Incarceration's failure carries a heavy price, criminal justice conference is told.
Experts gathered Tuesday in Detroit for a summit on what some have
called the epidemic of incarceration, and concluded that no nation can
spend $50 billion a year to hold 2 million citizens behind bars -- not
without paying an unacceptable price, both economically and socially.
Author and Columbia University Professor Manning Marable explained to
the gathering at Detroit's Opera House that nearly 1 in 5 Americans now
has a record of having been jailed; making it a problem that bridges
racial lines but rarely economic and social status. The daylong summit,
entitled "Rebuild Lives: Restoration, Reformation and Rehabilitation,"
examined the U.S. criminal justice system. Marable called for a new
civil rights movement "to heal ourselves" and overcome what he
described as a new form of color-blind racism that believes equality
has been legislated and requires no further attention. He said this
view ignores the stark reality of continued economic, educational and
social inequality. Nonviolent drug offenders make up the majority of
the prison population and most of them are Hispanic or African
-American. Many are serving long, mandatory sentences imposed during
the past 20 years by tough-on-crime politicians. [more]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
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