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Today marks the start of #BlackHistoryMonth 
. That means not just celebrating the richness of Black history, but taking a deep look at what it means to be Black in America. We can't talk about Black history w/out looking at America's #criminaljusticesystem & #CriminalJusticeReform
. That means not just celebrating the richness of Black history, but taking a deep look at what it means to be Black in America. We can't talk about Black history w/out looking at America's #criminaljusticesystem & #CriminalJusticeReform
In 2018, the #USBureauofJusticeStatistics reported that Black Americans represented 33% of the sentenced prison population. This is nearly TRIPLE their share of the TOTAL U.S. adult population! #racialdisparity
#overincarceration https://newsone.com/3900100/criminal-justice-reform-timeline/
#overincarceration https://newsone.com/3900100/criminal-justice-reform-timeline/
Black History: We can thank Reagan’s “hard on crime” approach as a #deterrencemethod used during the 60s for this disparity A privileged classist when policing the poor and a #classicist when policing crime
Research shows that severe punishment does not significantly reduce ALL subsequent types of offending, compared to delayed punishment
In fact, the National Institute of Justice found evidence that “prison can exacerbate, not reduce, #recidivism” #NationalInstituteofJustice #fivethingsaboutdeterrence https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/five-things-about-deterrence#:~:text=as%20they%20age.-,More%20severe%20punishments%20do%20not%20%E2%80%9Cchasten%E2%80%9D%20individuals%20convicted%20of%20crimes,commit%20crimes%20in%20the%20future.
Even though classical/traditional methods of more severe punishments has proved disastrous for American #criminaljusticesystem, it shouldn’t be entirely thrown out when evaluating how to #detercrime
Here are the reasons why: (1) People are rational thinkers and so they think of their opportunity cost before committing a crime. i.e. Do the benefits exceed the costs?
(2) People are complex rational thinkers: general methods of deterrence (hard on crime approaches to reduce crime in the general pop.) does not and will not work on every type of offender.
(3) People are limited rational thinkers: When making a decision to commit an offense, people are constrained by limits of TIME, ABILITY, and AVAILABILITY of relevant info. YES! They are rational, but there are #roadblocks
(4) People are differently experienced rational thinkers: Some people have direct experience with punishment and others have indirect experience with punishment…
…AND some people have both indirect & direct experience with punishment which influences their decision-making process #punishmentexperience #punishmentavoidance
So what does this mean for #BlackAmerica and #criminaljusticereform? People are complex and Black people are complex. More severe punishment will never be the solution. People commit crime for a multiplicity of reasons and so the approach to reform should be multi-faceted!
