2021 Equity Challenge Day 14: Injustice in the Justice System

Over the past 40 years, the United States has increased the number of incarcerated citizens by over 500 percent to 2.2 million people — the largest prison population in the world. This increase, referred to widely as mass incarceration, has not affected all communities equally. People who are poor and people of color are more likely to be arrested, convicted and harshly sentenced. Consider these statistics from the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI):

• The U.S. has 5 percent of the world’s population but nearly 25 percent of its incarcerated population.
• Our spending on jails and prisons reached $87 billion in 2015, an increase of 1000 percent from the $7.4 billion spent in 1975.
• From 1980 to 2017, the number of women in jails and prisons in the US grew 750 percent. More than 225,000 women are incarcerated today.

Ending Mass Incarceration writes, “In no area of American society are the legacies of slavery and racism more evident than in the criminal legal system. Despite making up only 12 percent of the U.S. population, Black people make up 50 percent of the country’s prison population.”

Without adequate resources and access to legal aid or help investigating cases, many people charged with crimes face verdicts determined by wealth, not culpability. EJI explains: “The ‘tough on crime’ policies that led to mass incarceration are rooted in the belief that Black and brown people are inherently guilty and dangerous—and that belief still drives excessive sentencing policies today.” Moreover, mass incarceration has damaging effects on millions of American families, renders null millions of people’s constitutional right to vote and stunts national economic growth. Today’s challenge explores the intersection of race and mass incarceration — and how we as a nation can move toward true liberty and justice for all.