Reforming the Incarceration Nation
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Reforming the CAN WE BALANCE SOCIAL JUSTICE WITH LEGAL JUSTICE? Incarceration Nation Norm R. Allen, Jr. marily on legal justice are often unconcerned with—and, in bout two million people are currently incarcerat- some cases, opposed to—social justice. ed in the United States, a fact from which various But why must legal justice and social justice be mutually A observers have drawn widely varied inferences. exclusive? Why should people's politics determine the kinds of Some believe that, because a disproportionately high number justice they will support or oppose? It is only fair—indeed, of prisoners are poor African Americans and Latinos, the just—that people strive for a single standard of justice when- "prison/industrial complex" is part of a racist conspiracy to ever the subject of justice arises. oppress non-Whites and to further enrich the wealthy. Others, unconcerned about the huge prison population, simply accept INCARCERATION AND RACE that large numbers of criminals require large numbers of pris- A principal consequence of America's War on Drugs has been ons to contain them—regardless of the criminals' background a sharp increase in the U.S. prison population. During the or color. People whose main concern is social justice often Reagan and Bush administrations of the 1980s, Congress have little interest in—and may even oppose—efforts to bring established harsher penalties for drug dealers and gave about strictly legal justice. Meanwhile those who focus pri- broader powers to law enforcement. The government spent billions to combat the drug scourge. In 1986, Congress man- Norm R. Allen, Jr. is executive director of African Americans dated significantly longer prison sentences for people convict- for Hionan ism. ed of possessing crack cocaine than for those possessing cocaine in the powdered form. Because most crack users were Black, many within—and outside—the African American com- munity believed the laws were part of a racist conspiracy to imprison Blacks. In truth, however, many Blacks supported these laws—including the Congressional Black Caucus. Black neighborhoods were being terrorized in violent crack wars nationwide. Lawmakers from all backgrounds felt extreme measures were needed to save Black neighborhoods. The conclusion seems inescapable: Blacks and Whites have identified Blacks as the main targets of the War on Drugs. According to a report issued by Human Rights Watch, a non- governmental organization that monitors human rights abus- es worldwide, Blacks account for 62.7 percent of all drug offenders sent to state prison. Whites account for just 36.7 per- cent. Yet according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), there are five times as many White drug users as Black. Another SAMHSA survey found that drug users most often buy drugs from dealers of their own racial or ethnic group. Between 1991 and 1993, SAMHSA researchers found that 16 percent of admitted drug dealers were Black and 82 percent were White—a ratio radi- cally at odds with the racial makeup of the population impris- oned on drug offenses. Clearly, the War on Drugs is largely a war on Blacks. Social justice advocates argue that it is unfair to imprison vast numbers of poor, Black criminals, in part because such offenders cannot afford criminal lawyers capable of mounting a competent defense. Many liberals and radicals further main- free inquiry http://www.secularhumanism.org HUMANISM AND THE DEATH PENALTY tain that poor Blacks who break the law are victims of an give inner-city non-Whites improved access to the suburbs. unjust, racist society that leaves them few viable options. On Indeed, getting to and from work can be downright deadly for this view offenders from highly disadvantaged backgrounds the inner-city poor. In 1995, Cynthia Wiggins, a Black teenage- should be viewed more as victims than as criminals. mother from Buffalo, New York, was struck by a truck as she But what does it mean for this view when the supposed vic- tried to cross a busy intersection. She later died of her injuries. tims become violent criminal victimizers? Are their victims Wiggins was trying to get to work at the Walden Galleria, a mall entitled to legal justice? Or should society exonerate poor criminals in the name of social justice without "Under Old Testament morality, disobedient regard to victims' plight? Should any- one other than the victim or the vic- children do not have to worry about tim's loved ones have the right to for- serving life in prison, but their give the victimizer? To social justice advocates, reha- parents may have them stoned to death!" bilitation, not retribution, should be the goal of the justice system. But these, too, need not be mutu- located in Cheektowaga, a Buffalo suburb. At the time, buses ally exclusive alternatives. It is certainly important to guard from the city were not allowed on mall property. After Wiggins's against cruel and unusual punishment. To dispense with pun- death, mall owners permitted buses to enter. (Since then, more ishment altogether, however, would be an unwitting call for blacks have been hired at the mall). Eventually, famed attorney vigilante or "street" justice. Every society must give its citi- Johnnie Cochran helped to win a multimillion-dollar wrongful zens hope that they can turn to their legal system for justice. death suit in favor of Wiggins's family. The implications of all this for ex-convicts are stark. When THE CAUSES OF CRIME reentering society, their first priority will be finding work. But What are the root causes of crime? On the conservative employers often refuse to hire job applicants with criminal Christian view, Satan tempts fallible human beings to commit records. Yet, if ex-convicts cannot find employment, they are evil acts and only God can save them. Therefore spirituality is far more likely to return to crime. Hardliners may argue that the answer to the crime problem. This simplistic view fails, former convicts should have thought about the consequences largely because it shifts the ultimate responsibility for crime of their actions before they committed the criminal acts that from the individual and society to beings for whom there is no caused their imprisonment. But if ex-cons cannot find gainful clear evidence. If God created Satan or allows Satan to exist, employment, society will continue to suffer under the burdens God is ultimately responsible for crime, though Satan is set up of spiraling crime and the taxes to pay for recidivists' re- as the fall guy. (And if God is responsible for crime, what can imprisonment. any human justice system hope to do about it?) In reality, however, the causes of crime are very complex CHILDHOOD'S END? and multidimensional. A partial list of the factors leading to Observers from across the ideological spectrum are exasper- crime would have to include all of the following: poverty, lack ated by heinous crimes committed by youthful offenders. of opportunity, desperation, substance abuse, fear, greed, Increasingly, children charged with particularly violent and hatred, ambition, selfishness, loneliness, peer pressure, horrific crimes find themselves being tried as adults. The uncontrolled rage, lack of love, lack of ethical guidance, poor Justice Department reports that some 3,500 juveniles already parenting skills, family dysfunction, child abuse, violence in serve time in adult prisons. Moreover, the United States leads the home, a crassly materialistic culture, the glamorization of the world in putting juveniles to death, a practice outlawed in violence in the popular culture, and easy access to guns. nearly every other nation. In forty-seven states, lawmakers have made it easier to IS OPPORTUNITY THE ANTIDOTE? convict children as adults. For example, Florida prosecutors Social justice advocates believe the best way to reduce crime may try children of any age as adults when charged with is to bring about social and economic justice, primarily by crimes punishable by life imprisonment or death. They may reducing poverty and increasing opportunity. One way to also try children as young as fourteen as adults for arson, rob- reduce poverty is to create more jobs paying good wages. Yet bery, kidnapping, armed burglary, aggravated stalking, and most high-paying jobs supposedly require college degrees, other crimes. Florida resident fourteen-year-old Lionel Tate which many poor Americans are unable to attain. was sentenced to life in prison in the violent death of six-year- Traditionally, only a minority of citizens throughout society old Tiffany Eunick. The defense argued that the 170-pound boy has earned degrees. Moreover, if college education is not free, was merely imitating the moves of professional wrestlers, and as it is in some nations, the college-educated minority may that he killed the 48-pound girl by accident. Tiffany, however, continue to shrink. This could cause the crime rate to rise. had a fractured skull, a lacerated liver, and over thirty addi- Access to the workplace is an additional complication. tional injuries. Tate—who was twelve at the time of the Many more-desirable jobs are created in the suburbs rather death—was convicted of first-degree murder. Judge Joel than the inner cities. People from the inner cities often lack Lazarus denied a request to reduce the sentence to second- transportation. Making matters worse, suburban Whites fre- degree murder or manslaughter. He said that the beating was quently oppose public transport route expansions that would "cold, callous, and indescribably cruel." http://www.secularhumanism.org f i summer 2001 Tate is one of the youngest defendants in U.S. history to chised even for minor offenses, or even if they had never been receive a life sentence. The prosecutor said that the sentence jailed or imprisoned.