1 Mass Incarceration in the US Introduction The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate compared to other countries, a problem that disproportionately affects minority groups. Mass incarceration is a big problem in the U.S., affecting mainly people of color. The problem can be resolved using a wide range of measures, including community-based justice and community justice approach. Community-based justice can be broadly defined as all efforts or measures taken to prevent and manage crime and justice activities that openly include the society or public in their processes and goals, mainly centered on enhancing the quality of life a community lives. On the other hand, community justice refers to all public safety measures taken to transform high-crime, socially marginalized areas into safe neighborhoods to live, work, visit, raise families, and invest in (Rye et al., 2018). Community justice and community-based justice are efforts to deliver justice to the victim, offender, and the community at large from outside the criminal justice system, reducing mass incarceration. The community justice system operates on several principles that underpin its framework and application. One of the principles is community justice seeks to heal and right the wrongs in the community. On this ground, the community-based justice system tries to avoid any measure that would appear punitive in advancing justice (Rye et al., 2018). The second principle is that justice belongs to the community, hence the importance of aligning the justice system with the interests of the community. If the community deems it fit to pursue an alternative justice system to its benefit, it should be allowed. The essence of this principle is to prioritize community welfare in administering justice (Aseltine, 2018). The community's responsibilities are to victims, delinquents, and the general welfare of its members. The objective of this principle is a holistic approach to justice rather than a subjective one. Whereas the conventional justice system
2 does not pay much attention to the welfare of the offenders, community justice takes cognizance of the interests of offenders, particularly with regard to the need to lead a better life in the future. Offenders are treated as people needing help to lead productive lives rather than condemning them for the rest of their lives (Rye et al., 2018). In this respect, the community-based approach focuses on helping offenders retrace their law-abiding living. The research will be centered on the problem of mass incarceration, focusing on its causes and solutions in the community's best interest. Problem Statement The issue of mass incarceration in the U.S. is a big problem in the administration of justice and protecting the welfare of minority groups, specifically people of African descent. African Americans shoulder the largest part of the burden of mass incarceration in the U.S., largely due to systemic biases in the administration of criminal justice (Rye et al., 2018). According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, despite African Americans forming less than 15% of the U.S. population, they account for 38.4% of inmates (Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2022). The legacy of slavery and racism predispose them to arrests and incarcerations more than any other group (Tate, 2019). The legacy of slavery has permeated the justice system in the U.S., contributing to the high and disproportionate incarceration of people of African descent (Federal Bureau of Prisons. 2022). Mass incarceration hurts African Americans' social, economic, and political empowerment. Also, society spends a lot of resources on maintaining a congested criminal justice system, which impacts government expenditure and taxation. Mass incarceration is compounded by racism and other historical injustices contributing to the development gap between African Americans and the white majority. Tucker (2012) observes mass imprisonment of people of color has condemned them to criminal living,
3 accentuating the profiling of community members as potential criminals across the country. Community justice is handy in addressing the problem of mass incarceration of African Americans to help them overcome the effects of systemic racism and make the general community a better place to live, raise families, and work (Tucker, 2012). Without a comprehensive implementation of community justice, the rates of incarcerated African Americans and Americans, in general, will soar high to the detriment of the overall community welfare. Society is a system, which means that if one part of it is affected, the rest is affected (Kitwana, 2002). Consequently, there is a need to rethink the approach to the administration of justice in the U.S. to prevent the tendency to weapon incarceration against minority groups. Poverty and the perpetuation of African Americans' criminal labeling are linked to mass incarceration. Most of the incarcerated people are convicted for offenses that can be resolved out of court, hence helping to decongest prisons and protect more people from entering into the criminal records that serve as further punishment when they complete their jail term (Kitwana, 2002). It is imperative to note that persons with criminal records face more obstacles in seeking employment, mortgages, housing, and relief aid. The disproportionately high number of Africa America in prison implies that the community has more challenges in guaranteeing its population jobs, housing, and other opportunities, contributing to the endemic poverty problem that affects its members (Aseltine, 2018). In essence, the problem of mass incarceration has far-reaching effects that underpin the need to address it to make the community a better place for all to live. Community-Based Solutions to the Problem The problem of mass incarceration can be managed through a variety of communitybased strategies. One of the community strategies to address the problem is the use of restorative justice to address crime (Tucker, 2012). The community initiates and leads the talks between the
4 offender and the victims to help them repair the damaged relationship and restore normalcy between the affected parties. Restorative justice can also incorporate offender rehabilitation as a community justice strategy that helps reform criminals and people with behavioral challenges. Drug and substance abuse are some factors associated with the skyrocketing number of incarcerated people in the U.S., particularly African Americans (Aseltine, 2018). Since the war on drugs was launched in the 1970s, the population of inmates has risen exponentially, with most incarcerated persons requiring rehabilitative services rather than imprisonment (Tate, 2019). Therefore, the construction of community rehabilitation centers to reform persons suffering from drug and substance abuse and mental health issues that predispose them to criminal living is handy in addressing the problem of mass incarceration in the U.S. Strengths Restorative justice helps to reconcile parties to conflicts, helping society to stay intact united, and peaceful. The problem of mass incarceration is exacerbated by unresolved differences within the community, underlining the importance of restorative justice in preventing future crimes (Rye et al., 2018). Through restorative justice strategy, the offender and victim are given a platform to open up and honestly share their views that can help them find a lasting solution. Consequently, this strategy helps reduce the need for arrest and ailment of offenders in the community. Moreover, under restorative justice, the offender and victim of crime can resolve the issue in a dignified manner. Incarcerations are dehumanizing because they deny the prisoners a chance to enjoy most human rights and freedoms, leading to the perpetuation of a criminal mentality and a sense of revenge (Aseltine, 2018). The dignified handling of cases makes it easier for offenders to seek forgiveness and change their way of life for the betterment of their
5 life and the community at large. When people learn to own mistakes and seek forgiveness, they are likely to avoid crime, hence reducing the possibility of being incarcerated. Restorative justice reduces the cost of running prison services to the benefit of the community. As cases are resolved outside the conventional justice system, jails are starved of clients (Clear & Karp, 2019). Money saved through the diversion of cases can be used to initiate development projects to help alleviate poverty and societal inequalities (Rye et al., 2018). Eliminating inequalities in the U.S. would lead to the emancipation of minority groups such as African Americans, reducing the vulnerability to criminal life and incarceration. Weaknesses Despite its strengths, restorative justice is marred with weaknesses that parties should understand. One of the key weaknesses is that it can only work where the offender has admitted wrongdoing. Devoid of admittance, restorative justice is a mirage because there will not be accepting liability, apologies, and repairing the damaged relationship between the offender and the victim (Aseltine, 2018). Moreover, restorative justice requires the cooperation of the victim. In cases where victims are not ready to meet the offender and forgive, applying a restorative justice strategy is hard. The victim should be ready to meet the offender and discuss the way forward for mutual benefit (Rye et al., 2018). In serious crimes such as rape and murder, it is hard for victims or their families to embrace restorative justice, hence a limited strategy to address societal injustices and reduce incarceration. Community Prosecution Communities can also address the problem of mass incarceration, particularly targeting minority African American com unity, by opting for community-based prosecution of offenders.
6 The strategy can work best for managing petty offenses to prevent the arrest and prosecution of offenders in a court of law. Strengths Community prosecution entails a long-term, practical partnership between the community, the prosecutor's office, law enforcement officers, and private players. The cooperation helps to develop a holistic approach to crime (Clear & Karp, 2019). The unity in managing crime fosters understanding between the parties, reducing the need to take cases to court and later incarcerate the convicts. For a society grappling with mass incarceration and systemic racism, the community prosecution strategy promotes collaborative efforts that reduce incarceration rates and racial biases in the criminal justice system (Tucker, 2012). Community justice would also have held to demilitarize the police force to the benefit of African American minorities who are major targets of security operations. The collaboration between the community, prosecutor, law enforcers, offenders, and victims promotes understanding between the players in the justice system (Clear & Karp, 2019). The net effect of this understanding is the shift from an antagonistic relationship between the community and law enforcers to collaboration (Kitwana, 2002). As they cooperate, the problem of racial profiling and arrests over flimsy excuses wanes, reducing the number of people who are likely to be incarcerated. Community prosecution helps to administer instant justice to victims and also helps to foster reconciliation. The offender and the victims are brought before a community council to determine their case (Wright, 2021). Given that the council members are local, parties are likely to embrace the outcomes of prosecution, which include repatriation, paying fine, reprimand, and community service. Instant justice for small crimes or cases that can be prosecuted at community levels, such as resolving cases of trespass, petty debts, and family differences, helps parties to
7 cases to resolve the issue between them and move on (Clear & Karp, 2019). Court processes are often long, tedious, and time-consuming because of investigations and the congestion of cases that a single court has to handle. The other strength of the community justice system is that it eliminates the costs associated with the conventional justice system. The parties to the conflict are not required to hire attorneys and incur other related costs. Community prosecutions are cheap and easily accessible to the benefit of the parties (Wright, 2021). In the long run, individuals can avoid incarcerations over issues that can be solved locally. Weakness Community prosecution favors small crimes, leaving bigger crimes such as murder, robbery with violence, drug trafficking, and rape unaddressed. The conventional justice system prosecutes capital offenses effectively (Wright, 2021). It is also imperative to note that community prosecution requires the approval of victims of crime and prosecutors. Lack of support or approval by any key parties renders community prosecution inapplicable. Conclusion The problem of mass incarceration of African Americans in the U.S., which is more than any other racial group, can be resolved through community-based justice and community justice approaches. One of the approaches, restorative justice, promoted cooperation between the offender and the victims to resolve injustice committed, helping to decongest the criminal justice system and prevent avoidable incarcerations. Restorative justice also promotes peaceful coexistence in the community, helping to prevent recidivism, and reducing the number of those who are imprisoned by diverting their cases from the conventional justice system. The other solution to mass incarceration is community prosecutions, which allow societies to punish or resolve crime using local arrangements. The approach effectively manages petty crimes where
8 the offender and the victim can agree to solve the issue out of court. Nevertheless, communitybased justice approaches work well for petty offenses where the victim and the offender agree to participate in a community justice approach to resolving their cases. Restorative justice and community prosecution also work well where the offender admits wrongdoing, hence limited in their application.
9 References Aseltine, E. (2018). The Perniciousness of Prisons: Documenting the Problems of Mass Incarceration. American Anthropologist, 120(3), 595–598. Clear, T.R. & Karp, D. (2019). The Community justice ideal. Taylor & Francis Group. Federal Bureau of Prisons (2022). Inmate race. https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_race.jsp. Kitwana, B. (2002). The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture. Basic Civitas Books. Rye, B., Hovey, A., & Waye, L. (2018). Evaluation of a restorative justice-based, communitybased program for people who have offended sexually: participant impact. Contemporary Justice Review, 21(3), 276–298. Tate, G. (2019). The black urban community: From dusk till dawn. Springer. Tucker, T. (2012). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. African American Review, 45(3), 466–468. Wright, R.F. (2021). Community prosecution and building trust across a racial divide. The Oxford Handbook of Prosecutors and Prosecution, pp. 412–428. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190905422.013.2.