DEINDUSTRIALIZATION AND CRIMINALIZATION

CRIMINALIZATION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN PLACES AND PEOPLE 

BY: TIARA

African Americans account for around one-half of all arrests in the United States (Hagan and Peterson 1995). This number is high considering they only represent about 12.6 percent of the population (US Census Bureau). According to the book Crime and Inequality, young black males who experience “educational and employment problems” are at a higher risk for imprisonment (Hagan and Perterson 1995). In other words, young black males who live in what America calls “the ghetto” are more likely to be put in jail. Not only are young black men more likely to be imprisoned, but according to the Wall Street Journal, they receive prison sentences that are 20% longer than those of white males for similar crimes (Palazzolo 2013).

I used to think this issue was only really a problem in big places like New York City and Chicago. It was about 4 years ago that I realized that it is happening around me too, in my fairly small county in upstate New York. When I was younger, I would go to my grandparents’ house after school, where 3 of my first cousins lived, to hangout while my parents were at work. We were so close that I considered them to be the siblings I never had. One of my cousins, Darion, got mixed up with the wrong crowd. He ended up getting arrested and being charged with Criminal Possession of a Weapon which is a Class C felony. At 17, this was his first and only arrest. The sentence range for a Class C felony in NYS is 3 ½ years minimum and 15 years maximum in a state prison (Reuland). Darion was sentenced to 7 years of prison.

When my family members told me the news, I was confused about why a 17 year old with no prior record received a sentence that was double the mandatory minimum. I realized that Darion had a few things working against him. For starters, he is a young black male. He also had “educational problems,” and our grandparents’ house, where he lived, is considered to be a part of “the ghetto.” Maybe Judge Williams figured he was a lost cause due to these traits and would not amount to anything anyway. When I think about Darion still being in there, I wish Judge Williams knew that I was there, in “the ghetto,” with him every day, and I am soon to be 21 with a bachelor’s degree. Just maybe Judge Williams should have taken into consideration that he was young, and just maybe given him a chance at growing out of his troubled phase. Instead, Darion, on his first and only crime, is serving double the mandatory minimum sentence. 

This issue is not a new one. In the 1920s, only 19.2 percent of young white youth who were found guilty in a court were sentenced to jail or prison, and the percentage of young black youth was more than double that percentage (Muhammad 2010). Unfortunately, I do not see this issue disappearing anytime soon.

  

(NYS Inmate Lookup)

1.     Hagan, John, and Ruth D. Peterson. Crime and inequality. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1995. Print.

2.     "New York Sentencing Chart." Brooklyn New York Criminal Defense Lawyer Robert Reuland RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. <http://www.reulandlaw.com/useful-info/new-york-sentencing-chart/>.

3.     Palazzolo, Joe. "Racial Gaps in Men's Sentencing." Wall Street Journal. N.p., 14 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. <http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324432004578304463789858002?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424127887324432004578304463789858002.html>.

4.     " Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010." American FactFinder . United States Census Bureau, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. <http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_SF1_SF1DP1&prodType=table>.

5.     Muhammad, Khalil Gibran. The condemnation of blackness: race, crime, and the making of modern urban America. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2010. Print.