The Racial Injustice of Mass Incarceration
Session Title
Other Abstracts
Faculty Mentor
Michael Lipscomb, Ph.D.
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Political Science
Abstract
It is common knowledge that injustice and racial inequality permeate American history. This long-standing prejudice dates to the enslavement of black Americans and runs through systematic forms of racism in our post-slavery past.Today, the realities of mass incarceration are a particular way in which black Americans continue to be oppressed. Though the 13th amendment abolished slavery, it also held that involuntary servitude is permissible “as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” This paper seeks to demonstrate how laws and policies – such as Jim Crow laws and the war on drugs – have specifically targeted African Americans and maintained forms of racial inequality contrary to the spirit of equality and freedom for all. More specifically, this paper reviews the criminalization of African American males in comparison to their white counterparts, exploring the implications of this form of institutional racism for the black community.
Course Assignment
PLSC 490 – Lipscomb
Start Date
15-4-2023 12:00 PM
The Racial Injustice of Mass Incarceration
It is common knowledge that injustice and racial inequality permeate American history. This long-standing prejudice dates to the enslavement of black Americans and runs through systematic forms of racism in our post-slavery past.Today, the realities of mass incarceration are a particular way in which black Americans continue to be oppressed. Though the 13th amendment abolished slavery, it also held that involuntary servitude is permissible “as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” This paper seeks to demonstrate how laws and policies – such as Jim Crow laws and the war on drugs – have specifically targeted African Americans and maintained forms of racial inequality contrary to the spirit of equality and freedom for all. More specifically, this paper reviews the criminalization of African American males in comparison to their white counterparts, exploring the implications of this form of institutional racism for the black community.
