Introduction
While society continues to progress toward inclusivity and equal opportunity, barriers to this development still exist in U.S. law. Policies of the Jim Crow era, such as Mississippi’s poll tax and disenfranchisement clauses, were dehumanizing to many individuals. Their echoes still force people to settle into the inescapable lifestyle of the low-income class. The existence of strict regulations, such as the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act, perpetuates criminal behavior and allows people in power to prevent minorities from improving their situation, instead of protecting their way of life.
Historical Perspective
First, it is crucial to comprehend the historical foundation of such treatment. In the past, race-based laws were a prominent part of discrimination through the use of authority that suppressed people from the lower class from improving their lives. Under Jim Crow policies, African Americans were subjected to mistreatment that was encoded deeply in society. A particular example is the Mississippi poll tax, which prohibited people of color from affecting society through political means solely due to their ethnicity (Hinton & Cook, 2021). Such an approach created under-resourced communities, with their remnants still weighing in on minorities.
Current Practices
Currently, such laws have become less frequent and more subtle, yet they still exist. Crime statistics reveal that people from households with different income levels tend to commit certain types of crime, enabling authorities to use punishments as a form of suppression (Siegel, 2017). Such incidents reveal themselves through statistics on the racial profiles of arrestees and imprisoned individuals.
This notion is evident in laws related to the Clinton Administration’s War on Gangs, which continue through the Controlled Substances Import and Export Act (Hinton & Cook, 2021; Watts, 2022). They lead to hyper-policing of particular areas, which mostly consist of Black neighborhoods. This practice remains evident today, leading to higher arrest rates in these locations (Jones-Brown & Williams, 2021). Receiving such a record destroys one’s chances of finding lucrative employment and forces one to remain trapped in their environment.
There are other indicators of biased thinking encoded in the legal system. Aside from patterns of treatment by the police that depict greater leniency toward offenders from middle- and high-class households, specific laws that target people from the lower class exist with arguably disproportionate punishments (Siegel, 2017). It is difficult to find a path toward positive change, as people are unwilling to accept the drastic shifts in the political landscape necessary to establish a proper path to one’s reintegration. Despite the obvious negative impact, citizens in more affluent areas still view this strategy as a feasible solution to rising crime rates (Boehme et al., 2020). Thus, modern regulations within the country still draw upon past adverse practices.
Conclusion
In summary, modern U.S. society still relies on laws that prevent equal opportunities for all individuals by imposing stricter punishments for violations that disproportionately affect the targeted population. In the past, such laws explicitly targeted minorities by outlining the characteristics of unfavorable people, which is apparent in the notable example of Jim Crow policies. Currently, certain crimes that are often attributed to low-class citizens ensure harsh punishments that significantly hinder one’s opportunities in life.
Over-policing remains an issue in low-income neighborhoods, increasing the probability of arrest among people from such a background. This approach ensures that a person born in poverty is likely to stay in this situation throughout their whole life. The systematic victimization of the entire ethnic group causes grief to communities across the United States, promoting negative perceptions of peacemaking activities and encouraging people to distrust the government.
References
Boehme, H. M., Cann, D., & Isom, D. A. (2020). Citizens’ perceptions of over- and under-policing: A look at race, ethnicity, and community characteristics. Crime & Delinquency, 68(1), 123-154.
Hinton, E., & Cook, D. (2021). The mass criminalization of Black Americans: A historical overview. Annual Review of Criminology, 4(1), 261-286.
Jones-Brown, D. D., & Williams, J. M. (2021). Over-policing Black bodies: The need for multidimensional and transformative reforms. Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, 19(4), 181-187.
Siegel, L. (2017). Criminology: Theories, patterns, and typologies (13th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Watts, C. E. (2022). Senseless sentencing: The uneven application of the career offender guidelines. Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice, 28(1), 207-246.