A specific area in the United States that needs immediate reform is the prison system. Injustice runs through the justice system systemically and continues through the jails and prisons. Shortly after Biden took over as President, on January 26th, he signed an executive order that ordered the Department of Justice to nullify any future contracts with private prisons. The order will end all agreements with the 12 prisons that are contracted by the Department of Justice. Since 1971, the War on Drugs, the presence of federal drug control agencies in Black and Latino neighborhoods increased dramatically. This is one factor that goes into the overwhelming population of minorities in our prisons. In 1970, the population of our prison system was holding around 350,000 inmates. Today, over 2.3 million Americans are incarcerated. Based on a 2018 report by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Black and Hispanic Americans accounted for 56% of the prison population even though they only represent 32% of the entire United States population. “This means that African Americans and Latinx are five times more likely than white individuals to spend time behind bars” (Castleton Spartan). This issue is largely systemic due to the connections in the justice system from the police, courts and prisons. A product of predictive policing, a policing model that many departments have been using, is this dramatic influx in the minority population in prisons. Predictive policing gives departments information about what crimes are taking place in specific areas of their city. They are able to find patterns, then dispatch officers into that area to patrol in hopes they will prevent crime. Instead, they end up making arrests. The majority of the time, these areas have a majority Black or Latinx population, which increased the number of minority arrests and incarcerations.
This systemic issue comes from the increased amount of police presence in areas of high crime that tend to have high minority populations. As time goes on, police focus their attention on these areas of high crime in hopes of lowering the crime rate. However, this creates the high number of minorities in the American prisons.
http://www.castletonspartan.com/2021/02/17/prison-reform-curbs-systematic-injustice/https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_race.jsp
Hi Ashely, I also wrote one of my diary entries on the prison system, so I was very inclined to read your showcase post. You did a wonderful job explaining the issue and tying in current events, such as President Biden’s decision to nullify future contracts with private prisons. I was unaware of this decision and was very glad to hear about it in your post. I plan to further educate myself on this systemic injustice, thanks to your post. You did a wonderful job!
Hey Ashley! I think it is so important that you addressed the prison system in this country. For profit prison systems are deplorable, and I am so happy Biden is taking a stand to end contracts with private prisons. The criminal justice and prison system needs a HUGE overhaul to achieve what it’s meant to-fair and just trials and punishments. Great job!