Exam 9: Racism and the Criminal Justice System

Incarceration can be likened to ________ in that it is legal to discriminate against felons, thus denying rights and opportunities to African Americans who are disproportionately incarcerated.

Mass incarceration is a relatively new phenomenon in the United States-during the mid-twentieth century, prisons were seen as a last resort.

Blacks and Latinxs make up over 50 percent of the U.S. prison population. Their overrepresentation in prisons is largely due to:

The United States has _______ people in prison than any other country, yet mass incarceration has been _______ at reducing crime and illicit drug use.

Why is the incarceration of drug offenders a highly ineffective way to reduce the amount of illegal drugs sold in the United States?

Evidence shows that mass incarceration has proven to be an effective strategy in reducing crime rates.

Identify and discuss three reasons that Black men are seven times more likely to be imprisoned than their White counterparts.

What is racial profiling? Is this practice better explained by individual racism or institutional racism? Explain.

Black men are sent to prison on drug charges at thirteen times the rate of White men, yet five times as many Whites as Blacks use illegal drugs. This demonstrates how:

Which type of convictions represent the fastest growing source of incarceration?

Use the concept of institutional racism to explain why police target low-income, Black neighborhoods rather than higher income, White neighborhoods. What are the cumulative effects of this policing practice?

The 13^th amendment prohibits forced labor as a punishment for crime; therefore, prisons must pay their prisoners the minimum wage for their labor.

What was the primary inspiration for the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act signed by President Johnson in 1968?

Explain W. B. DuBois's argument that the prison system can be likened to "slavery in private hands." To what extent does this argument still apply to the contemporary prison system?

Mass incarceration is raced, classed, and gendered.

What parallels are there between today's prison system and the convict-lease system of the past?

Mass incarceration has directly affected women in three distinct ways from men. Which of the following is NOT one of those ways?

Over the course of a Black man's life, he is more likely to go to prison than to get a bachelor's degree or join the military.

How are current views of incarceration in the United States different from those in the mid-twentieth century?

Which of the following does NOT have a strong deterrent effect on crime rates?