Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
America has the world’s highest rate of incarceration, currently 738 per 100,000. Our nearest competitor for this dubious distinction is the Russian Federation with 607 and Cuba with 487. “The US incarcerates at a rate 4 to 7 times higher than other western nations such as the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany and up to 32 times higher than nations with the lowest rates such as Nepal, Nigeria, and India.”
http://www.nccd-crc.org/nccd/pubs/2006nov_factsheet_incarceration.pdf Despite possible protestations that this is because we have the best law enforcement, my sense is that the reasons lie more in the system, than those who enforce it. No one ever lost an election in America because of the perception they “were tough on crime”.
“Race: Black males continue to be incarcerated at an extraordinary rate. Black males make up 35.4 percent of the jail and prison population — even though they make up less than 10 percent of the overall U.S population. Four percent of U.S. black males were in jail or prison last year, compared to 1.7 percent of Hispanic males and .7 percent of white males. In other words, black males were locked up at almost six times the rate of their white counterparts.” http://www.nccd-crc.org/nccd/pubs/2006nov_factsheet_incarceration.pdf
Despite possible protestations that this is because we have the best law enforcement, my sense is that the reasons lie more in the system, than those who enforce it. No one ever lost an election in America because of the perception they “were tough on crime”. “Race: Black males continue to be incarcerated at an extraordinary rate. Black males make up 35.4 percent of the jail and prison population — even though they make up less than 10 percent of the overall U.S population. Four percent of U.S. black males were in jail or prison last year, compared to 1.7 percent of Hispanic males and .7 percent of white males. In other words, black males were locked up at almost six times the rate of their white counterparts.”
http://www.laprogressive.com/law-and-the-justice-system/boiling-hot-mad/.html
These two sets of statistics when viewed together tell a terrible tale of how racial oppression still exists in this country despite our Black President and Black Attorney General. This Administration hasn’t caused of this problem, but they don’t seem to have made any progress dealing with it. We do know that there has been a widespread effort to play down the racial division that continues to plague this country. This continues despite Civil Rights Laws, Martin Luther King’s Birthday and TV beer commercials that always include at least one black male friend enjoying the camaraderie. Clearly there is a disconnect between how we Americans want to see ourselves and the reality for many Black males. I’m focusing on the problem of black males in this piece, rather than the general oppression of Black people, because the effect of this process is a function of the general racist climate of this country and is a major contributor to the continuance of this oppression. There have often been discussions on this blog about the devastating effects of the “War on Drugs” and this quote is illustrative of the tenor of theses discussions. “Nationwide, black males convicted of drug felonies in state courts are sentenced to prison 52 percent of the time, while white males are sentenced to prison only 34 percent of the time. The ratio for women is similar – 41 percent of black female felony drug offenders are sentenced to prison, as compared to 24 percent of white females. With respect to violent offenses, 74 percent of black male convicted felons serve prison time, as opposed to only 60 percent of white male convicted felons. With respect to all felonies, 58 percent of black male convicted felons, as opposed to 45 percent of white men, serve prison sentences”. http://www.civilrights.org/publications/justice-on-trial sentencing.html
It is clear to me that racism exists today in America, despite supposed gains and that this disparity in the treatment of race is not only devastating to Black people, but its continuance is disastrous for our entire society. The degeneration of our political system during the last five decades may not be solely due to racial prejudice, but those who have helped bring it about certainly have used racism to empower their viewpoints, even as their rhetoric has shifted from overt to covert. I’m moved to write this because I believe that unless this problem becomes accepted in our public consciousness, there will be no escape from the downward trend of our nation towards political and economic disaster.
I’ve presented enough evidence of the racialist tendency of our system and the reader either will accept what it suggests, or substitute their own pre-judgments of what these statistics mean. My discussion focuses on how this reality impacts upon Black people in America and thus impacts us all, despite our race and/or ethnicity. What set me off thinking about this was a TV Program called “Our America” with Lisa Ling. The episode was entitled “The Incarceration Generation”. http://www.oprah.com/own-our-america-lisa-ling/our-america-video.html
Personally, this episode brought up an admixture of tears and anger as I watched. It showed the life arcs of some Black males about to be released from prison, the effects on their families of their incarceration and then by their release. The premise, which I endorse, is that this generation of jailed Black men will, and has already impacted on the coming generation of Black men. The message was we must somehow stop this cycle, but the solution to stopping the cycle is not clear macro-cosmically and too slow if change is measured person by person.
As much as I’m prone to pontification, I really can see only one way that this continued racism is ever going to change. To the possible delight of our more conservative and/or libertarian commenter’s, I don’t believe that the first step towards this change would benefit from government intervention via legislation or fiat. While the original issue decided in “Brown vs. Board of Education“, that Blacks and Whites were receiving unequal schooling due to segregation and unequal funding, the general judicial remedy which became School Busing was not only in hindsight a failure, but actually increased tension between races and diminished White support for Civil Rights. It was a decision that tried to solve the problem cheaply, rather than first ensuring that the funding for Black and White (indeed all) schoolchildren was equivalent. How much more elegant to have hoisted the segregationists on their own petard of “separate but equal”, than to have demanded and overseen that they indeed provided equal funding
and support to Black schools. I understand that this was not the remedy being requested in this suit, but looking back it might have been a far more effective strategy. All of the gains in White sympathy for the struggle of Black people for their Constitutional freedom, were negated when the sad results of hundreds of years of slavery was dumped upon the educational systems specifically of the working classes. It resulted in the “Southern Strategy” that got Richard Nixon elected, using code words in place of outright racist rhetoric. Fighting crime became the code for cracking down on Blacks and the upward spiral of the incarceration of Americans began with the inception of the ridiculous “War on Drugs”. When people are steeped in false, bigoted notions of the “other”, reinforced by a corporate media that finds sensationalizing crime garners profits, minds won’t be changed by legislation.
Certainly, steps must be taken to end the “War on Drugs”, to deal with racist law enforcement issues and to ensure that each American, regardless of skin color and/or ethnicity, is afforded equal rights under our Constitution. But first, before any palliatives are presented by our politicians, the problem of America’s continuing racism and its disproportionate effect on Black males must be brought into the open, discussed and hopefully acknowledged. Without that nothing changes since racism cannot be obliterated by enforcement, it merely morphs underground where it nevertheless festers. It is preferable to directly know ones’ enemies by their words, than to have those beliefs covered up.
Among the great ironies of modern America is how bigots have learned to couch their bigotry in terms that are inherently dishonest, yet provide them verbal cover when challenged. At times, among the less controlled public voices like Limbaugh or Beck it, their bigotry comes through, but even then they will cry foul if they are called on it and pretend that charging them with bigotry is absurd and bigoted in itself. When people are accused of “playing the race card”, the accuser is probably racist, knowingly or unknowingly. I think that many refuse to personally acknowledge their own bigotry, knowing rationally it is wrong, yet they find comfort and cover in the hypocrisy of code words and denial, from even themselves.
The other effect of incarceration of Black men disproportionately, is that it then becomes extremely difficult to obtain jobs after their release. As one man put it on the Lisa Ling show “Would you hire a former felon?”. We’ve set up a system where recidivism is the norm for all prisoners and this is mainly because after serving ones sentence, there are far less opportunities to find gainful employment. I know this from personal experience since my father served time for a “white collar” crime before my birth and his whole working/economic life was affected until his death 20 years later. He was White, had a massive vocabulary and a dynamic personality. He could never get credit and a family member had to co-sign in order to get a mortgage for our house. My father earned a good living as a car salesman, but his many attempts at starting his own business was affected by an inability to obtain adequate financing due to his prior incarceration. My father had many advantages over many black men with criminal histories, but the primary one was his skin color
When you perpetuate a system that incarcerates such a large swath of the Black male population, sentences them disproportionately to other racial/ethnic groups and prevents them from going straight after they’ve served their time, you create instability and chaos within the Black community. The evil history of slavery and racism remains with us today. Until we acknowledge the reality of how it perpetuates itself, it will never cease and our country will continue its’ downward spiral of economic disparity and debilitating racial/ethnic tension.
Jack,
“Problem is, these people aren’t acting rationally.”
Who are “these people” that you refer to?
Jack,
There isn’t much puzzling and I agree upon, but the futility and needless expense – both in money and lives ruined – of the drug war is one area where we do agree. If the Volstead Act should have taught this country anything it’s 1) that prohibition doesn’t work and 2) that making intoxicants illegal only makes more criminals and 3) encourages organized crime to reap the profits of a black market schema. The War on Drugs is simply a War on Personal Choice and a rationalization for increasing the police state. Prohibition is (improperly) using a legal tool to address what is essentially a medical issue. It is using the wrong tool to fix the problem and in the process it is creating even worse problems in the arena of both civil liberties and efficacy of law enforcement in relationship to serious crimes against persons and property. These two articles point out some of the problems the drug war is having on enforcement of other much more serious crimes:
Driven By Drug War Incentives, Cops Target Pot Smokers, Brush Off Victims Of Violent Crime
The War On Drugs Has Failed – It’s Time For A New Approach.
Personally, I think prioritizing police to solve crimes like murder and rape is far more important than busting pot smokers and junkies.
Jack,
I wrote
You asked (emphasis mine):
Criminal penalties are a deterrent to crime. That said, the economic prospects of many in the poorest areas of the United States makes dealing drugs a perfectly rational choice. The miserable education provided by inner city public schools leaves very few with the educational or employment prospects enjoyed by their more affluent suburban counterparts. In many ways these public schools have imprisoned entire generations.
Should we continue to increase criminal penalties for drug crimes in order to move towards a more perfect Prohibition? Would the death penalty for street-level drug dealing deter more than years of prison time? I’m sure it would. But it would also raise the price and dangerousness of drugs, increase the level of violence in our neighborhoods, further sacrifice civil liberties to execution of the drug war, and make drug dealing for those willing to undertake it even more profitable. Legalizing drugs would eliminate this economic premium.
As Mike lays out at the very beginning of this post, the United States already has the highest incarceration rate of any country on the entire planet. This drug war is a failure with extraordinary costs. Look around.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8Y9-JlSRXw
Tupac, Obama was for you brother.
Rest in peace homie.
Puzzling:
“Civil liberties arguments aside, the War on Drugs creates strong economic incentives for children to drop out of school early, particularly if they are in a weak, inner-city public school. ”
To say the least, this left me…puzzled. Mind explaining this? Frankly, the war and drugs increases the barrier to entry into the criminal field. For the rational person, it acts as a deterrent. Problem is, these people aren’t acting rationally. Freakenomics did a good piece on why most dealers live with their parents – because it isn’t financially rewarding. Add on all the other problems it causes, drug pushers are legitimately the stupidest people in society. Taking away the barrier to reduce drug use doesn’t make a lick of sense.
More hack journalism. Racism is a serious issue, but the rhetoric beyond quashing it – such as this – only hurts an intelligent conversation. The fact is that among blacks, poverty is high. Among poverty, regardless of race, crime is also high. And where crime is high, incarceration follows. Because blacks have disproportionately used and therefore convicted of crack cocaine, which carries higher sentencing under the guidelines, I suspect that we will see the incarceration differences between blacks and white lower dramatically now that the new guidelines are out which have pushed crack sentences closer to powder convictions. In any event, there are a number of consequential lurking variables in the “race/incarceration” conversation that any serious commentator needs to neutralize before writing any serious, let alone useful piece on the subject.
Jack,
Thank you for your comment.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/new-jim-crow-war-on-drugs
“Mike Spindell
1, November 27, 2011 at 12:14 am
I have to remark that all the comments here have expanded the discusssion way beyond my original effort. Thank you, that makes me feel so good.”
I too feel as you do that the post took own a very enlightning and thoughtful tone and the posters here never disappoint. So I’ll add this,which was in my paper today and these are my Brothers and Sisters with”NO” criminal record
but the spin try is interesting.
New Jersey Tea Party blames Barack Obama for unemployment of 540,000 blacks since January 2009
“”Since Obama took office, a net of 540,000 additional black Americans – Obama’s strongest supporters – have lost their jobs,” the Tea Party retweeted to its followers on Sept. 2. The original tweet came from Ken Gardner, a junior fellow for The Right Sphere, a conservative website, and was retweeted by Jeff Weingarten, president of Morristown Tea Party Organization.”
http://www.politifact.com/new-jersey/statements/2011/nov/27/new-jersey-tea-party/new-jersey-tea-party-blames-barack-obama-unemploym/
I think I agree with NATE.
Nate –
It depends on where you live, of course. But most EMS systems that I’m aware of have civilian ride-along programs.
Nate, first Americans don’t get much respect anywhere in North America.
“What if They Declared an Emergency and No One Came?”
“It’s been three weeks since Attawapiskat First Nation took the extraordinary step of declaring a state of emergency. Since then, not a single federal or provincial official has even bothered to visit the community.
No aid agencies have stepped forward. No disaster management teams have offered help.
Meanwhile temperatures have dropped 20 degrees and will likely drop another 20 or 25 degrees further in the coming weeks. For families living in uninsulated tents, makeshift cabins and sheds, the worsening weather poses serious risk.”
If I try to cut and paste anything here lately the reply box goes crazy and some postings won’t post at all. The above posting is actually the citations for this comment:
The Reagan revolution had an impact on more than the economy. The war on drugs took off under Reagan though Carter actually started it. The Congress also passed mandatory minimum and sentencing laws under Reagan. Both state and Federal incarceration for drugs exploded after 1980 and the Federal government went into overdrive in building prisons. I don’t know if the fact that drug and gang crimes for which people are sent to prison falls more heavily on people of color was the point of the plan or if it was a serendipity that met with favour. I do know a good first step in decriminalizing the citizenry and making it less discriminatory is to end the war on drugs.
(Check the graph on prison population growth)
Arrests and incarceration
United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world.[52] A very large portion of people who are incarcerated are imprisoned for drug-related crimes. In 1994, it was reported that the “War on Drugs” results in the incarceration of one million Americans each year.[53] Of the related drug arrests, about 225,000 are for possession of cannabis, the fourth most common cause of arrest in the United States.[54]
In 2008, 1.5 million Americans were arrested for drug offenses. 500,000 were imprisoned.[55]
In the 1980s, while the number of arrests for all crimes was rising 28%, the number of arrests for drug offenses rose 126%.
Sentencing disparities
Statistics from 1998 show that there were wide racial disparities in arrests, prosecutions, sentencing and deaths. African-American drug users made up for 35% of drug arrests, 55% of convictions, and 74% of people sent to prison for drug possession crimes.[62] Nationwide African-Americans were sent to state prisons for drug offenses 13 times more often than other races,[68] even though they only supposedly comprised 13% of regular drug users.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs
The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, Pub.L. 99-570, 100 Stat. 3207, enacted October 27, 1986, H.R. 5484, was the first major law passed by the U.S. Congress of the War on Drugs. Among other things, they changed the system of federal supervised release from a rehabilitative system into a punitive system. The 1986 Act also prohibited controlled substance analogs. The bill enacted new mandatory minimum sentences for drugs, including marijuana.[1][2]
Check out the growth of Federal prisons:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._federal_prisoner_distribution_since_1950.png
Mike,
Excellent soil fosters fertile seeds. The thanks is surely to you for laying such ample groundwork.
I have to remark that all the comments here have expanded the discusssion way beyond my original effort. Thank you, that makes me feel so good.
Patric,
A good part of the reason I wrote this is that
most of my career was spent working in all of the so-called “mean streets of NYC, day and night. Most of the time I was alone, without a weapon. I found some danger there, but mostly found good people dealing as well as they could, having been dealt a bad hand. The rest of my impetus comes from working with, for and supervising people from all racial and ethnic groups. I am firm in the knowledge that all humans are the same when you get beyond stereotypes. I can’t express how angry I get with our systems innate racism. What raises that anger to apoplexy though are those who deny these disparities exist.
Great article Mike. This is a national disgrace.
Mike,
Incarceration rates of all races are far too high in the United States.
In JT’s post last year entitled Black People in Great Britain Six Times More Likely to Face Arrest for Drug Offenses Than White People, I also commented on the problem more broadly.
The culprit is the War on Drugs, and this modern-day Prohibition does a lot more harm than incarcerating millions.
Civil liberties arguments aside, the War on Drugs creates strong economic incentives for children to drop out of school early, particularly if they are in a weak, inner-city public school. The drug war results in widespread violence and is a gateway to other criminal activity. The drug war destroys family structure by imprisoning so much of the population, if those who deal drugs are even considered better partners than the State.
UC Berkeley’s John McWhorter spoke about your topic in a Cato-sponsored forum last year. If you’re willing to give it the first five minutes, I think you’ll be interested enough to hear the piece through. I do not endorse all of his views.
The piece is available here.
Here’s just one statistic..Blacks represent between 10 and 13 percent of the population. In 2009, they committed 37.5 percent of the murders.
These percentages scale even higher in other categories of serious violent or property crimes.
If you want the incarceration rate to go down, the actual crimes committed must go down as well.
As far as the drug sentencing goes, I believe the longer sentences have more to do with the higher incidence of violent crimes committed concurrently with a drug offense. If you are arrested for multiple crimes, your sentence is going to be longer.
http://www2.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2009/offenses/expanded_information/data/shrtable_03.html
America’s 21st Century slaves
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/5/new_expos_tracks_alec_private_prison
and, Media promotes racism
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/13/news_for_all_the_people_juan