Community Intervention to Curb Over-Incarceration

-- By GodardSolomon - 27 Apr 2022

Foreword

During my undergraduate years, I was involved in an organization called Inspire U Academy, who’s mission was to mentor high school students from underprivileged, minority communities in the area. I served as a mentor and eventually as VP for this organization, and had the honor of having my own mentee for three years. It was beyond rewarding to see my mentee maneuver through high school, graduate, and accept a scholarship for a four-year university, all while being a low-income, first-generation, minority student. However, I began to realize that a reality of our program was that we only reached one community and could not even impact a majority of the youth population there given our resources. While our program was a beneficial addition to the community, there was a clear lack of similar programs in the area and I began to think about those who were not able to participate. In tandem with my classes in sociology and criminal justice, I started to realize that communities like the ones where my high school students came from are precisely the ones that fall prey to the carcel system in this country that disproportionately impacts disadvantaged communities.

Mass Incarceration

The United States is the world leader when it comes to incarceration; there are approximately two million people currently incarcerated in the U.S. This has been a growing problem since the 1970s when the War on Drugs commenced. In addition, “Black men are six times as likely to be incarcerated as white men and Latinos are 2.5 times as likely. For Black men in their thirties, about 1 in every 12 is in prison or jail on any given day.” Our system is not just over populated, but it is also disproportionately impacting communities of color. This is tied directly to their being larger police presence in minority-dense populations and low-income neighborhoods. While some argue that there is more police presence in these areas because there is higher rates of crime, there is actually higher rates of arrests simply because there are more officers present to catch all types of crimes, even low-level offenses. In a neighborhood with little to no police, there of course will be less arrests. This also leads to increased hostility between police and residents which also ends with more low-income, minority people behind bars.

Solutions

Community Intervention

One of the key ways I think this issue can be addressed from a grassroots level is through community intervention and engagement programs. Minority and low-income communities are so saturated with police presence and poor socioeconomic conditions that incarceration becomes a perpetuating cycle that lingers through generations. To remedy this, there needs to be a change in who is present in these communities. We need more programs geared towards mentorship, legal education, and social welfare in these communities. There also needs to be investment in rehabilitation and preventive programs so that people in these communities are offered assistance rather than punishment. Police should not be handling every single community disruption, especially those that can be better addressed by professionals in social work for example. A key intervention should be aimed at community youth to foster healthy skills and values that aid them in pursuing paths away from the criminal justice system.

Public Policy

Though everything concerning policy change is easier said than done, it is still necessary to address. The law in the arena of criminal justice needs to be reformed in several ways. First, the War on Drugs needs to be emphatically addressed and put to an official end. The federal prison population for nonviolent drug crimes alone is astronomical and this is largely due to mandatory minimums and outdated policy. On that note, the next change would be to reevaluate mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines that lead to lengthy, unnecessary sentences. We also need better racial bias training for law enforcement officials. There also needs to be a shift in funding towards rehabilitative programs in prisons so that our system is not making incarcerated people worse off than when they entered the system. While policy change is needed at a federal level, we also need to start seeing a change at the local and state level (private prison contracts are an example of a problem in the state prison systems).

Law School Intervention

Law School is one of the best spaces in my opinion for there to be more community intervention. This can be in the form of externships and student organizations where law students can be present in these communities and offer services to youth who have had an encounter with the law or simply could use mentorship. I know Columbia does have programs geared at community youth intervention, but one program that stood out to me when applying to law school’s that Columbia doesn’t have is Street Law. I really liked this program because it introduced the law to students at a younger age so that they could learn more about it and see it as a tool for justice rather than one for persecution. I think programs like this need to be available at most law schools and promoted well. As law students, it’s important to give back to these communities so that they can begin to form a healthier relationship with the legal system.

Societal Change

In order for any of the prior solutions to truly take hold, we need to change our perspective in society surrounding the criminal justice system and its impact on disadvantaged communities. In our society there is a sentiment that we can simply disregard marginalized communities, especially the incarcerated population. There are other countries in Europe for example that have made this change and now seek to rehabilitate incarcerated people and dedicate resources to those communities most often impacted by prison and jail. Our criminal justice system focuses far too much on punishment and way too little on addressing the root of the problem. If we as a society began to hold a different outlook on this community, starting with advocating for the youth in these underprivileged neighborhoods, we can then provide better opportunities for them to use the law themselves to one day change the system structurally.

Conclusion

Participating in a program like Inspire U showed me that especially as a future lawyer, I can use my tools to better the communities that are being burdened by the criminal justice system. I think that grassroots intervention, especially aimed at minority youth, can be an effective approach for changing the situation that these individuals are born into.

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