Mass Incarceration in the United States: A Historical Context

Author: Tara Zhang

February 11, 2025

[Illustration by Golden Cosmos via The New Yorker]

This article series highlights the structural inequities that drive mass incarceration and systemic oppression in the United States. Exploring the origins of mass incarceration, the prison industrial complex, and how this system continues to impact present-day inequalities, this series hopes to shed light on the injustices of the prison system in the United States. The series aims to highlight a human rights issue that is ingrained in present-day America.

This first article of the series explores the racialized beginnings of mass incarceration and how it is continually upheld. By examining the disproportionate targeting of communities of color, economic disenfranchisement, and the role of systemic bias in policing and sentencing, we can better understand the root of present-day inequalities.

The United States has the highest rate of incarceration, with over 1.9 million people across all criminal legal systems. The legacy of slavery, Jim Crow laws, and discriminatory policies like the War on Drugs have created a pipeline where Black and Latino individuals are overrepresented in prison populations, often for minor offenses. Despite Black Americans only making up 13% of the US general population, they are the largest demographic incarcerated, with 38.9% of the incarcerated population being Black individuals. This disproportionate makeup of the United States’ prisons highlights how the nation’s criminal justice system exacerbates systemic oppression, limits opportunities, and maintains social inequality.

Racial disparities in prison incarceration rates, 2022 [Image source: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2024/04/01/updated-charts/]

Race in the United States is often framed as forward thinking, highlighting the social progress that has been made as a society since the 1964 Civil Rights Act overruled Jim Crow Laws and, more presently, celebrating Obama’s win in 2008 and 2017. However, in this celebration of progress, people fail to recognize how, despite the abolishment of these laws, racial injustice and segregation continue to shape the lives of many Black and Brown Americans. After the abolition of slavery, the Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation and disenfranchised Black Americans, creating a racial caste system that marginalized them socially, politically, and economically. This was especially seen rooted in the process of the legal system, where Black Americans were often easily convicted for minor offenses and subjected to inflated charges upheld by an all-white jury and judge. Although the Jim Crow laws have been overruled, their influence continues to heavily impact our legal system today.

The connection between Jim Crow laws and mass incarceration in the United States lies in the evolution of systemic racial control, shifting from overt segregation to more covert forms of oppression. While Jim Crow laws were explicitly designed to enforce racial hierarchy, their legacy continues in the biases embedded within the legal system, where minorities face unequal treatment at every stage of the process. Policing practices often reflect these biases, resulting in over-policing in marginalized communities and widespread racial profiling. For instance, Black (6.2%) and Latino (9.2%) drivers are significantly more likely to be stopped and searched compared to White drivers, despite comparable rates of traffic violations. Moreover, as individuals from marginalized communities often do not have the financial capabilities for legal representation, Black individuals are often left with inadequate defense as they are left to public defenders that are frequently underfunded and overburdened. The impact of the financial capabilities of many of these individuals can be seen further with the cash bail system as these individuals often cannot afford to pay bail. Not only does this result in prolonged pretrial detention and compounding the economic and social consequences of incarceration, but several studies highlight an increased conviction rate. As incarceration heavily impacts individual’s lives post-prison, these systemic biases impact the lives of Black and Latino communities affected by mass incarceration. Therefore the impact of systemic racism undermines the principles of justice and equality, revealing a criminal justice system that serves as a vehicle for racial and economic inequities.

The story of mass incarceration in the United States can’t be told without dedicating time to the “War on Drugs,” a U.S. campaign to reduce illegal drug use with harsh laws and sentencing requirements. These policy initiatives can be traced back to the presidency of Richard Nixon in the 1970s and have persisted up until the present day. The cost of these policies has been extremely high - cumulatively, over one trillion dollars since 1971 - yet the problem of drug use has not abated and, in recent years, has arguably gotten worse. Opioid abuse is the major focus of drug policy today, yet as of 2023, the rate of deaths from opioid overdoses has increased by nearly 10 times since 1999, while the rate of deaths from synthetic opioids has skyrocketed by over 50 times over that time span. These heightened death rates have been especially pronounced for people of color; for example, opioid overdoses caused 33.5 deaths per 100,000 people among Black Americans in 2021, compared to 24.7 deaths per 100,000 people in the overall population.

While the War on Drugs campaign has been largely ineffective at preventing drug abuse, it has further exacerbated the already elevated negative outcome rate from drug activity for minority groups. Harsh drug laws lead to a vast number of arrests - in the U.S., at least 900,000 annually every year between 1990 and 2022. These arrests are concentrated disproportionately toward people of color - Black people were about twice as likely to be arrested for a drug offense than White people in 2019, despite drug use rates being quite similar across both populations. Once the arrest has occurred, prosecutors are significantly more likely to pursue a mandatory minimum sentence for Blacks or Latinos compared to Whites who have committed the same crime. In all, 77 percent of people held in federal prison for drug offenses are Black or Latino, while those two groups make up just 30 percent of the total U.S. population. The disproportionate impact on marginalized communities illustrates how these systems perpetuate inequality and limit opportunities for rehabilitation and reintegration.

Mass incarceration in the United States is a complex issue rooted in a history of systemic racism, economic inequality, and punitive policies like the War on Drugs. As explored in this first article, these structural inequities disproportionately impact Black and Latino communities, perpetuating cycles of oppression and deepening social divides. However, the injustices of the prison industrial complex extend beyond public institutions and into the realm of private enterprise. The next article in the series will delve into the rise of private prisons, examining how profit motives intersect with incarceration and the broader implications for justice and human rights in America.

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Glossary

• Conviction Rate: The percentage of criminal cases that result in a conviction. High conviction rates may reflect various factors, including police practices, prosecutorial strategies, or systemic biases.

• Economic Disenfranchisement: A condition in which individuals or groups are denied access to economic resources, opportunities, or full participation in the economy. This can be a result of policies, practices, or societal structures that limit access to wealth-building opportunities.

• Inflated Charges: The practice of charging a defendant with a more serious crime or punishment than they may have actually committed.

• Minor Offenses: Criminal acts are considered less severe or serious in comparison to major crimes. Examples include petty theft, vandalism, or public intoxication. These offenses often carry lighter sentences but can still contribute to the criminal justice system’s overall load.

• Mass Incarceration: The large-scale imprisonment of individuals, particularly in the United States, where the incarceration rate is among the highest in the world. This term often refers to the disproportionate impact on marginalized groups, especially people of color.

• Prison Industrial Complex: A system in which private and public interests profit from the incarceration of individuals. This includes prison construction, labor exploitation, and the private prison industry. Critics argue that the prison industrial complex encourages mass incarceration for economic gain.

• Racial Hierarchy: A social or societal structure where people are classified and treated differently based on their race, often placing certain racial groups at the top (privileged) and others at the bottom (oppressed).

• Segregation: The enforced separation of different racial or ethnic groups, particularly in education, housing, and public services. Although formal segregation was outlawed in many places, its effects are still seen in various aspects of society.

• Sentencing: The process by which a judge assigns a punishment or penalty to a person convicted of a crime. Sentences can include prison time, fines, community service, or other forms of punishment and rehabilitation.

• Systemic Bias: The ingrained, widespread prejudice or discrimination that exists within social, economic, and political systems, often resulting in inequitable treatment of certain groups, particularly marginalized or minority communities.

• Systemic Oppression: The systemic mistreatment, exploitation, or marginalization of certain groups based on race, gender, class, or other factors. This oppression is embedded in societal systems like education, healthcare, and criminal justice.

• Systemic Racism: A form of racism that is deeply embedded in societal structures, institutions, and policies. It results in unequal opportunities and outcomes for racial minorities, often manifesting in disparities in areas like education, employment, housing, and criminal justice.

• War on Drugs: A government-led initiative inaugurated by Nixon in 1971 that aimed to reduce the illegal drug trade through increased law enforcement and punitive policies. Criticized for disproportionately targeting Black and Latino communities, it contributed to mass incarceration and systemic racism in the criminal justice system.