The article by Jamelle Bouie was written amidst the recent riots that just occurred in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray who died while in police custody. Janelle’s article captures the events that followed after what Baltimore residents considered as police brutality from the street riots, looting and burning of buildings, a curfew placement and declaration of a state of emergency. Jamelle also explains Baltimore’s failed past decisions that were made over 100 years ago that define the riots in Baltimore. The audience in this article is not directed to any group of people specifically. Anyone can read to have a clear understanding of Baltimore’s history and the relation with the current riots.
The city of Baltimore hit the streets after Freddie died. They seem to have had enough of the increased police brutality. The city mayor placed a 10 p.m. curfew to keep people off the streets but the residents were restless and ready to let the whole world know about their concerns. To resolve the situation, the National Guard was deployed to deal with the state of emergency. After a few days, the calm was restored after the alleged police officers were indicted as it was announced by Marilyn J. Mosby, the states attorney for Baltimore City (Perez-Pena).
Other key part, however, is the remarkable stability of Baltimore’s segregation over time. The Nero slums of the 1910s are the depressed projects and vacant blocks of the 2010s. The same pressures of crime and social dislocation continue to press on the modern-day residents of the inner city (Bouie 3). Freddie Gray was from the Sand town-Winchester neighborhood where half of the residents are unemployed and one-third of the homes are vacant. Sixty percent of the residents have less than a high school diploma, and the violent crime rate is among the highest in Baltimore (3). The politicians and progressive reformers seems to have been motivated by benevolence and politics that led to the segregation that separated the white neighborhoods from the black population.
The article Hyper-Crimination of Black and Latino Male Youth in the Era of Mass Incarceration focuses on how Latin and black youth are viewed as delinquent after their first offence. Their initial contact with the juvenile criminal system tends to haunt them at every aspect of their daily activities. Branded as criminals, they carry this mark to school, in their community and even at home. It does not seem to matter what the nature of the crime was (Rios 41).
The high rate of incarceration of these youths is a perfect example of the imbalance nature of the justice system. I believe locking up youth contributes to the hardening of the situation and creates an irreversible effect on these young people both physical and psychological. That is the reason why there are many offenders who tend to repeat their criminal history over and over again because this is the only life they know. Being labeled as a criminal at a young age sometimes tends to create a “cool” profile among peers. Thus, these young men tend to try living up to this title.
These young Latino and black men tend to feel as they were let down by the system because there is no breathing room to them after coming into contact with the juvenile criminal system. Places that should be sanctuaries for them where they could reevaluate their life choices and have a chance to change something have become monitoring stations instead (44). For example, schools that should be places to shape minds today have become an extension to a correction facility. Community centers ought to be places for these youths to unwind in a positive manner through activity but instead are used as monitoring stations. Daily surveillance combined with a negative atmosphere tends to keep these youths questioning every move they make. I believe that after a while, it becomes hard to make decisions on their own because they are used to someone standing over their shoulder threatening them with harsh consequences. This will prompt them to push boundaries to see how far they can go before they are caught. The burden of right or wrong is left on the shoulders of the authorities or powers that be.
Some politicians or lawmakers seem to exacerbate the situation further by suggesting stricter rules as far as this youth are concern. According to John J. DiIulio (13), a fellow at the right wing conservative think-tank, the Manhattan institute seems to imply that early incarceration is the only method to curb crime while another seems to suggest that crime is a product of black babies and the only logical way to stop it is by aborting black babies. These are very outrageous comments coming from those elected to office. It goes to show how hard it can be to reform an oppressive system.
It is clear that criminal justice system of the United States serves many purposes and consists of several multifunctional institutions that aim to balance the goals of crime control and prevention, and justice. However, criminal justice system’s efficient performance depends on many factors, and mistakes and imperfections are inevitable for such a complex system. In relation to juvenile criminal system, I believe there are a lot of mistakes that prevent the state from dealing with the problem of high criminal rates among the youth.
In my opinion, one of the most controversial questions of our time is gun control. The United States have the highest level of gun violence in the world. The incidents of mass shooting and unplanned homicides that involve firearm show that there are too many cases of misuse of the guns. This problem comes from the imperfection of existing laws that apply to usage, carrying and selling of weapon. The Guardian conducted a research that showed that “yet federal gun regulation requires background checks for those purchasing guns from licensed dealers; there is still a loophole that allows private sellers to conduct a transaction without a background check.” (Guardian US Interactive Team). It means that those who really want guns can still obtain them through private sales. Considering these facts, it is not a surprise that violent criminal behavior is not uncommon among youngsters. Instead of providing the most efficient strategy that would include the stricter gun control that is provided by the clear and univocal laws, the federal government prefers to allow the young people to buy guns without any obstruction and then throw them into prison for using this guns inappropriately.
The other major topic of criminal justice is the prison reform. Since 1980, the federal prison population has grown almost 800 percent, and facilities are dangerously overcrowded. This indicates of poor prison conditions and low health level of the prisoners. The other main issue that proves the necessity of prison reform is the abuse of prisoners. The current state of federal prisons favors the inefficient work of the correctional facilities in the United States. In order to eliminate this issue, Kara Gotsch, the director of advocacy for the Sentencing Project, suggests “focusing on reforms that limit excessive mandatory minimum sentences for low-level offenses. This would significantly reduce the prison population while maintaining public safety and go a long way toward promoting a cost-effective and fair justice system.” (Gotsch). I agree with that and I think prison reform is highly required to increase effectiveness of the current criminal justice system and to prevent the young offender from becoming life-long criminals who get their knowledge of life mostly in jail.
Bouie and Rios both imply on the racial injustices that the black people and Latin Americans deal with on a daily basis. Rios also uses statistics to show the rates at which the poor minority youth are incarcerated. Both articles indicate the collateral consequences that lead to breakups in communities and families causing inequality and unrest. Reading these articles, I became concerned not only with the problems discussed by the authors, but other issues related to criminal justice system as well. I believe these articles provide a great source of inspiration for the researchers and contribute to the wide discussion of the problems related to the criminal system, crime rates, and violent criminal behavior.
Bibliography
DiIulio, John J. Performance Measures for the Criminal Justice System. Washington, D.C: U.S Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1993. Print.
Bouie, Jamelle. “The Deep, Troubling Roots of Baltimore’s Decline.” Slate, 29 Apr 2015. Web. 5 Jun 2015.
Gotsch, Kara. The U.S. needs to make prison reform a priority. Washington Post, 27 Feb 2012. Web. 13 Jun 2015.
Perez-pena, Richard. “Six baltimore Officers Indicted in Death of Freddie Gray.” New York Times, 21 May 2015. Web. 5 Jun 2015.
Rios, Victor. “The Hyper-Criminalization of Black and Latino Male Youth in the Era of Mass Incarceration.” Souls. 8.2 (2006): 40-54. Print.
Guardian US Interactive Team. “Gun laws in the US, state by state – interactive.” The Guardian, 16 Jan 2013. Web. 13 Jun 2015.
