Injustice in America | Teen Ink

Injustice in America

November 10, 2019
By QuinterH BRONZE, Iowa City, Iowa
QuinterH BRONZE, Iowa City, Iowa
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Injustice

Injustice is the lack of fairness

It is an unjust act

This injustice is what plagues America

Look at our criminal justice system


40 years ago 300,000 people were in prisons and jail

Today, there are 2.3 million

2.3 million

That’s incarcerating 50,000 people a year

140 per day

6 people per hour


African Americans are incarcerated at 5 times the rate of whites

If they, along with Hispanics, were incarcerated at the same rate of whites

Our prison and jail population would drop 40%

They make up 32% of the US population

Yet they make up 56% of our prison population

African Americans are 6 times more likely to be incarcerated for drug use

And African American Children make up 52% of juvenile cases waived to criminal court


The choices of our justice system impact lives

And not just the ones of the people who’ve been incarcerated

But their families, their relatives, and you and I

Criminal records reduce the chance of callbacks and job acceptance by 50%


Nearly $81 billion is spent on corrections in a year

It costs roughly $40,000 to send someone to jail

Spending on jails and prisons has increased

Increased at triple the rate of spending as on our PreK-12th grade public schools 

Those are numbers that affect all of us

Injustice



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