black men behind bars and reception of unfair penalties that the whites do not go through (Rios 23). An increasing number of African-American men have been detained for drug felonies, even though multiple researches have demonstrated that Black males are not more likely than Whites to use or trade in drugs (Morsy & Rothstein 1; Cooper 1186). This undoubtedly points to racial profiling as the probability of being confined has become attributable to Black masculine subjectivity. To prevent the judiciary from being unjust towards the black community in the United States of America, all crimes should receive the same punishments in the justice system regardless of the race of the offenders. This essay will explore mass incarceration of Black men in more detail, review the history and chronological statistical developments within American jails in relation to the Black race, and advocate for a possible solution to lower the number of incarcerated Black men or ensure equality within the criminal justice system.The Current ProblemSurname 2Mass incarceration in the United States is a happening issue that poses a number of social concerns. The U.S. has the highest population of prisoners in the whole world, with theAmerican prison population exceeding two million people by the turn of 2002. According to Bonhomme, Stephens, and Braithwaite, American Jails held 1 in every 142 citizens by 30 June 2002 (223). With regard to gender, the rate of incarceration was 113 per 100,000 womenas compared to 1,309 per 100000 men. However, Black men are disproportionately affected by mass incarceration. In fact, African Americans are imprisoned at higher rates in all age clusters, with the highest rate of imprisonment by sex, gender, race, and age being among Black men aged between 25 and 39 years. Similarly, regarding the history of incarceration, Black men are as well more likely to have been arrested at some point as compared to their White counterparts, and 31 percent history of incarceration has been documented among Black gay men. In this light, it is evident that the most affected people are those from the black community, whereby, Black men incarcerated in the U.S. are more than the total number of prisoners in India, Canada, Argentina, Lebanon, Germany, Japan, England, Finland, and Israel all combined.