Concentrated Incarceration

To us sociology students, it is no secret that the United States of America has the largest inmate population.  It is unmatched across the world.  America hold 5% of the world population, but the also house 25% of the worlds criminals.  Robert J. Sampson states that from the 1920’s to the 1970s the inmate population averaged 110 inmates per 100,000 persons.  Across this time frame, it matched other nation’s incarceration rates.  From 1970 until present time, the incarceration rate has exploded.  Sampson states that in 1990 the rate jumped to 197 inmates per 100,000 persons, and in 2008 the figure skyrocketed to 504 inmates per 100,000.  These current figures greatly impact disadvantaged youth in urban areas.  Incarceration has almost been normalized in the lives of the aforementioned disadvantaged people. 

Above: an info-graphic depicting America's incarceration rate vs. other countries

Right: two grams of crack-cocaine

There are a few outstanding reasons as to why these numbers have reached unprecedented rates.  In the late 1970s, legislation was created to target urban areas.  This legislation sparked a war that the government still pursues today: The War on Drugs.  Crack-cocaine was created and found its way into poorer urban areas giving way to dealers and users.  Crack was cheaper than traditional powder cocaine, but because of its potency and necessary human adulteration, the drug landed in the schedule II category.  The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 increased penalties for crack cocaine possession and usage.  It mandated a mandatory minimum sentence of five years without parole for possession of five grams of crack.  If a person was caught with 500 grams of cocaine, they would receive the same sentence.  Individuals of color are more likely to use crack, and richer, more affluent people are more likely to use cocaine.  The legislation in place unfairly targets those who are poorer and more susceptible for crack usage.  Those who are poorer and caught with crack-cocaine are less likely to afford legal representation.  Crack has contributed to the mass incarceration of those of color and of lower class. 

Housing segregation has given rise to poor urban areas, allowing drug use and gang violence to explode.  We learned in class that often times the southern part of urban areas are impoverished, for reasons unknown.  As the housing boom in the late 1960s erupted, segregation was still deeply engrained in American society.  Neighborhoods did not want colored families living with them.  Sampson mentions a “tangle of pathology”, also known as social dislocation.  The tangle of pathology is amplified, more durable, and qualitatively distinct in the black community.  Sampson uses Chicago as an example of an urban area which displays intensely segregated urban structure.  We have learned from William Julius Wilson that the “Ghetto” is persistent in these highly segregated, mostly colored, urban areas.  Individuals in these areas have extremely limited upward mobility, jobs are scarce, and gang behavior and drug usage is common. 

Everything placed in legislature regarding drugs and urban behavior has been tailored and executed in order to mass incarcerate those who are of lower class.  We know that the prison system in America is flawed, yet it seems that things are only progressively getting worse.  A major change needs to happen especially to those who are convicted of non-violent drug offenses.  It costs tons of money to place people into the prison system, with countless dollars spent on policing and drug enforcement every year. 

A brief history of the crack epidemic: http://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/crackcocaine/a-short-history.html

Chicago housing segregation: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-segregation-declines-neighborhoods-change-met-20160103-story.html