RESEARCH PROPOSAL ON PRISON POPULATION AND RATES OF INCARCERATION IN Paper

PROPOSAL ON PRISON POPULATION AND RATES OF INCARCERATION IN OUR COUNTRY - Research Paper Example While crime level appears to be driving some of this growth, much of it is connected to sentencing rules and guidelines, the length of sentences, and a general public intolerance of crimes. Racism is still prevalent in America and this is reflected in levels of sentencing and incarceration as well as the proportion of minority races in prisons. This study looks at minority races within prisons, what factors drove them to commit crimes, what their background is and what their sentencing severity was like compared to other races. To do this, face-to-face interviews with prisoners and written questionnaires will be undertaken at many prisons across the country. This attempts to provide a snapshot of the current prison population in the US, how the racial minorities are distributed and whether there are differences in their sentencing and imprisonment compared to other races. Keywords: Prison population, incarcerations, disparity, sentencing policies, African American, racial minority. C ontents Prison Population and Rates of Incarceration in the United States of America among Racial Minority Populations 1 A Research Proposal 1 Abstract 2 Prison populations are rapidly growing with no leveling off of growth rate in sight in the United States. ... 2 To do this, face-to-face interviews with prisoners and written questionnaires will be undertaken at many prisons across the country. This attempts to provide a snapshot of the current prison population in the US, how the racial minorities are distributed and whether there are differences in their sentencing and imprisonment compared to other races. 2 Contents 3 Introduction 4 Literature Review 5 Why are Prison Populations so High? 5 What is the Connection between Crime and Prison Population? 7 How is Minority Races Represented? 8 The population of the US is not uniform, and there are many minority groups widely present. While there have been many increases in equality of treatment across races, it is clear that there is still some way to go. The historical election of President Barack Obama into office, making him our first black president has played a large role in the rights and the equal treatment of minority races, however there are still many socioeconomic examples of racial d ifferences in factors such as employment and rate of incarceration . 8 The rates of incarceration have not risen at the same rates for different minorities. For African Americans the rate of increase has been 184% while it has been 235% for Hispanics. In contrast for non-Hispanic whites the rate has been 164% . A strong example of this is the imprisonment rate of young African Americans. Throughout the country an average of three African Americans for every four serves some time in prison. This is a high rate, and is not proportionate to rates for non-Hispanic whites . 9 The question remains, what is driving the high rates of imprisonment for racial