Transcript Race to Incarcerate Chapters 4-8

Race to Incarcerate
Chapters 4-8
Regina Cavada • Connor Warren
Chapter 4: Crime as Politics
1973: New York State
passes the Rockefeller Drug
Laws
1984: Sentencing Reform Act:
Established a federal
sentence commission
1977: Felony Firearms
Statute:
Two year mandatory prison
sentence for use of a firearm
in a felony
1988: Reagan Administration
“Get tough on drugs”
Presidential Administrations
Ronald Reagan
Ideological shift on crime
policy:
“Big government is not
the solution”
“Get Tough on Drugs”
Edwin Zedlewski
New form of cocaine “Crack”
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Appeal to suburban votes
“Compassionate
Conservatism”
High-profile crimes
$450 mil. initiative for
children of prisoners
$300 mil. initiative for
prisoner reentry
programs
“One with gun gets you two”
“More prisons or more crime”
“Just say no”
Chapter 5:
The PrisonCrime
Connection
The incarceration rate in the US has seen a
400% increase in the last 30 years
However, there has not been a significant
decrease in the nation’s crime rates
Two major ways in which to measure crime
The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR)
DOJ’s victimization survey
National Academy of Sciences
Incarceration increases have had little, to no
effect on crime. Preventive and rehabilitative
strategies will be more useful than the
current penal system
Possible relationship between crime and
incarceration:
Decline of crime in the 90’s
Inaccurately portrays the relationship
Summary: Societal factors leading people
to crime are becoming increasingly worse
Chapter 6: The Limits of the Criminal Justice
System on Crime Control
“Why have the policies adopted in recent years been so ineffective and even
Deliverable 1
counterproductive in addressing the problem of crime?”
FBI’s Index Crimes
Only ⅙ result in a suspect being arrested and
charged with an offense
Diminishing Returns
in Crime Control
A policy to imprison more offenders would
result in greater numbers of nonviolent
offenders would be locked up
“Replacement
Effect”
Some offenders are replaced on the streets by
others ready to take their place
Chapter 7: African Americans and the
Criminal Justice System
Historically, race and ethnicity have been associated with incarceration rates.
Immigrants in the 1800’s deal with many struggles similar to those of
modern day African Americans
African Americans have felt the greatest impact of increasing rates of
incarceration
Since 1926, there has been an 829% increase in incarcerated African
Americans
As opposed to the 120% rise in the total population of African Americans
Contributing factors to the increase:
Demographic changes
Baby Boomer Generation
African American youth unemployment
Chapter 8: The War on Drugs and the African
American Community
Presidential War on Drugs
Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan
Affected Demographics
Minorities, specifically African American
Incarceration due to Drug-Related Offense
The rise of crack in the 1980’s
Discussion Questions
Would sustaining the current rate of incarceration, or turning to
comprehensive rehabilitation programs lead to a significant decrease in the
national crime rate?
Should drug dealers alone face the possibility of jail time, or all that are
associated with drug use (dealers and users alike)?
How big of a role do you feel race plays into the judicial process?
- i.e. are statistics telling the story, or being manipulated to fit the
narrative?
“Why are there so many potential offenders available to “replace” those who
are apprehended by the justice system?