Pyrrhic Defeat Theory
The United States prides itself on being a country of opportunities where the underprivileged can rise up and everyone is treated equally, but is that really the case? In reality the income of an individual gives them advantages of going above the system. The sociological explanation of the influence of the wealthy over the criminal justice system is described in the of the Pyrrhic defeat theory written in Jeffrey Reiman and Paul Leighton book The Rich Get Richer and the Poor get Prison Ideology, class and Criminal Justice. The Pyrrhic defeat theory emphasizes the failure of the criminal justice is the consequence of success for those in power, who are taking advantage of the system. Those in power had the resources to create a narrative and …show more content…
Policies that are made to make people feel safer imprison more minorities and the saddest aspect is that it is considered a success by current politicians. The first feature of the Pyrrhic defeat theory states, “failure to implement policies that stand a good chance of reducing crime and the harm it causes” (Reiman and Leighton 179). Everybody in society wants lower crime, but the methods that are currently used to reduce crime are not deterring criminals, but are harsher imprisonment for lesser crimes. The first rule of the Pyrrhic theory emphasizes the failure of the criminal justice system because it takes the wrong approach of reducing the main cause of crime, poverty. Those in poverty are scapegoats for those with wealth who get little consequences for their own …show more content…
There are issues with the equality of the system, as depending on the income of the accused their experiences will be completely different. The Pyrrhic defeat theory tries to explain this broken system as the consequences of those in power seeking a scapegoat the poor, and to escape responsibility of their own criminalities. The issue is perception; there have been such negative connotations of being poor that poverty and criminality have become interchangeable. Those with power have the narrative to keep this simplified view of criminality alive having their own success over the failure of others, The Pyrrhic theory is worrisome, because acknowledging it means fighting years of false narrative and realize how useless our criminal justice system really
The American Criminal Justice System In A Lesson Before Dying
1449 Words | 6 PagesThis could be a reason why people believe the system is so heavily criticized, when in reality people only criticize it because they disagree, not because the system is actually unjust. This idea shows that maybe the American criminal justice is not as an unjust as people make it
Summary Of The Jail And The New Jim Crow
694 Words | 3 PagesThe Jail and The New Jim Crow both describe how our justice system is generally based on people’s conceptions of things, and how our own justice system is creating a new way of discriminating people by labeling, incarcerating the same disreputables and lower class that have come to be labeled as the rabble class. In chapter two, of The New Jim Crow, supporting the claim that our justice system has created a new way of segregating people; Michelle Alexander describes how the process of mass incarceration actually works and how at the end the people that we usually find being arrested, sent to jail, and later on sent to prison, are the same low class persons’ with no knowledge and resources. These people commit petty crimes that cost them their
Analysis Of The Criminal Justice System In The New Jim Crow By Michelle Alexander
1001 Words | 5 PagesOver the last couple of years at Dominican University, I have taken numerous courses in sociology and criminal justice. I have learned a great amount about the criminal justice system. Michelle Alexander, who is a highly acclaimed civil rights lawyer, advocate, and legal scholar, speaks on the assault against on poor and vulnerable people in American society. In the book, The New Jim Crow, Alexander’s work takes on the systemic breakdown of black and poor communities overwhelmed by a huge quantity of unemployment, social disregard, and forceful police surveillance (Alexander, 2010). Alexander’s “subtle analysis shifts our attention from the racial symbol of America’s achievement to the actual substance of America’s shame: the massive use of
Annotated Bibliography For The New Jim Crow
990 Words | 4 PagesThe author’s studies indicate that the criminal justice system choose majority of their targets and suspects predominantly by race. According to studies conducted by the U. S Department of Justice, the imprisonment rate by race per 100,000 residents over 3,000 black males were imprisoned in the year 2000 compared to white males imprisonment rate of less than 500. This shows that conviction of crime, robbery, murder, and other violence and drug related crimes has a clear discrepancy across racial groups.
Howard Zinn Articles Of Confederation
470 Words | 2 PagesThe middle class is a social construct that was used to procure loyalty at the expense of black slaves, and Native Americans. In an effort to build a coalition amongst the whites for a revolution against England, “without ending either slavery or equality.” Zinn’s thesis could be supported by observing the wilder culture in the United States that have targeted people of color and poor people at an unprecedented rate, today. After ex-convicts are released from prison, they face numerous restrictions in employment, education, housing, and civic activities. These barriers have collateral consequences such as requirements in handling fees, costs, and fines to courts, probation departments, and other institutions.
The Brown Vs. Board Of Education Case
666 Words | 3 PagesTo begin with, the most common inequality in modern society is the corrupted criminal justice system. Racial bias and profiling persuades judgments when sentencing minorities; especially African Americans. " African Americans make up 6.5% of the American population but 40.2% of the prison
The Emmett Till Story
587 Words | 3 PagesFast forward to the present day, we have the Ferguson, Mike Brown of Emmitt Till’s still occurring in our justice system. A person must view the criminal justice threw a godly telescope to see the inequalities that exit, and need to come to the forefront of our government, and the population worldwide. Sentencingproject.org statistically show that African American men, women, and juvenile are arrested more often than any other races across the nations. This report will prove, and argues that racial disparity in the justice system is at large in our system. This research paper will further explain, and presents evidence that display the presence of racial bias in the criminal justice system in America.
The New Jim Crow Thesis
2278 Words | 10 PagesThe New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander published in 2012, is a 261 page book detailing how mass incarceration has become the new form of legalized discrimination. BACKGROUND A large cause for the writing of this book is that there is currently not much research or call for a criminal justice reform. According to Alexander the main goal of the book is to “stimulate a much-needed conversation about the role of the criminal justice system in creating and perpetuating racial hierarchy in the United States” (2012:16).
Race In The Criminal Justice System
181 Words | 1 PagesIt sad to see that more than half of the young men in our American cities are under the control of the criminal justice system. Where’s the justice when our system automatically demotes them to a permanent second-class status, and challenges their chances of happiness and freedom. When minorities from the justice system are released, they are harshly discriminated against. This discrimination does nothing but regenerates a cycle of imprisonment. With the world at their backs, the result usually ends up with repeated behaviors that places them back into the system.
Why Do People Commit Crimes In America
750 Words | 3 PagesAccording to a statistic by the U.S. Department of Justice and their collaborators, the number of prisoners in the U.S. has grown by over 700 percent since the 1970s. This extreme increase in incarcerations means that people disregard the law and constantly commit crimes. But these crimes are not all equal. Crimes range everywhere from murder to simple drug use. Law enforcement punishes almost all of them equally.
Enduring Myth Of Black Criminality, By Brent Butler And Steve Harmon
1802 Words | 8 PagesThe United States criminal justice system is diminishing millions of lives every day. Ironically, the amount of inequalities that the criminal justice system portrays goes against the term ‘justice’. There is a 33% chance that a black male will end up in jail in his lifetime, while white males have a 6% chance. There are 4,749 black males incarcerated while there are only 703 white males. Prisons receive revenue of 1.65 billion dollars per year which makes them willing to incarcerate anyone that they can (“Enduring Myth of Black Criminality”).
Injustice By Bryan Stevenson Summary
328 Words | 2 PagesBryan Stevenson negotiates the prejudice and intolerance within the criminal justice system, and the biases within based on economic and racial status. This book exposed myself to a deeper level of injustice inside our system than what I already had a conception of. Each story Bryan talks about hits on different subjects that opened my eyes to how our system truly treats minorities so coldly. Those of a different race, economic status, are treated far worse than we can imagine. Within the past few years racial injustices have began to gain more attention in the media, allowing awareness into the discrimination still present in our system.
Chapter Summary: The New Jim Crow By Michelle Alexander
1288 Words | 6 PagesSynopsis In the introduction, Michelle Alexander (2010) introduces herself and expresses her passion about the topic of how the criminal justice system accomplishes racial hierarchy here in the United States. In chapter 1 of The New Jim Crow, Alexander (2010) suggests that the federal government can no longer be trusted to make any effort to enforce black civil rights legislation, especially when the Drug War is aimed at racial and ethnic minorities. In response to revolts formed between black slaves and white indentured servants, rich whites extended special privileges to their indentured servants that drove a wedge between them and the slaves that successfully stopped the revolts.
Essay On Incarceration In America
428 Words | 2 PagesTo begin with, the overall rates of incarceration in America is staggering as a whole. The population has grown exponentially during the last few decades, raising each and every year due to more opportunities in crime committing. Not only the raising rates occur on a federal level, but a state level as well. Discovered by John Hagan, a research professor and co-director of the center on law and globalization at the American Bar Foundation, and Traci Burch, assistant professor in political science at Northwestern University and Research professor at American Bar Foundation, that between the years 1920 and 1975, the state and federal prison population represented about 1 in 1,000, where as by 2001, .69 percent of the population was in prison
Annotated Bibliography: The New Jim Crow
1343 Words | 6 PagesAnnotated Bibliography Alexander, M. (2010). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York: The New Press. Alexander opens up on the history of the criminal justice system, disciplinary crime policy and race in the U.S. detailing the ways in which crime policy and mass incarceration have worked together to continue the reduction and defeat of black Americans.
More about Pyrrhic Defeat Theory
The American Criminal Justice System In A Lesson Before Dying
1449 Words | 6 PagesSummary Of The Jail And The New Jim Crow
694 Words | 3 PagesAnalysis Of The Criminal Justice System In The New Jim Crow By Michelle Alexander
1001 Words | 5 PagesAnnotated Bibliography For The New Jim Crow
990 Words | 4 PagesHoward Zinn Articles Of Confederation
470 Words | 2 PagesThe Brown Vs. Board Of Education Case
666 Words | 3 PagesThe Emmett Till Story
587 Words | 3 PagesThe New Jim Crow Thesis
2278 Words | 10 PagesRace In The Criminal Justice System
181 Words | 1 PagesWhy Do People Commit Crimes In America
750 Words | 3 PagesEnduring Myth Of Black Criminality, By Brent Butler And Steve Harmon
1802 Words | 8 PagesInjustice By Bryan Stevenson Summary
328 Words | 2 PagesChapter Summary: The New Jim Crow By Michelle Alexander
1288 Words | 6 PagesEssay On Incarceration In America
428 Words | 2 PagesAnnotated Bibliography: The New Jim Crow
1343 Words | 6 Pages