Mass Incarceration: The Modern Evolved Jim Crow Law - Term Paper Example

Mass incarceration, the modern evolved Jim Crow law The increase in numbers of African Americans incarcerated, their subsequent relegations to a terminal second class citizen. Also, the denial of rights previously gained after the civil rights movement are indicators of the re-emergence of refined Jim Crow Laws (Alexander 1). The Jim Crow laws were prominent between 1184 and 1964 and separated Americans race and were considered a legalized segregation by law (Tischauer 2). The Jim Crow laws regulated the social, economic and political relationships between whites and African Americans and in the process surboninated blacks and favored whites (Martin 9). In the formation of the former union, African Americans were denied American citizenship and since then nothing much has changed even in the wake of civil liberties. The abolition of the slave trade and numerous progress in the rights of minorities. The present legislatures on minority groups are deemed to be analogous to those that drove the Jim Crow era. Alexander (1) resounds the aged adage that the more things seem to be changing is the more they remain the same. She asserts that in an era or color blindness where it is not socially permissible to discriminate or exclude persons exclusively based on race the criminal justice system has labeled some to be “color criminals”. Therefore, they are subjected various forms of discrimination. However, Tischauer (2) alleges that attitude and history are the main culprits of the progression of de facto segregation. It has often been perceived that a person’s character in terms of intelligence and behavior is a result of racial inheritance (Tischauser 2). Which in my view is very much disproved by science that shows the insignificance of color as factor. The racial definition of people in society is further evidenced by the perception that colored people as compared to whites are more likely to be engaged in the use or distribution of drugs. This brings in the view of the drug wars that seem to target black and brown communities predominantly. Federal states seemed more focused on the incarceration of petty drug offenders than curbing the actual drug menace, and federal drug forfeiture policies do little but to promote unsavory practices. Alexander (1) further insinuates that the mass incarceration presently experienced rather than being driven by crime and crime rates could be indicators of prevailing racial discrimination. Soaring incarceration rates are a contrast to reducing crime rates, but it would appear that more blacks and colored folk are being arrested. Incarcerations are reported to be at unprecedented high compared to previous statistics. Alexander alleges that the criminal system, rather than resist mass incarceration and targeting of the poor and underprivileged colored peopled through its actions facilitates mass incarceration. This is evidenced by the invocation of the 4th amendment protection laws that governed searches and seizures. Presently police are empowered to scrutinize and frisk on suspicion on with supposed consent of the victim. From a young age in some communities youngsters grow with the belief that at some point in their lives they will be incarcerated. Therefore, their minds are conditioned for future prospects of serving jail time. Possible contributors to this belief would include the rampant targeting of colored children that are commonly ignored by the middle class or white communities. The offenders are often branded as felons and subsequently subjected to a permanent life as second-class citizens. Alexander reports that there are more African Americans in correctional control, probation that is compared to present day enslavement of minorities (colored) and the reemergence of Jim Crow era. Convicted felons upon release are denied voting rights. Alexander reports that in 2004 more black people were denied right to vote compared the years preceding 1875 where the Fifth Amendment is prohibiting laws that explicitly denied the right to vote based on gender. Felon disenfranchisement laws conform to the Jim Crow era where poll taxes and literacy tests were used to marginalize from polls. More than half the number of African Americans of working age have criminal records that expose them to legalized discrimination in voting, housing, employment and welfare in their lifetime. This in itself appears to be a caste system fueled by racial bias in the criminal justice system. This mass incarceration and denial of rights is synonymous with older forms of racial and social control than crime prevention and control. Racial caste has, therefore, not been eliminated in the United States but has been redesigned. Martin (9) allayed the hope of fostering a better and fraternal spirit between the races in America and the destruction of racial prejudices. This seems a worthwhile endeavor considering the Anglo and cultural pluralism of the United States after the slave period and the world war. The desire for full inclusion into American life was a dream of most minority colored groups. However, this thoughts seemed unattainable following the challenges colored (black) citizens faced in competitive athletics (muscular assimilation). Higher education was divided along racial color lines and for most whites, competing against African Americans who were considered socially inferior was perceived to be debasing (Martin, 10). The concepts of equal opportunity are very much propagated and applauded by civil rights movements. The greatest question remains if whites and colored folks are privy to same opportunities in education and other social amenities. Stories of success do exist for African Americans who excelled in a predominated white society and with many challenges assimilating or being integrated and accepted by society. The community was separated by racial lines where blacks when to designated schools, participated in specified sporting activities and attended particular schools. The racial bias presently existing cannot be more defined than in the current and accepted law. Statistical evidence (Alexandar 8). Instances of racial disputes according to the US Supreme court are not admissible to the severity of racial disparity unless proof of conscious intentional bias or the admission of biases can be presented. In this instance, alexander imposes that the US Supreme court appears to immunize the system of mass incarceration just as the Jim Crow laws were sustained in previous years. Presently the tactics seem to have changed, however the outcomes lie within the same fringe. Alexander perceives the just system to be a design to ensure a repetitive cycle of incarceration and estimates that approximately 70% people who are released from prison eventually return and a vast majority in a period not exceeding a year due to challenges and legal discrimination. The need for a significant social movement cannot be further emphasized at a more crucial time than the present. The increase in profitable private companies that deal with prison services and are listed in US Stock exchange should be an indicator of the prevalence of the system that is determined in promoting the mass incarceration of the population. These necessary institutions seem to excel amid recession and have become crucial social and economic indicators. The question is who the most susceptible population are? Is the society resigned to the prevailing recycling and unalterable fact of mass incarceration as a norm of the American life? As pioneers of Human Rights policies have cited that without fundamental human rights civil rights are an empty promise. Work Cited Alexander, M. The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York: The New Press. (2010). Print Martin, Charles H. Benching Jim Crow: The Rise and Fall of the Color Line in Southern College Sports, 1890-1980. University of Illinois Press, 2010. Print Tischauser, Leslie V (1). Jim Crow Laws. ABC-CLIO, 2012. Print Levy, Alan H. Tackling Jim Crow: Racial segregation in professional football. McFarland, 2003. Print. Tischauser, Leslie Vincent (2). The changing nature of racial and ethnic conflict in United States history: 1492 to the present. University Press of America, 2002. Print. Read More