Educational Articles

The Chains of Mass Incarceration Modern-Day Slavery:

Systemic inequality has been built into the criminal justice system. Its origins came from the eras during and immediately following slavery.

A ccording to the American Civil Liberties Union, the United States only makes up about five percent of the world’s popu- lation. However, it has nearly 25 percent of the world’s prison population. These numbers are even more staggering when comparisons be- tween races are observed. The same organiza- tion reported if current trends continue as they are, one of every three Black boys can expect to go to prison in his lifetime, compared to one of every 17 white boys. These rates are steeped in the country’s history of slavery and racism and their lingering effects within the criminal justice system. Policing in southern states followed a trajecto- ry that is rooted in the ways of slave patrols from the 1600s and 1700s. Similarly, deaths of Black men in America at the hands of law enforcement can be traced back as early as the 1600s, ac- cording to the American Bar Association. Many studies and analyses suggest slavery morphed into what has become mass incarceration and the criminal justice system of the modern day. Many evils of slavery have only manifested into the criminal justice system. During the civil rights era, police assumed their responsibility of violently dispersing riots and protests. Officers responded with high-pres- sure hoses, dogs and tear gas. While the meth- ods and tools of their work have changed over the years, many of the force’s core purposes are still present in today’s society. From data collected from the FBI in 2018, an ABC analysis observed more than 1,000 jurisdictions across the U.S. over a three-year period. In 800 of those areas, the analyses found Black people were ar- rested five times more often than white people living in those same areas. In 250 of those juris- dictions, Black people were 10 times as likely to be arrested. This group also receives harsher sentences for the same crimes as white people. The advoca-

cy-based Sentencing Project reported an African American arrested for a drug offense can expect to spend about just as much time in prison as a white person who committed a violent offense. Systemic inequality has been built into the crimi- nal justice system. Its origins came from the eras during and immediately following slavery. In analyzing the shortcomings of this system within the U.S., private prisons are another fac- tor of growing concern. These prisons are often built near low-income areas. Because of factors like the wealth gap, redlining and financial barri- ers that have been systemically grounded, these areas are often majorly inhabited by com- munities of color. The amount of profits

these prisons collect is determined by how many of their beds they can keep filled. Prisoners are shipped between facilities to fill openings. They are paid fractions of a

dollar to perform services or create goods that either save or generate revenue for the prisons. The pris-

way to target users specific to the African Ameri- can community. Response from law enforcement for crack offenses was harsh prison sentences without ac- cessible opportunities for treatment and mental health support during and after an individual’s time in prison. In 1986, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act was passed. The act handed the most se- vere punishment to crack offenders. A powder cocaine offender could possess 100 times the amount of cocaine as a crack cocaine offender, yet both offenders would receive five-year mini- mum sentences. The act was not amended until 2010 when the 100-1 ratio was reduced to 18-1. Today, a report from the NAACP estimates more than five times as many white people use drugs compared to Black people. However, Black

people represent more than half the population of people in state prison for a drug offense. Ac- cording to the PREA Resource Center, if African Americans and Hispanics were arrested at the same rate as white people, incarceration rates would decline by more than 50 percent. As im- portant conversations continue to center around racial equality, one can only acknowledge the need to demand reform within this country’s prison system and criminal justice system at large.

ons thrive, the com- munities suffer, and the cycle continues, making connections between slavery and today’s system of criminal justice apparent.

At the height of one of the nation’s greatest drug epidemics in the 1980s, crack cocaine was often the drug of choice for users within the Af- rican American community. The substance was often sold in smaller quantities and, thus, was less expensive than powder cocaine, which was more common among white people. This dis- tinction provided the criminal justice system a