Parental Incarceration: Ending Mass Incarceration

Parental Incarceration: Ending Mass Incarceration
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Parental Incarceration: Ending Mass Incarceration
The American republic has recorded a high rise in prison population from 300 000 to more than two million. This is an indication that the number did not double but rather quintupled. This large number is resulted by the large imprisonment of drug offenders in the United States (Sawyer, 2019). The most affected people are the young people of color who have been branded as felons or have had undergone conviction of felonies at one point. This paper will discuss the alarming reality of these mass incarcerations and how they affect lawbreakers and their friends, family and children, and the United States economy.
Children adjusting from release from prison have concerns about their parents. These include getting enough support, information, and therapy as they go through post parole period. "Staying straight" is not simple as it may seem because there are many devastating complications that the released offenders face (Graham & Harris, 2013). They are helping the parents with tuning and assisting them in understanding their children's feelings, thereby preventing recidivism. When parents go to prison, their children mourn the parental loss, games they engaged in, meals, and shared stories.
Mass incarceration has been on the rise. Racial bias has surged politically and socially, particularly in the criminal justice system. There are conscious and unconscious biases and stereotypes in the criminal justice system that largely affect decision-making at all levels. The social control mechanism has been disguised and not given much regard as it should; people use race as a justification for discrimination. People of color have been labeled as criminals (felons) and have become subjects to all forms of discrimination (Alexander, 2013). They have been denied the right to vote (low representatives), the right to have access to education, excluded from the juries, employment, housing, and public benefits. They have been permanently identified as second-class status.
The Republican party, through President Regan, declared drug war in 1982. The war intended to rule out violent drug offenders. This resulted in high drug arrests where even minor drug offenders were arrested and given a long sentence. Studies have shown that four out of five prisoners are due to possession of drugs. At the same time, one out of five is for selling drugs, an indication that most of the prisoners have no history of violence or selling, but this is due to people of color being branded felons (Alexander, 2013). The drug war created racial stigma, discrimination, and caste. This led to the expansion of the prison system.
To put an end to mass incarceration, people have to take a different direction. People need to s...