Racism Within Prisons and Incarceration Systems

By Tristan Choi

The US incarceration and prison system has been known to be  fair and strict, but people have also noticed racist bias within the system. Black men cover around 35% of the incarcerated population, which is drastically higher than the incarcerated people of other races. Another example of bias are American/Alaskan Native people, who are killed much more often while arrested than white men. This is just a few examples of the current issues arising in the US justice system.

The justice system doesn’t have to be limited to just the prisons and incarceration. Another example are traffic stops. These areas are places where people have the most interactions with the criminal legal system. This also means that people of specific races could have more negative interactions with the justice system. According to an analysis in 95 million police stops throughout the US, analyzers found that Black people were less likely to be stopped after sunset, because of the lighting making the driver hard to see. Overall, the study shows in statistics that Black people are more likely to be pulled over than white people.

Between 2009 and 2021, the US experienced a decline of 25% of its prison population. Although all races faced decarceration, the Black population has been lowered the most. Although this may seem like good news for some people, the prison population system is almost six times as large as 50 years ago, and Black people are still imprisoned at five times the rate of Whites. Race injustice is still undeniable within the crisis of mass incarceration. The sentences for violence crimes and reliance on a person's background are the main agents of racial disparities in imprisonment. Many sentences from drug possession and crack cocaine incidents also disproportionately affect Black Americans compared to other races that face this crime.

Stopping racism in the justice system means we first have to understand how it happened in the past. For example, the War on Drugs and War on Crime rime was an important part of this issue. Even today in 2019, things like mass incarceration and unfair voting still show signs of racism. It’s important to look at the history because racism has been built into the laws and rules of the justice system ever since the time after the Civil War.

Figures who fight against racist system include Edwin “Eddie” Ellis, who was an example of a person who was innocent, yet still charged, getting him sent to prison for 25 years. During his stay at prison, he joined an organization of incarcerated people called Think Tank, who found out that 75% of New York's incarcerated population came solely from seven neighborhoods in New York City. After he was released, he began lectures in those neighborhoods to attempt to break the cycle of incarceration there. Another example of a person who fought against the unfair system is Bruce M. Wright. Wright spoke against injustice within courts. He was previously awarded a scholarship to Princeton University, but was prevented from attending by the dean due to him being a Black individual. Later, as a New York City Criminal Court judge,  he began setting affordable bail for people with low income. Wright considered the justice system to be unfair, especially towards Black people and maintained his devotion, even through criticism from the police and media. This goes to prove that there are people  trying to address the racist system this country lives by.

Unfair incarceration doesn’t just affect the accused, but it also affects their relatives. When a parent is incarcerated, it is difficult to determine how a child would fend for themselves. They can face many challenges, like psychological strain, antisocial behavior, money issues, and criminal activity. Research shows that the quality of the family's social system heavily affects how likely children will overcome challenges or succeed in life. Currently, the number of children with incarcerated parents vary. One related report found that the children who have experienced parental incarceration in their lives range from around 1.7 to 2.7 million. This also means that 11% of all children could be subject to these problems. There is also a disturbance that a parent's incarceration could lead to generational criminal behavior, but these risks don’t seem present across all children, and the behavior is hard to predict. Incarcerated parents could also cause antisocial behavior and psychological issues, like depression and aggression. For example, one study found that African American children who have both an incarcerated mother and father showed signs of increased depression.

Addressing racial bias in the U.S. justice system requires more than simple reforms, it demands a deep examination of the practices, roots, and rules that have allowed this inequality to exist. From corrupt policing to sentencing, and from simple traffic stops to incarceration, data makes it clear that race holds a powerful role in how justice is utilized. Knowing these disparities is the key to creating a more fair legal system. By analyzing the past and observing systematic racism,  the US can create a justice system that treats everyone equally, regardless of race.