Human Incarceration Of African Americans Essay - 2327 Words

As one can see, mass incarceration of African Americans is clearly an injustice that needs to be acknowledged and resolved. In my Social and Economic Justice course, several theorists were discussed about what they considered justice and their methods to reach it. In the following paragraphs, I examine Rawls’, Nozick’s, and Mill’s theories in context with the mass incarceration of African American and explain why their proposed solutions would not be applicable to this injustice. Rawls’ theory consists of imagining oneself in what he calls the Original Position, in which we are all self-interested rational people that stand behind the â€Å"Veil of Ignorance. By this, it means that people are motivated to select, in an informed and enlightened way whatever seems most beneficial for themselves. However, due to the Veil of Ignorance we do not know certain things such as our race, age, sex, social class, or physical/mental disabilities; we just are aware of the different scenarios that humans could possible face and the facts of humanity. Rawls believes that by having self-interested rational individuals, masked by the Veil of Ignorance, it would create a fair procedure in which fair principles would be chosen in order to govern the world. With this in mind, Rawls argues that these individuals would choose two principles, Principle of Equal Liberty and Difference Principle, to structure society in the real world. The Principle of Equal Liberty states that each person has an equalShow MoreRelatedSocial Issues In Criminal Justice1361 Words   |  6 Pagesrepeating crimes. The issue with this law was the abuse of power that rode on its coattails. The criminal justice system was handing down harsh sentences to non-violent, non-serious offenders, marking them with their second and third strikes. African Americans that are punished under the three strikes law, account for 13 times more than white offenders for similar crimes (Three St rikes Law Disproportionately Affects Blacks, 2004). When examining the implications of our laws and policies, startingRead MoreRacial Profiling And The Civil Rights Movement1239 Words   |  5 PagesMattered? – Racial profiling in the justice system, increased incarceration of African Americans and the idea of â€Å"White Privilege† persists in the United States. 1. Introduction Even though America is the world dominating superpower and is known to intervene on behalf of the violation of human rights internationally, it fails to acknowledge and correct the flaws its legal and justice system present against its own citizens. African Americans have long been targeted by the police force and have beenRead MoreEssay On Superstitions In Huckleberry Finn1084 Words   |  5 Pagesconsidering Jim, a slave, as a human being rather than property. Thus, showing how historically White American’s within southern culture and society have never viewed people of color, specifically African Americans, as human beings but as objects of oppression. Huck’s inner turmoil causes him to completely challenge the traditional white southern society by not wanting to be â€Å"sivilized† (Twain, 3), and coming to terms with the fact that Jim although a slave is a human being and not property. HuckRead MoreThe New Jim Crow By Michelle Alexander1313 Words   |  6 PagesCrow Michelle Alexander’s the new Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness examine the Jim Crow practices post slavery and the mass incarceration of African-American. The creation of Jim Crows laws where used as a tool to promote segregation among the minority and white American. Michelle Alexander’s the new Jim Crow Mass takes a look at Jim Crow laws and policies were put into place to block the social progression African-American from the post-slavery to the civil rights movementRead MoreThe New Jim Crow By Michelle Alexander1316 Words   |  6 PagesCrow Michelle Alexander’s the new Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness examine the Jim Crow practices post slavery and the mass incarceration of African-American. The creation of Jim Crows laws were used as a tool to promote segregation among the minority and white American. Michelle Alexander’s the new Jim Crow Mass takes a look at Jim Crow laws and policies were put into place to block the social progression African-American from the post-slavery to the civil rights movementRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration Essay1401 Words   |  6 Pages Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, examines mass incarceration in the United States, why the criminal justice system works the way it does towards minorities, the detriments associated with mass incarceration as it relates to offenders, and much more. In the introduction of her book, Alexander immediately paints the harsh reality of mass i ncarceration with the story of Jarvious Cotton who is denied the right to vote among other rights becauseRead MoreMass Incarceration : The Color Of Justice Essay1352 Words   |  6 PagesMass Incarceration: The Color of Justice (DRAFT) Racial discrimination in the United States has been a radical issue plaguing African Americans from as early as slavery to the more liberal society we see today. Slavery is one of the oldest forms of oppression against African Americans. Slaves were brought in from Africa at increasingly high numbers to do the so-called dirty work or manual labor of their white owners. Many years later, after the abolishment of slavery came the Jim Crow era. In theRead MoreQuavyon Green . Professor Irwin . English 1113 . 2/19/2017 .987 Words   |  4 Pagesby  Michelle Alexander is about a shocking statistic. That more African American men  are in  correctional facilities  or on probation than were enslaved in the mid 1800s  before the Civil war started. She offers her perspective on the mass incarceration of African American men  in the US. Taking shots  at all she holds responsible for the  issues.  She explores the social and systematic influence of racial stereotypes and  pol icies that support  incarceration of minorities. She  explains that minorities  are  discriminatedRead MoreThe New Jim Crow : Mass Incarceration1667 Words   |  7 PagesMain Thesis Americans think they live in a colorblind society and do not discriminate based on race. The fact is Americans have Barack Obama as their president. Some might argue as long as there are exceptional blacks there are no excuses for all blacks to succeed. Although, Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness, challenges American’s colorblindness by bringing to light the mass incarceration of African Americans. Jim Crow laws are no longerRead MoreRacism And Incarceration Rates Among African Americans And Hispanics Essay1581 Words   |  7 Pagesmajority of Americans preaches that the days of racism are far behind, it is clear that institutional racism still exists in this country. One way to look at this institutional racism is to examine at the United States prison system and the gap of incarceration rates among African Americans, Hispanics, and White males. According to a research by Prison Policy Initiative both Afri can Americans and Hispanics are imprisoned at 5.1 times and 1.8 times higher than the rate of White Americans for every 100