Since the early 1990s, crime rates have been steadily decreasing and are currently at an all-time low. However, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, incarceration rates within the United States are at an all-time high.
Since 2002, America has had the highest incarceration rate in the world and that only continues to increase. As a result of mass incarceration for offenses that are usually non-violent and often deal with racial profiling, we are allowing for legalized discrimination.
We are promoting a new Jim Crow era.
In 2010, the incarceration rate in America was found to be 500 prisoners per 100,000 citizens, or about 1.6 million prisoners. That was six years ago.
Many of the crimes for which people are incarcerated for are nonviolent offenses. These offenses predominantly include drug abuse and other acts in which offenders do not threaten force or cause injury to another person.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, about three out of four inmates leaving state prisons had been convicted of a nonviolent crime; two-thirds of nonviolent releasees were racial or ethnic minorities; the single largest offense category of nonviolent offenders discharged from prisons was drug trafficking; and lastly, nearly two-thirds of nonviolent offenders discharged from prisons indicated they had been using illegal drugs in the month preceding the commitment offense, and about four in 10 reported using drugs at the time of the offense.
The sad reality is that many of those who are convicted of nonviolent offenses such as drug abuse are profiled. This stems from the concept of racial profiling and stereotyping.
For example, it is much more likely for there to be more police enforcement in areas that are known for being underdeveloped, or in other words, poor, making residents in these areas more likely to be targeted and arrested for committing nonviolent crimes.
It is important to also understand that this is not the fault of the police. This is ultimately the fault of the government for encouraging “policing for profit.”
Police departments and other government organizations will follow the parameters set in place by the state and federal government. These parameters include the concept in which police departments receive federal grants based on how many people are arrested rather than a declining crime rate.
This demonstrates why, in hopes of achieving monetary gain, members of the police department are much more likely to avoid community policing and instead use racial profiling to arrest more citizens for nonviolent offenses and receive more funding. This promotes racial and economic profiling which results in legalized discrimination for monetary gain.
According to the National Institute of Justice, within three years of release, about two-thirds (67.8 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested, and within five years of release, about three-quarters (76.6 percent) of released prisoners were rearrested. Therefore, if it is statistically proven that released offenders are highly likely to be rearrested for similar crimes.
Why do we continue to incarcerate at such a high rate? It is logical that those who are found guilty of a crime should absolutely receive punishment. However, if we are incarcerating a large number of individuals for nonviolent offenses and the majority become recidivists, aren’t we inherently producing more criminals in the end?
This seems especially true for those who are arrested for drug offenses. Wouldn’t it be more logical to civilly commit these people to an institution specifically established to positively rehabilitate them as opposed to incarcerating them along with those who commit more extreme crimes, while denying them the psychological and physical treatment needed?
Although we should be thankful for our men and women in blue, it is time to look at the facts and call for the government to make a change in how we reward government funding to police departments.
Ultimately, it is not the police at fault. It is the fault of the establishment that holds the power and the money to make a difference in how they reward funding.
Today, we face an issue that has been steadily growing for years: Crime rates are at an all-time low while incarceration rates are at an all-time high. Unfortunately, the majority of those incarcerated are found to have committed nonviolent offenses (mostly that of drug abuse) and are often found to be of a specific racial or ethnic background because of government instigated profiling.
By saying nothing, our silence is a form of consent. If we continue to turn a blind eye to the shocking issues going on within this country’s justice system, we are allowing legalized discrimination.
We are saying hello to the new Jim Crow.
Caroline Sitter is news editor at El Diablo, the Durango High School student newspaper. Her parents are Doug and Suzanne Sitter of Durango.
