Topic: What are the externalities of high incarceration rates in urban minority communities? 

I want to address how high incarceration rates and the over-criminalization of low-level drug crimes and petty crimes specifically affect minority communities in urban areas. It is an intervention because I want to address how communities are affected in terms of how this cycle perpetuates crime and impacts minority families (financially, mentally, etc.) that are especially targeted by the “get tough on crime” agenda that has been pushed in the last 40 years.  

Exigence

The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, and the prison population is disproportionally filled with Latinx and Black Americans. This discrepancy between how minorities and whites are treated by authorities has burgeoned both a racial and class divide that contributes to the mounting polarization in America. I want to explore ways in which we can mitigate this.  

Cause

The cause is both intentional and inadvertent, which seems contradictory at first. Perpetuators of this “get tough on crime” and “war on drugs” agenda knew full well that urban minorities were their target and would be most negatively impacted by anti-crime legislation. However, I do think some of the ill effects that come from criminalizing about 1% of America’s total population was inadvertent.

The financial strain on the country as a whole to finance both public and private prisons, as well as the financial strain on individual families and communities to support themselves is astounding, especially when you compare America to other countries. Moreover, I think the “get tough on crime” agenda exacerbates the issue of illegal immigration today as we must consider the current mass incarceration of illegal immigrants as well.  

Making Policy

I think the first step should be capacity builder, that is, educating people about the negative effects of mass incarceration (especially for low-level crimes) in the United States. Sure, people know it’s “bad”, but until we hear personal accounts from individuals devastated by the system and see the statistics with our own eyes, we can’t even begin to comprehend the magnitude at which this is affecting our country.

After educating people, I think it would then be feasible to implement a mandate or legislation (on a state or local level) that decriminalizes low-level drug crime and reforms how we sentence criminals for low-level crimes in general.

Obviously, this would be a huge undertaking with many logistical barriers (such as political polarization!), but every step towards our end goal of restoring the humanity of all Americans is a step in the right direction.