In our society, crime is viewed as an act for which the criminal is solely responsible. In our modern justice system, the punishment meted out for criminal acts may correspond to the crime, but there are a number of significant, overlapping societal factors that cause the criminal behavior that results in punishment. The main cause of crime is the environmental background that had a powerful influence on the transition of law-abiding children to young adult offenders. Certainly, growing up in an environment of impoverished circumstances contributes to the high rate of criminal offenses in America. Race is another highly-significant factor that can be easily pointed out as a factor in criminality and resultant incarceration, as minorities account for a disproportionate percentage of the prison population. However, the system in itself perpetuates a merry-go-round of repeat offenses, and is built upon a foundation of racial bias and lack of economic opportunity, a situation that presents any researcher with variables that are difficult to tease out individually, a situation that overlaps substantially.
The primary victims of social stratification are minorities, particularly young blacks. From the get-go, the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow laws segregated the white population from the black population (Marshall, 2012, internet). This situation hit blacks the hardest with respect to their substandard housing, housing that the middle class and upper class whites once occupied themselves. "Most American ghettos first came into existence just as economic inequalities were reaching 'new heights' in the 1920s in the midst of the long-worn battle between industrialists and organized labour (Marshall, 2012, internet). Thus, the "inner city" of industrialized urban areas was already primed for black habitation. The institution of discrimination was well underway -- even in the North, where economic conditions were supposed to be better.
Basically, there were three phases of ghettoization, a segregation along racial lines that occurred in large urban areas, especially the North (Marshall, 2012, internet). The first phase comprised the Great Migration of blacks to the North during the first years of the 20th century. Many left to escape lynchings and other violence towards blacks in the already highly-segregated -- and violent -- South. The second phase consisted of even more migration of blacks northward during the era of FDR's New Deal and other more democratic, seemingly less-discriminating national policies. However, even the housing plans (especially low-cost housing) were geared towards housing blacks in one area of the city, in substandard housing. Lastly, "The third major phase of ghetto reform came about as a result of the Civil Rights Movement. Working with a major Civil Rights organization, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the Ford Foundation sought to 'organize the ghetto' through a program aimed at 'making working-class blacks a decipherable and controllable constituency' (Marshall, 2012, internet).
Moreover, the high conviction and incarceration rate has a huge impact on the communities that minorities (mostly black men) leave behind, and re-integration into their communities is difficult, if not impossible. Thus, not only does punishment of minorities directly impact their lives, it has a dire effect on the communities they call "home". According to Wheelock & Uggen (2006), educational institutions, the labor force, as well as civil participation (including politics and family life) are much more difficult for felons and other formerly-incarcerated criminals to participate in without discrimination, and without some sort of sanction (Wheelock & Uggen, 2006, p. 3). Furthermore, the phenomenon of the single-parent household contributes to juvenile delinquency and crime, perpetuating a vicious circle wherein children of the incarcerated become future convicts themselves. For instance, the most-policed city in the United States (per capita), Washington, D.C. also has the highest percentage of single-parent homes (Hymowitz, 2012, internet). As criminals are caught and incarcerated with more frequency, the statistics also reveal that the homes left behind are fatherless (Hymowitz, 2012, internet). It stands to reason that each successive crime wave -- even generationally -- is part and parcel of this common scenario in our nation's capital. It also stands to reason that similar dynamics play out in other larger cities throughout the United States. "at least one study has found the later to be predictive of juvenile incarcerationThe 1987 'Survey of Youth in Custody' found that 70% did not grow up with both parents. Another 1994 study of Wisconsin juveniles was even more stark: only 13% grew up with their married parents" (Hymowitz, 2012, internet). Indeed, the statistics are remarkably telling.
Another alarming statistic comes form nchumanrights (2014), "In 2003, in the United States, White people were imprisoned at a rate of 376 per every 100,000 in the population, compared to 709 per 100,000 American Indians, 997 per 100,000 Latinos and 2,526 per 100,000 Blacks in the population" (nchumanrights, 2014, internet). Thus, the rate of incarceration for black people is seven times higher than the rate for white people. This high rate of incarceration for blacks can be explained by a number of factors, including the aforementioned broken family life and substandard, segregated living conditions, as well as the return of former inmates to their neighborhoods. Not only does law enforcement discriminate against blacks (black men, in particular), but the judicial system is more likely to mete out sentences that send black men back to jail, with little opportunity for rehabilitation and less likelihood of being given probation. Furthermore, about one in three black males will be incarcerated, if current rates continue (nchumanrights, 2014, internet).
Another factor that contributes to the overlap of variables pertaining to the unusually-high variation in criminal punishment is linked to economic deprivation. Western et al. (2003) speculate that the scale of punishment is influenced by economic inequality in one of two primary ways. "Rising inequality may increase crime at the bottom of the social hierarchy generating more arrests, convictions, and prison admissions. Sociologists and economists commonly maintain that the disadvantaged are more involved in crime, so increased inequality can be expected to have aggregate affects on imprisonment" (Western et al., 2003, p. 3). Moreover, as result of a lack of employment opportunities, many young black men became unwitting participants in the ballooning justice system (Western et al., 2003, p. 3). The illegal drug trade, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, was also simply more lucrative than so-called legitimate employment (Western et al., 2003, p. 3).
According to Wheelock & Uggen (2006), the rate of poverty for inmates, while not much higher during the past 30 years, is very much higher in terms of total inmates reporting poverty before their last arrest -- about 600,000 compared to only 100,000 inmates. This number represents an enormous shift in the overlapping of crime, punishment, imprisonment and poverty (Wheelock & Uggen, 2006, p. 13). "Some portion of class disparities in punishment is therefore likely to stem from systematic biases that penalize the poor more harshly than the wealthy. Theoretical approaches that integrate both perspectives perhaps best capture the origins of class differences in punishment" (Wheelock & Uggen, 2006, pp. 14-15). Thus, the justice system has a built-in prejudice that treats those of economic means (those who are usually white) preferentially when compared to those who are poor. Moreover, discrimination based on the overlap of gender and economic status, it can be asserted, does not end in the courtroom or prison. It can be asserted with confidence that the justice system is yet another stop along a road marked -- and marred -- by discrimination, prejudice, and systemic bias under the banner of racism.
As the number of felons and ex-felons rises, collateral sanctions play an ever-larger role in the prevention and correction of racial bias in our communities, among law enforcement, in the courtroom, as well as society-at-large. As more and more black men go AWOL either temporarily or permanently via the correctional system, an ever-perpetuating feedback loop becomes even stronger. Systemic racism becomes more entrenched as the epidemic of black male incarceration grows. Felons and ex-felons have a difficult time, to say the least, putting their lives back together after incarceration. They have lost what little they had, including their pride, livelihoods, and families. When the recidivism rate for black males is taken into account, the truism that a black man's destiny is "either jail or death" strikes an unpleasant chord, one that has more than a ring of truth.
Certainly, the law enforcement, legal, justice, and correctional system have grown out of a fertile ground of racism and discrimination. The factors that contribute to crimes committed by black males are not merely based on economics. Moreover, the black incarceration rate cannot be said to be based on merely systemic factors, or an entrenched societal bias towards felons of any color, let alone black felons. The simple, yet all too complex, fact is that all of these factors are overlapping. Certainly, black men are culpable for their crimes, but there are larger, more pervasive (perhaps even darker) forces at work, forces that prevent the black man from gaining a competitive advantage in a society that was not predicated on equal rights or fairness. Our society has contributed in a number of ways to the factors and variables that have landed us into our current dilemma. Only a complete reversal of attitude towards minorities, and a total adjustment of our collective moral compass will improve a dire epidemic, one that has taken its toll on the social contract.
References
Human Rights in North Carolina. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://sites.duke.edu/nchumanrights/incarceration-and-criminal-justice/
Hymowitz, K. (03 Dec, 2012). The real, complex connection between single-parent families and crime. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2012/12/the-real-complex-connection-between- single-parent-families-and-crime/265860/
Marshall, A.G. (2012). An empire of poverty: race, punishment, and social control. Retrieved from http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2012/02/26/an-empire-of-poverty-race- punishment-and-social-control/
Western, B., Kleykamp, M. & Rosenfeld, J. (Jun, 2003). Crime, punishment, and American inequality. Princeton University. Retrieved from ://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.197.5230&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Wheelock, D. & Uggen, C. (Jun, 2006). Race, poverty and punishment: the impact of criminal sanctions on racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequality. National Poverty Center Working Paper Series. Retrieved from http://nationalpovertycenter.net/publications/workingpaper06/paper15/working_paper06- 15.pdf
