Mass Incarceration - 802 Words

In Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, Alexander identifies the racialized mass incarceration problem that we have in our criminal justice system. Reading the book, you can see that mass incarceration is a social problem. This means that the problem can follow the six stages of the policy process. If I were a claimsmaker, I could assert that mass incarceration is a problem by following the six stages. In the claimsmaking stage, I would claim that the War on Drugs creates the racialized mass incarceration in our society today. To show that we have a racialized mass incarceration is a problem, I would bring up statistics to prove we have one. There are about 1.6 million people in prison in the United States (Alexander 101). In 2006,†¦show more content†¦So these people are in a cycle of going back to prison (causing the mass incarceration problem) and possibly selling or doing drugs again (causing drugs to be on the street again). In the policymaking stage, I would e xpect policymakers to realize that they need to create a policy limiting the War on Drugs or stopping the War on Drugs all together. With the idea of stopping the War on Drugs put forward, I would expect the media coverage stage returning to cover the new idea for policies that will limit it stop the War on Drugs. Then, the public reaction stage will happen again and this will show to policymakers if they should continue pushing forward the policy to limit the War on Drugs or to continue working on the policy. If the policy is pushed forward, the social problems work stage would happen. In this stage, I would expect the new War on Drugs policy to be completed and any changes needed will be noticed and worked on. In the policy outcomes stage, I would expect the policy that limits the War on Drugs to be a positive first step in solving our mass incarceration problem. The public would respond again and I would expect a mostly positive view with few people saying that the policy goes to o far and lets out too many people get away get drug charges. I would also expect to see the reaction that the problem is taking too long to solve as the policy willShow MoreRelatedThe Problem With Mass Incarceration1445 Words   |  6 Pages The Problem with Mass Incarceration Over the past few decades, the United States has witnessed a huge surge in the number of individuals in jail and in prison. Evidence suggests the mass imprisonment policy from the last 40 years was a horrible catastrophe. Putting more people in prison not only ruined lives, it disrupted families, prevented ex-prisoners to find housing, to get an education, or even a good job. 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