Week 11- Post 2

    The US has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and half of that population is incarcerated for drug related crimes. Most of this is because of a global campaign led by the US federal government started in 1971, The War On Drugs. It created mandatory minimum sentencing laws that began to have people in jail for longer sentences than before. While race plays a large role, studies have shown that people who live below the poverty line are also more likely to be incarcerated. The prison system makes a profit off the lives of incerated people and their loved ones, while deepening the wealth gap for people of color communities that are already disproportionately more likely to be imprisoned. Even the friends/families of incarcerated people must pay to have a conversation on the phone with the person in jail. an incarcerated person who cant afford this making 12-40 cents an hour on maintenance jobs would have to work over 40 hours to afford it. Once in prison, people are stripped of second chances and the ability to have a secure financial future.

    Determinism is a factor of the incarceration of many individuals because of the idea of human acts being a result of the far unchosen past. Redlining and gentrification may lead people to feel like stealing is the only way to get by, or have more reason to use drugs. They are getting exposed to situations wealthier people would not be, like gang violence, and feeling the need to steal or do something at an attempt to better the lifestyle of your family.