Mass incarceration

Mass Incarceration
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Abstract
Mass incarceration is a growing issue that leads to social inequality and undermines the basic civil rights movement goals in America. It is an area in need of special attention because it causes many problems in the country both directly and indirectly. One problem is that mass incarceration is a target based on race. When African Americans are labeled as criminals, this creates a path for legal discrimination. It is also believed that homelessness and incarceration increase each other’s risk. Incarceration is also attributed to mental health issues by possibly exerting collateral damage upon those living in high rated incarceration neighborhoods. This suggests that the effect specifically the mental health effect of mass incarceration is extended beyond whom is incarcerated. The children of African Americans are more prone to incarceration induced homelessness. Prison boom is considered a major cause of the growing racial inequalities in child homelessness. Given the various challenges presented in relation to imprisonment, this research proposal aims at determining how mass incarceration impacts on racism, discrimination, homelessness, mental health, and children.
Mass incarceration is a serious challenge in the American criminal justice system. It is said to be a growing issue that leads to social inequality in the country and undermines the basic civil rights movement goals. It is an area in a need of special attention because it causes many problems in the country both directly and indirectly.

One noteworthy problem as described by Alexander (2010) is discrimination against African Americans. Alexander argues that imprisonment is a target based on race. She claims that when African Americans are labeled as criminals, this creates a path for legal discrimination.
Another problem with mass incarceration is homelessness. A study by Greenberg and Rosenheck concludes that recent homelessness was 7.5 to 11.3 more times common when dealing with inmates than when dealing with the general population. Incarceration and homelessness seem to increase each other’s risk (Greenberg & Rosenheck, 2008). According to research conducted by Hatzenbuehler et al., (2015) incarceration could cause collateral damage especially affecting the mental health of those living in high rated incarceration neighborhoods. This suggests that the mental health effects stemming from mass incarceration affect beyond the incarcerated person. It has further been noted that mass incarceration effects could be even greater on the children left behind than on the men who were locked up (Wakefield & Wildeman, 2015).
According to an article on “Parental Incarceration, Child Homelessness, and the Invisible Consequences of Mass Imprisonment,” the risk of homelessness in children is increased by incarceration. The effects are more pronounced on the children of African Americans. The prison boom is considered a major cause of the growing racial inequalities in homelessness among children (Wildeman, 2014). Given the various challenges presented in relation to imprisonment, this research proposal aims at determining how mass incarceration impacts on racism, discrimination, homelessness, mental health, and children.
Annotated Bibliography
Alexander, Michelle. (2010). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Retrieved from: http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Crow-Incarceration-Colorblindness/dp/1595586431The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness was written by Michelle Alexander. This book discusses racial issues that focus on African American males and mass incarceration in America. This book also covers minority and economic shortcomings in the population. Alexander expresses that the United States criminal justice system uses War on Drugs as the primary use for enforcing discrimination and repression. The African American imprisonment rate increased tremendously. It became obvious to Alexander that targets are largely based on race. The culmination of the social control is considered the “racial caste system”, which is a satisfaction where African Americans are inferior. This is the direct response to the Civil Rights Movement, as Alexander argues for issues that focus on racial justice and civil rights. She pushed her agenda by using factual information, data, arguments, and point of reference. Her goal was to highlight the need for human rights and equality across America to prevent what she says is “race control under changing disguise.” Alexander argues that when African Americans are labeled as criminals, this creates a path for legal discrimination, which leads to the measurement of their housing, education, public benefits, voting rights, jury duty, etc.
Alexander expresses that it was difficult to bring people aware of the American inequality and expects to have a challenge getting through to her readers. She concludes that’s mass incarceration policies are “comprehensive and well-disguised system of racialized control that functions in a manner strikingly similar to Jim Crow.” In 1980 the Reagan administration began to an escalation of the War on Drugs, this was the response of the rise of crack cocaine in African American ghetto neighborhoods. In 1973 the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals of the Justice Department realized that juvenile detention centers were increasing the crime rate, instead of reducing it. All in all, The New Jim Crow focuses on a much-needed aspect of the justice system perpetuating racial hierarchy in the country.
Greenberg, A., Greg. Rosenheck, A., Robert. (2008). Jail Incarceration, Homelessness, And Mental Health: A National Study. Retrieved from: http://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.1176/ps.2008.59.2.170
Greg A. Greenberg and Robert A. Rosenheck wrote the article Jail Incarceration, Homelessness, An Mental Health: A National Study. The objective was to assess the rates that correspond to homelessness among prisoners in jail. Greenberg and Rosenheck did a survey that helped compare proportions of prisoners who have experience being homeless and the general population that has been homeless. They used logistic regression to examine the extent of the homelessness among the inmates, which connected to symptoms such as mental illness. It was also associated by previous criminal history, recent crimes, and even demographic characteristics.
Greenberg and Rosenheck found that inmates that have been homeless (at any point before incarceration) made up 15.3% of the US jail population. The homeless were most likely incarcerated for property crime, also most likely to have faced the criminal justice system for various offenses. According to the authors, the offenders were also likely to a history of substance abuse, have less education, and unemployment.
Greenberg and Rosenheck conclude that recent homelessness was 7.5 to 11.3 times more common when dealing with jail inmates than the general population. Homelessness and incarceration seem to increase the risk of the other. Many of the reasons why lean towards mental illness and disadvantages of sociodemographic characteristics (Psychiatric Services 59:170-17,2008).
Hatzenbuehler, Mark L.; Keyes, Katherine; Hamilton, Ava; Uddin, Monica; Galea, Sandro. (2015). The Collateral Damage of Mass Incarceration: Risk of Psychiatric Morbidity Among Nonincarcerated Residents of High-Incarceration Neighborhoods. Retrieved from: http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.calbaptist.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=43f0c871-24b8-433f-ae01-MASS
Mark L. Hatzenbuehler, Ph.D., Katherine Keyes, Ph.D., Ava Hamilton, MS, Monica Uddin, Ph.D., and Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH wrote the scholarly article The Collateral Damage of Mass Incarceration: Risk of Psychiatric Morbidity among Nonincarcerated Residents of High Incarceration Neighborhoods. The objective was to examine the neighborhoods that had high incarceration levels and see if they had an association with psychiatric morbidity among the non-incarcerated community members. This was from the “Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (2008-2012),” considering this is a predominately African American community, they used this as a sample.
The contributors found that mass incarceration was more likely to meet the current and lifetime depressive disorder and “generalized anxiety disorder.” This was more likely than individuals living in low prison admission rated neighborhoods. The writers pointed out that the relationships between mental health and the neighborhood-level of incarceration were comparable.
In conclusion, incarceration could possibly cause collateral damage to those living in high rated incarceration neighborhoods. This suggests that the public of mental health impact of mass incarceration is extended beyond whom is incarcerated.
Wakefield, Sara. Wildeman, Christopher. (2015). Children of the Prison Boom: Mass Incarceration and the Future of American Inequality. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/679754
In Children of the Prison Boom by Sara Wakefield and Christopher Wildman, the writers create a survey data and set up interviews to explain the effects of America’s experiment in mass incarceration. This experiment showed that the effects of mass incarceration could be even greater on the children left behind than on the men who were locked up.
Prenatal imprisonment has greatly affected children with parents who have been involved in a crime, especially African American children. This book documents parental incarceration makes bad situations even worse. This increases mental health and behavioral issues, infant mortality, and child homelessness. The racial inequalities increasingly harm children. Wakefield and Wildeman claim that parental imprisonment is distinctively a way of maintaining intergenerational inequality.
There is a focus on the poor public education system and disadvantages in urban neighborhoods that direct to African American children. The writers propose that reductions in the imprisonment rate and resilience of children must be against the backdrop of the children of the prison boom, which is the lost generation now coming of age.
Wildeman, Christopher. (2014). Parental incarceration, child homelessness, and the invisible consequences of mass imprisonment. Vol 651(1). Retrieved from: http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.calbaptist.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=886b3c8d-eb23-fcc0ccacbad3%40sessionmgr114&hid=114&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=103926685&db=ccmChristopher Wildeman wrote the article on Parental Incarceration, Child Homelessness, and the Invisible Consequences of Mass Imprisonment. This article explains the impacts of mass incarceration on childhood inequality. He investigated the race-specific effects of parental incarceration on child homelessness risk; the data is from the “Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study.” Wildeman claims that there is an increase in economic hardship and decreases to institutional support. The prison boom was considered a key driver of the growing racial inequalities in child homelessness. This increases the African American and Caucasian
inequality by 65% since 1970. Results suggest that the prison boom will likely lead to greater inequality in civil and political participation.
Lee, Hedwig. Porter. C, Lauren. Comfort, Megan (2014). Consequences of Family Member Incarceration: Impacts on Civic Participation and Perceptions of the Legitimacy and Fairness of Government. Retrieved from: The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.
Hedwig Lee, Lauren C. Porter, and Megan Comfort discuss the legitimacy and fairness of the government. They examine that one possible threat of this is family incarceration. They explain the social consequences that go upon partner’s and parent’s incarceration. These writers claim that the justice system plays an important role in the political socialization among the families with imprisoned members. They claim that this affects attitudes towards the government. Data were drawn from “ethnographic data and National Longitudinal Study of Adolescents Health.”
Huang, Josie (2015). “LA’s Homeless Crisis Gives Rise to Unconventional Shelter”. Retrieved from: http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/12/25/56468/pews-as-beds-church-homelessness/The urgency for homeless shelters shifts away from the focus of recent years–the long-term housing for homeless people. In Los Angeles, government officials and non- profit organizations have contributed millions of dollars to move people into permanent homes. The city’s priority has focused on long-term housing, instead of shelters, hoping that people will become sober and get help with their mental illness.
Gerber, Marisa (2016). “Homeless Woman Charged with Assault After Fatal LAPD Shooting Will Avoid Jail Time”. Retrieved from: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-homeless-lapd-baton-20160314-story.htmlA mentally ill homeless woman had a plea deal for jail time after being charged with an assault for hoisting an officer’s baton during a police shooting. Prosecutors agreed to reduce Trishawn Cardessa Carey’s felony for resisting arrest. It was reduced to a misdemeanor with three-year probation. Her case was overshadowed by the killing of Charley Keunang, an immigrant. He was requested to be taken into custody for suspicion of robbery. A spokeswoman later asks for allegations to be dismissed “in the interest of justice”.
References
Alexander, M. (2010). The new Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the age of colorblindness.  Retrieved from: http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Crow-Incarceration-Colorblindness/dp/1595586431Greenberg, G. A., & Rosenheck, R. A. (2008). Jail incarceration, homelessness, and mental health: A national study. Psychiatric services, 59(2), 170-177. Retrieved from: http://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdf/10.1176/ps.2008.59.2.170Hatzenbuehler, M. L., Keyes, K., Hamilton, A., Uddin, M., & Galea, S. (2015). The collateral damage of mass incarceration: Risk of psychiatric morbidity among nonincarcerated residents of high-incarceration neighborhoods. American journal of public health, 105(1), 138-143. Retrieved from: http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.calbaptist.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=4&sid=43f0c871-24b8-433f-ae01-MASS.
Wakefield, S., & Wildeman, C. (2015). Children of the prison boom: Mass incarceration and the future of American inequality. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/679754Wildeman, C. (2014). Parental incarceration, child homelessness, and the invisible consequences of mass imprisonment. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 651(1), 74-96. Retrieved from: http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.calbaptist.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=2&sid=886b3c8d-eb23-fcc0ccacbad3%40sessionmgr114&hid=114&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=103926685&db=ccm