Race and Corrections Essay Example

Race and Corrections Essay Minorities remain overrepresented in crime, offending, victimization, and all stages of the criminal justice process especially confinement. Overrepresentation alludes to a situation in which a greater part of a particular group is present at various stages within the justice system than would be expected based on its part in the general population (Rosich, 2007).Minorities have always had a larger population in the prison system and after the Civil War they were overrepresented in American prison. There are a few reasons as to why races are disproportionately which are denial of jobs, poverty, and it is felt that police have bias and African-Americans and Hispanics are treated differently than Whites. Correctional departments usually supervise inmates sentenced to probation, jail, and prison. There is so much more that falls into what the correctional system takes care of.With more than 70% of persons in the corrections phase of the criminal justice system they are actually supervis ed in the community and in other forms such as fines, community service, drug and alcohol treatment, probation, home confinement, and intensive probation supervision. The American corrections started because of the European workhouses. The first type of institution was opened in Amsterdam in 1596 to hold vagrants and other minor offenders. In the United States the Walnut Street Jail began to receive its first prisoners in 1776 and became our first prison.Gangs are usually comprised of racial/ethnic persons. There are some legendary gangs which include the Mexican Mafia, Black Guerrilla Family, Aryan Brotherhood, and Texas Syndicate. Correctional facilities segregate gangs into separate units, prison informants, isolating gang leaders, locking down institutions, prosecuting gang members who engage in crime, interfering with gang communications, and scrutinizing gang offenses to control the situation with the gangs. American correctional population is growing and very diverse with alm ost 2. 3 million people were incarcerated in the United States in 2009.When you look at the racial breakdown of the people incarcerated you will find that the Black population has the highest incarceration with Whites and then Hispanics/Latinos next. In 2009, there were 5,018,855 men and women being supervised on probation or parole (Gabbidon, Greene, 2013, p. 247-282). African Americans and Hispanics consisted of 58% of all prisoners in 2008. One in six black men had been incarcerated as of 2001. Imprisonment is more common in some social groups than others and makes it easier for racial groups to fall into that stereotype.It becomes more widely expected for groups such as Black males and even Hispanics when they live in the low income communities. At some point one in three Black males and one in six Hispanics will be incarcerated at some point in their life (Berg, DeLisi, 2006). Nationwide, African American men are confined at 9. 6 times the rate of White men. Current trends sh ow that incarceration numbers continue to grow higher each year. The United States rate of incarceration is the leading nation in rates of incarceration. Other countries have much lower percentages than the U. S. does.There a implications because of inmates reentering the prison system within three years after being released. In 1994 51. 8% of inmates that had been released were back in the prison system (U. S. prison populations: Trends and implications, n. d. ). Other implications because of policies are state fiscal budget pressures, prevention and treatment approaches. The federal correction system continues to grow while state prisons have begun to level off. Everyone would like to see the rates go down in the criminal justice system, which I think they may go down but I do not thing they would stay low or even get as low as we would like.Overall, with the reasons as to why people commit crimes and why it shows that minorities are at a higher risk of being incarcerated than Whi tes is very evident.References Berg,  M. T. , DeLisi,  M. (2006). The correctional melting pot: Race, ethnicity, citizenship, and prison violence. Retrieved from http://www. soc. iastate. edu/staff/delisi/Melting%20Pot%20JCJ. pdf BOP: Quick Facts. (2013, June 29). Retrieved  August  4, 2013, from http://www. bop. gov/news/quick. jsp Gabbidon,  S. L. , Greene,  H. T. (2013). Chapter 7: The Death Penalty. In Race and crime (3rd  ed. , pp. 237-245). Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications. Mackenzie,  D. L. (2001). Sentencing and Corrections in the 21st Century: Setting the Stage for the Future. Retrieved from https://www. ncjrs. gov/pdffiles1/nij/189106-2. pdf Rosich,  K. J. (2007). Race, ethnicity, and the criminal justice system. Retrieved from http://www. asanet. org/images/press/docs/pdf/ASARaceCrime. pdf The Sentencing Project News New Publication: Trends in U. S. Corrections. (2012, May 18). Retrieved  August  10, 2013, from http://www. sentencingproject . org/detail/news. cfm? news_id=1304 U. S. prison populations: Trends and implications. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. prisonpolicy. org/scans/sp/1044. pdf