Mass incarceration in poor urban communities research papers example

Incarceration among the Blacks

INTRODUCTION: The general introduction about incarceration and its effects on the basic level towards the blacks and its relationship to poverty
There are numerous existing weapons to incarcerate poverty in the modern day society. The most considered weapon especially in this modernized world is education. There are so many reasons that make people consider education to be the only key weapon to fight against incarceration. However, there is rapid increase in campaign from an unrecognized group of individuals in champion against education as a tool to fight against poverty among the urban areas (Alexander, 2010). In this regard, some of the continents that are largely known for their mass incarceration as a result of poverty are the Americans and Africans. In mention of these two continents, it may be viewed as being biased but they have been used as live example due to their international recognition as part of the continents that play a very big part in fighting and spreading of ideas of how poverty disintegrates a country’s economy (Boozer, 1992). In order to fight effectively and overcome its effects on the living standards of the citizens, they have opted for education as the only very known tool to fight against this dreadful “ disease” that exist among the children and the young people.

SECTION ONE: Children’s’ outcomes due to incarceration of their parents

The very obvious side effect resulting from an incarceration of a child’s parents is the development of a weak educational attachment. This effect is as dangerous as it develops to be a long term effect into the brain of the child throughout his or her life. Moreover, the effect can be severe incase the child is retained on the same environment with the action repeating itself. The child may develop a sense of hatred and insecurity towards the origin of the people who incarcerated his/her parents (Ouzgane, 1984). In addition to this, the child may view their family being a family that solely depends on crime activities for survival.
The sense of poverty is decoded into the child’s memory. Therefore, the child grows up knowing the only means of survival is through criminal activities rather than working hard to achieve the dream of becoming successful in life one day through education as a significant way. This argument depicts that people who come from a humble background equally receive education according to their level of poverty. In this view, it can be argued that the level of education is directly proportion to the level of poverty. In most places where there is poor educational structure and facilities, the level of poverty is also equally the same. Therefore, education really defines the final outcome of a society’s level of poverty.
SECTION TWO: Incarceration rate in relation to black drop out, crime, expectations, educational attachment, job prospect and the level of poverty
In areas of higher rates of incarceration, it is assumed that the probability of black students dropping out of school is higher compared to the whites. There are several reasons that could have led to this as explained in the next line (Jacobson, 2005). One of the major causes of this may be as a result of poor motivation from their parents or peer group. In most cases, the blacks find it difficult to establish connection between their level of poverty and future prospect in job the competitive job market. In areas where the ratio of whites to blacks is high, the blacks are not given attention and the kind of job they get is not satisfying to their needs.
Moreover, most blacks establish a close link between their academic excellence and the standard of education they receive to their level of poverty. In this view, most blacks find themselves dropping out of school in the early days of schooling (Pager, 2007). This implies that the level of crime in the street would increase and as a result the number of incarnated blacks would increase significantly each and every day.

SECTION THREE: Social and Observational Learning

The observational power by the black children is higher due to their natural exposure to problems. Although a black kid may not have a close relative or parent incarcerated for offensive purposes, the probability the incarcerated individuals was an African is so high. This means that to some extent, the blacks are in most cases exposed to criminal practices due to their state of poverty and poor level of education. This implies that black children have no living example to depict a good role model to their society. If the blacks had better education and surrounding within these urban centers, they would have produced better role models even better than the whites. The rate of learning of a black kid through observational methods is very high and if this was employed in educational sector, a safe society would have been produced. However, this is not possible due to the level of poverty among the blacks at the hearts of city centers committing crimes.

SECTION FOUR: The educational outcome for prisoners

Prison department can be considered as a form of education centre where inmates are forced to impact changes. These changes would in return raise the economic status of the community hence eradication of poverty as this would encourage self-dependence (Grusky, 2011). The exposure an individual receives while in prison produces positive effects on enhancing the living standards of individuals in urban communities. The arrest and imprisonment of city centre youths for such offending like drug trafficking helps to end crime-prevention which is directly related to the incapacitation benefits to the public and the government. Therefore, in this view, mass incarceration creates a room for the inmates to receive harsh treatments while in prison which in return changes an individual perception about the significant of being independent. This is a form of natural impartation of educational skills. (Hudson, 1998)

Works Cited

Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: New Press, 2010. Print.
Boozer, Michael A, Alan B. Krueger, and Shari Wolkon. Race and School Quality Since Brown Vs. Board of Education. Cambridge, Mass: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1992. Print.
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Christie, Ron. Acting White: The Curious History of a Racial Slur. New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2010. Print.
Fryer, RolG. Racial Inequality in the 21st Century: The Declining Significance of Discrimination. Cambridge, Mass: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2010. Print.
Goldstein, David S, and Audrey B. Thacker. Complicating Constructions: Race, Ethnicity, and Hybridity in American Texts. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007. Print.
Grusky, David B, and Szonja Szelényi. The Inequality Reader: Contemporary and Foundational Readings in Race, Class, and Gender. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2011. Print.
Hudson, John. Incarceration. Edinburgh: Pentland Press, 1998. Print.
Jacobson, Michael. Downsizing Prisons: How to Reduce Crime and End Mass Incarceration. New York and London: New York University Press, 2005. Print.
Pager, Devah. Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. Print.
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Von, Hirsch A. Doing Justice: The Choice of Punishments : Report of the Committee for the Study of Incarceration. New York: Hill and Wang, 1976. Print.
Ouzgane, L., & Morrell, R. (2005). African masculinities: Men in Africa from the late nineteenth century to the present. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 1984. print.
Want, S. C. (1999). Observational learning and tool-use development.