So this post is going to be a long one, buckle up. But first, a couple of disclaimers:
- All statistics used in this post are from peer-reviewed studies. I will not be citing as if this is an academic paper (already did that), but if you would like specific materials, message me and I'm more than happy to share them.
- Many of the studies are from the years 2005-2015. That is because statistical data on mass incarceration is very slow. With 50 individual state justice systems and a federal system all working on huge backlogs, it takes forever to get the data. If new data comes out, I will update accordingly
- The focus of my paper was on the crippling effect mass incarceration has on black Americans, so that is the focus of this post as well. But mass incarceration affects all Americans and the points I will try to explain apply to all Americans as well.
Mass incarceration and how we got to the point we are at basically boils down to two ideas regarding the purposes of criminal justice: retribution or rehabilitation. If you feel that the criminal justice system should bring about retributive justice (i.e., an eye for an eye), you likely don't feel that there is anything wrong with the criminal justice system as is other than the backlogs in the court prevent more people from going to prison. The goal of the system is to restore justice to the victim who was wronged and that usually has strict statutory punishments that are meted out according to charges brought against a defendant. On the other hand, rehabilitative justice seeks to (obviously) rehabilitate the offender through proactive measures (e.g., drug treatment programs, anger management, mental health facilities, etc.) aimed toward returning the offender to society a better person that is not likely to commit further crimes. I am firmly in the latter camp and that should be known before I get into the nitty gritty of the rest of this post.
The two biggest issues that I found in my research regarding mass incarceration recently were disproportionate targeting of minorities by U.S. police departments and the criminalization of poverty. Now, these two issues are interrelated and can compound quite quickly. But to start, I will focus on what I believe is the primary reason that mass incarceration is such a problem and that is the disproportionate targeting. North Carolina did a study that found over 80% of reporting law enforcement agencies in the state stopped black drivers more often than white drivers, averaging just under twice as often. Multiple counties reported numbers between 2-3 times as likely to stop black drivers. But the crown jewel of them all was Randolph County where the Sheriff's Department stopped black drivers almost 8 times as often as white drivers.
Even more concerning is what happened after those stops. Of those agencies reporting, 88% of them had twice as many full searches of black drivers as white drivers, and 70% had at least that rate for arrests. It should be noted that as of the most recent numbers, NC is around 71% white and 22% black, so extrapolating similar percentages of drivers (and probably that is an overestimation as whites are more likely to get licenses and drive than blacks) shows a serious issue that introduces large populations of minorities into the criminal justice system.
But lest you think this is a problem that just exists in a South that still has lingering racial tensions, the NYPD had very similar issues. In 2012, the NYCLU reviewed NYPD stop data for 2011 and found that 92% of precincts in NYC reported having the majority of police stops in that year being minority "offenders" with 33 precincts reporting rates above 90% and two Bronx precincts reporting an astounding 98% of stops being minorities. In all of 2011, NYPD stopped more black men aged 18-35 than there were total black men that age living in New York. Similar post-stop issues existed in NYC as well, with 89% of frisks related to a stop occurring to stopped minorities.
Now why is this disproportionate targeting such a huge issue? Well for one, it demonstrates huge issues related to race and law enforcement in America that travels across state borders. But as it specifically pertains to black Americans, it starts a cycle of poverty and incarceration that is nigh unbreakable. As of 2018, black Americans earn 75% of the hourly wages that whites earn, black households have 61% of the household income that whites have, and have just 10% of the overall net worth of white families. The average black family's net worth is $17,600; the average white family's is $171,000. For reasons that have been well-said above, this is a huge issue in a criminal justice system that makes you pay exorbitant amounts just to hope to have a chance at gaining your freedom back.
The Prison Policy Initiative's 2018 review of the U.S. criminal justice system found that around 65% of Americans currently in jail have not been convicted of a crime. The sole reason they are in prison is because they could not pay cash bail while awaiting trial. From the early 1990's until 2009, pre-trial releases based on cash bail rose from 37% of cases to 60% of cases, and the average bail amount rose more than doubled from $25,400 to $55,500 in a similar time frame. This just kills black defendants and their families as they are the only demographic where the average pre-incarceration rate of both male and female offenders fell below the poverty line. In essence, American law enforcement targets black Americans, locks them up, and then holds the key hostage until they can afford to buy their freedom back. No conviction necessary, you are imprisoned without appeal.
In the interest of not completely boring you all with additional issues such as the disparate treatment of minorities in plea bargaining and the overcharging of court fees to even indigent defendants, I'll stop here. But the bottom line is this: until cash bail is totally eliminated from the criminal justice system, there will continue to be a mass incarceration crisis in this country.
If you have any additional questions related to this post or if you all would like to hear more about other issues I researched, please let me know. More than happy to share.