Pol Sci 0859 The Making of American Society:

Homework 7 (A System of Racial and Social Control)

Homework must be typed and due in class on the due date. If you cannot make it to class, make

sure to get me the homework on time. No late homework will be accepted.

Name Takumi Koroki

Read “A System of Racial and Social Control” and answer the following questions.

1) Why did President Reagan declare the war on drugs in 1982?

Because of he wanted to appeal to people as his campaign, According to the author,

president Ronald Reagan wanted to make good on campaign promises to get tough on that group

of folks who had already been defined in the media as black and brown, the criminals, and he

made good on that promise by declaring a drug war.

2) What is the relationship between crime rates and incarceration rates in the U.S.?

No it is not. According to the author, “the United States actually has a crime rate that is

lower than the international norm, yet our incarceration rate is six to 10 times higher than other

countries around the world”. It’s not crime that makes us more punitive in the United States and

It’s the way we react to crime and how we see those people who have been labeled criminals.

3) How does the system of mass incarceration affect the individuals, families, and entire

communities?
a. While being behind bars

According to the author, people live in the jail are hard to meet to their relatives, the

system is destroying their families so that children grow up not knowing their fathers and visiting

their parents or relatives after standing in a long line waiting to get inside the jail or the prison —

the psychological impact, the emotional impact, the level of grief and suffering.

b. After leaving prison

they are hard to get a normal life after leaving prison because the situation of their living

is much different from the time before they arrested. According to the author, When they are

released from prison in most states, if they are not fortunate enough to have a family who can

support them and meet them at the gates and put you up and give you a job. If they are like most

people who are released from prison, returning to an impoverished community, they are given a

bus ticket, maybe $20 in your pocket, and they return to an impoverished which is jobless

community.

4) The author argues that the system of mass incarceration is strikingly similar to Jim Crow and

leads to a “racial cast system.” Do you agree with her? Why or why not?

I don’t agree with the opinion, one reason is that population of the U.S. is rapidly

changing. According to a statistics from projections, nation will become “minority white” in

2045. White people has been a majority in the U.S since people from England made the U.S. as a

country. In the past, the racial discrimination was accepted and many people thought it is good

for their society to make their live better. However, the times are changing and people’s thought
is also changing, racial discrimination is not acceptable for many people comparing with the past

that most of people ware white people in the U.S. For this reason, I do not think it leads a “racial

cast system” .