Blacks, Prison, Prejudice, and Institutional Racism :: Sociology Racism Prejudice Essays

Blacks, Prison, and Institutional Racism universe Criminal justice and security is one of the largest industries inthe United States. such a statistic is (and rightly so) of great concern toAfro-Americans because a disproportionate portion of individuals below thecontrol of the US Criminal Justice System atomic number 18 from the Black community. Thispaper will look at the alarming statistics and search to trace the root of thedisparity. It will then consider the affects and explore realizable solutions tothe expanding problem.The Imprisoned Black Youth Black communities throughout the U.S. atomic number 18 witnessingthe institutionalization of their youth. Of production line institutionalization isnothing new to Afro-Americans, it is something Blacks have approach since theirexistence in this country. In the beginning Blacks were forced into theinstitution of slavery. After the abolition of slavery Blacks facedinstitutional racism, that is, racism legitimated by the whole of societydirected against the some of society. As a facet of that institutional racismBlacks atomic number 18 right off forced to persevere the increasing trend of control by the USCriminal Justice System. Control by the USCJS includes the probation, parole,imprisonment, and death of Blacks. A playing atomic number 18a conducted by the Sentencing Projectin 1989 found tat more than quarter of all Blacks between the age of 20 and29 ar under the control of the USCJS . This alarming figure becomes more sowhen you consider their are more Blacks in prison in this age group than theirare all Blacks in college . This clearly reveals what is meant by theinstitutionalization of our Black youth. Black communities are being legallyrobbed of their youth by a system that locks up those who pose a threat to thestatus quo of institutional racism. The consequences of this are prejudiciousindeed. The children are the succeeding(a), but what future does a community have whosechildren are all locked up. By virtue of robbing the Black community of theiryouth, the USCJS robs Black communities of their future leaders and role models .With such a condition at perish entire communities are lost and the ills of theurban ghettos are augmented. To help rationalize why Blacks are being locked up, andwhat part of imprisonment plays in institutional racism it would be helpful tofirst look at the roots of institutional racism.Institutional Racism And Its Roots Institutional racism was a term first coinedby Stokley Carmichael in his book Black Power. Concerning racism, Carmichael and author Charles V. Hamilton made the following observationRacism is both overt and covert. It takes two, about related forms individual