The United States contains the
largest criminal justice system in the world. By the end of 2013,
nearly seven million people were under correctional control in
America, with 2.2 million being contained in state, local or federal
jails. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the
world, dwarfing all other countries. While this on its own is a
concerning fact, the breakdown of the people currently in these
prisons can provide a wealth of information about the justice system
in the United States.
African American males are six
times more likely than white males to be incarcerated – This is a
staggering statistic which speaks to the core of inequality between
races in the United States. The disparity is so great in fact, that
if these trends continue, one in every three black males can expect
to serve a portion of his life in prison. With white males, the rate
is one in every seventeen. Hispanics fall between both extremes with
one in seven males doing time at some point. The discrepancies in
female inmate are less extreme, yet still remain clear.
I find this inequality
troubling. Quantitative data showing that the gap remains this wide
between the haves and have-nots based on unmaleable traits stands to
show that the equality that America was founded upon cannot extend
into its justice system. This is a social issue which screams for
reform as it highlights the very real differences between the lives
of every day Americans. This is my first blog and I hated it.
"ICCPR Race and Justice Shadow Report." The Sentencing Project Publications -. Web. 20 Sept. 2014.
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