Good Intentions, Clear Motives, Imperfect Solution, and Damaging Results by Christiana Gianetta

Good Intentions, Clear Motives, Imperfect Solution, and Damaging Results by Christiana Gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac Long Civil Rights Movement - Susuquehanna University en-us 2016-10-31 13:40:48 UTC 2025-10-02 04:36:49 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Balance.png History of the H.R. 3355 (103rd): Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/134217845 The Violent Crime and Control Act was introduced in Oct 26th 1993 and signed by the President Sept 13th 1994, it was in the works for 11 months total. The Act had bi-partisan support, being passed by 95% of the Senate vote.

In each of the little grafts showing the bold blue or red dots you can see that there was a lot of support from both parties. This means that the bill appealed to the left and the right, which is very difficult. This could be because almost everything senator want congressmen wanted to keep the streets safer, especially after some of the violence crimes that were committed and then brought to the media attention.

Civic Impulse. (2016). H.R. 3355 — 103rd Congress: Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. ]]> 2016-10-31 13:48:10 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/134217845 20 Years Later, NPR Article gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/134226662 The NPR Article explains the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act as "a long-term experiment in various ways to fight crime." Many would say the experiment has failed. Crime rates are down, but the evidence shows that the Act isn't the cause for that. Instead we have mass incarcerated. States were given more money to punish people, making mandatory minimum sentences longer and increasing those incarcerated.

Now the experiment is coming to a close, it's 20 years later and many people are wondering if their tax dollars were worth it. Funding prisons and prisoners is expensive and many would become repeat offenders. There is now a push to stop crime before it happens, funding programs like Midnight Basketball, where Rev. Bobby Scott, a Virginia Democrat would like to see improvement made on preventative programs.
http://www.npr.org/2014/09/12/347736999/20-years-later-major-crime-bill-viewed-as-terrible-mistake]]> 2016-10-31 14:09:15 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/134226662 Black Leaders Supporting the 1994 Act gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/134227938 Black leaders knew that the justice system was sometimes against them. Racial bias did not end after they got their rights legally and at the same time, it was not something new. As the news show us now and with the new technology and trend to video tape everything, we can see the injustice and racial profiling now. The black leaders then knew of this too, however as the graphs show below. Crime was at an all time high. The peak was 747.1 reported violent crimes out of 100,000 people in 1993. Most of these violent crimes were probably affecting their communities.

Looking back at what has happened makes it easy to point fingers, but black leaders, especially those who are serving or served as police. Mass incarceration is becoming a problem, especially for black men who 1 out of 3 will be jailed at some point in their lives. ]]> 2016-10-31 14:11:56 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/134227938 Super-Predators gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/134230156 Hillary's 1996, controversial statement about young black petty criminals becoming "super-predators", a term she now regrets using. the term super-predator was aimed at youths who were in gangs, committing crimes without empathy or conscience. However , Clinton did not say that "super-predators" were only African America, or African American at all. It is just that when thinking about gang related crimes, or crimes committed due to gang violence there is a trend to think of those youths as African American.

The "super predator" comment also at the implication that children have to be held accountable for their actions, almost as adults based on their crimes. Since they have no conscience or empathy, but it should be remembered that children cannot be held responsible, because they are not entirely developed. ]]> 2016-10-31 14:17:01 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/134230156 Works Cited gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/134233481 Booker, Teresa A. "All the Tigers in the World: Race and Rehabilitation in an American Prison." Public Space, Public Policy, and Public Understanding of Race and Ethnicity in America: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Akron, OH: U of Akron, 2016. N. pag. Print.

Cohn, D’Vera, Paul Taylor, Mark Hugo Lopez, Catherine A. Gallagher, Kim Parker, and Kevin T. Maass. "Gun Homicide Rate Down 49% Since 1993 Peak; Public Unaware." Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends Project. N.p., 07 May 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

CSPAN. "1996: Hillary Clinton on "superpredators" (C-SPAN)." YouTube. YouTube, 25 Feb. 2016. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

"Corrections." (n.d.): n. pag. Trans in US Corrections. The Sentencing Project, 2014. Web.

Ejiorg. "Slavery to Mass Incarceration." YouTube. YouTube, 07 July 2015. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

"Find Votes." U.S. Senate: Roll Call Vote. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

Goldstein, Dana. "10 (Not Entirely Crazy) Theories Explaining the Great Crime Decline." The Marshall Project. N.p., 16 Nov. 2016. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

Http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5FyGGTi6VoT7kRxyPBZ55A. "Bernie Sanders: Incarcerating a Country (4/13/1994)." YouTube. YouTube, 23 July 2015. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

"Jesse Jackson Testimony on Crime Bill." C-SPAN.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

Neyfakh, Leon. "The 1994 Crime Bill Was Intended to Help, Not Hurt, Black Americans. Does That Matter?" Slate Magazine. N.p., 12 Feb. 2016. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

"Prisoners-without-rights-1994-35-pp." Human Rights Documents Online (n.d.): n. pag. Prisoners in 1994. U.S. Department of Justice, Aug. 1995. Web.

TheAtlantic. "Mass Incarceration, Visualized." YouTube. YouTube, 02 Oct. 2015. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

TheYoungTurks. "Prison Labor = Modern Day Slavery?" YouTube. YouTube, 15 Sept. 2016. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

"U.S.: Violent Crime Rate Graph 1990-2015 | Statista." Statista. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

"Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (1994 - H.R. 3355)." GovTrack.us. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

Vlogbrothers. "Mass Incarceration in the US." YouTube. YouTube, 04 Apr. 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

Williams, Chad Louis, Kidada E. Williams, and Keisha N. Blain. "“Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department.”." Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism, and Racial Violence. Athens: U of Georgia, 2016. N. pag. Print.

Winters, Paul A. "Racial Bias Influences Law Enforcement Decisions." Race Relations: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 1996. N. pag. Print.

"20 Years Later, Parts Of Major Crime Bill Viewed As Terrible Mistake." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2016.

]]> 2016-10-31 14:24:55 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/134233481 gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/135759576 Shows the increase between 1995 and 2003 the increased of sentenced inmates in Federal prisons. There was as totally 78.7% change and 100% total growth. Public order increased the highest and than Drug offenses did as well. ]]> 2016-11-07 13:51:44 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/135759576 2010 Race/Ethnicity Breakdown of % of US Population and % Incarcerated gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/137877369 This shows the discrepancy between the three races. It would make more logical sense if the % were about the same. There are unanswered factors as well, and one of the questions we should ask is, "Do blacks commit more crimes, or are they being treated unfairly by the system?" Depending on who you ask, the answer varies.

Looking at this chart, more than a 1/3 of all US incarcerated prisoners are black, although they make only 13% of the US population. While whites, the majority of the US population is almost cut in half in terms of how many are incarcerated now. Clearly with this chart there is a major discrepancy for Black people. They make only 12% of the total US population but 40% of the US incarcerated population. Why are black people being incarcerated so much? ]]> 2016-11-15 19:20:35 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/137877369 Slavery and Prison Work gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/137887791 Taking advantage of people for commercial gain is not something new to America's capitalistic community that thrived from the labor of slavery in the 18th century. Since racial bias has not been wiped out from our justice system it is easy to see the correlations that black communities make when looking at our prisons system.

Before African Americans were forced into slavery and treated like property. It was very common for them to not earn wages, they were forced to do the work no one else wanted to do and live in fear of the law. While in prisons today, prisoners are expected to work about 8 hours a day doing jobs for big companies who receive tax breaks for it. They work long hours and do not get federal minimum wage. An argument could be made they receive housing from the state and that is why their wages are so low. However, they are not unionized and are in prisons to keep the law in order, not to work for big companies. ]]> 2016-11-15 19:42:03 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/137887791 gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/137890599 2016-11-15 19:49:10 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/137890599 gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/137891337 2016-11-15 19:51:31 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/137891337 Slavery to Mass Incarceration gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/137892692 This is an important factor to the overall story that is African Americans as prisoners. The Clintons and American Congress purposefully create this bill to continue to harm blacks. However they should have been aware of the history that surrounds them. The racial bias talked about this video later on is the problem with having this bill. The bill made it legal and funded prisons to continue incarcerating blacks without first fixing the broken system.

This video shows the problem in depth, from the beginning to the end. The Violence Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act played a role in Slavery Evolved because it funds and legalizes the mass incarceration without dealing with racial bias. As long as black man in convicted of a crime, their are funds to send him to prison and then to work for lower than federal minimum wage. Because he is black he is already at a disadvantage because of the racial bias against him in our police ground word. Without fixing one, you cannot really improve another portion of it. Starting to reform the bottom tiers, like city and state police officers and their training probably would have made the Act more productive and more fair for minorities who feel criminalized. ]]> 2016-11-15 19:55:17 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/137892692 Rep. Bernie Sanders gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/137895223
Democrat Rep Bernie Sanders voted for the Bill in 1994, after opposing it's earlier counterpart in 1991, the Violent Crime Prevention Act. Bernie Sanders is against capital punishment, something that this bill allows. Instead he wants to focus on what creates crime. Poverty, homelessness, drug addiction issues and other factors that lead to people turning to crime. Prisons in America do not do a good job at rehabilitation, and what you will read later is that mass incarceration is often just almost free labor. Bernie Sanders wanted to fix crime before crime happened, not to fund criminals being sent to more prisons. ]]> 2016-11-15 20:01:38 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/137895223 gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/137897121 2016-11-15 20:06:24 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/137897121 Mass Incarceration in the US and Mass Incarceration Visualized gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/137898969 The first video above is done by the Vlog Brother, a duo of John Green and his brother Frank Green. White, Christian, Heterosexual males who educate and bring awareness to issues through this youtube channel and Crash Course. The second one is one by Bruce Western for The Atlantic. Bruce Western is an Australian-American, educated from Harvard who's primary work is done on the subject of Mass Incarceration. The Atlantic, is a very old magazine, started in Boston, MA before the 1900s. It has a liberal viewpoint. ]]> 2016-11-15 20:11:26 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/137898969 Imperfect Solution gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/140847817 Black leaders did support the Violence Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. In Jacksonville, FL in 1995 Bill Clinton is seen below walking through a high crime neighborhood.

In the last 1990s, crime rates were high. This fueled the need for an act that would hopefully curb is. There was no perfect answer and black leaders didn't think this was the perfect solution. However, they wanted to try something. It was imperfect, but they needed to start to push back somehow.

This quote from the article, "Congressional Black Caucus: “While we do not agree with every provision in the crime bill, we do believe and emphatically support the bill’s goal to save our communities, and most importantly, our children.” sums up how people were feeling. There were disagreements about the bill, but overall they were willing to let those go in order for some type of solution. They probably knew that it would be an imperfect system where the faults of the Act would fall on to their communities. ]]> 2016-11-30 15:45:29 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/140847817 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/140851285 Please read down the columns. First I will explain the Violence Crime and Control Enforcement Act of 1994. Give context and background on why and how it was passed. Then I will introduce figures who approved and opposed the bill in the later 1990s. Then I will move to how America was being effected by the bill. The Mass Incarceration problem and how blacks feel about the Act in the early 2000s. Lastly, I will end with an article that sums up the Act after 20 years in 2014. ]]> 2016-11-30 15:52:39 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/140851285 Jesse Jackson and 1994 Crime Bill gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/140857094 Jess Jackson was one of the African American leaders who were opposed completely to the bill. He thinks that dealing with crime should be rushed. The news, he says is making it seem like this is an issue that needs to be dealt with now, that it is okay to get a solution, even if it is not the best one. He says that government policies must change to transform the society. He wants to see the neighborhoods grow, to lift them out of poverty, for healthcare to be available. He says the answer is not to fund more projects to jail prisoners, but fix the problems that cause people to turn to crime. He is completely against a bill that keeps the cycle of crime and violence their communities instead of removing people out of it.

He understands that people need "help and healing, not just threats and punishment."

He also says that even though blacks kill blacks, white kills white, and violence goes across race and ethnicity. it is only the black on white crime that is newsworthy, because when that happens buried fears come out. When whites kill blacks there is a need for revenge. He wants to fix the inherent racism he sees and reads about in the newspapers, instead of spending money on jails. He thinks the problem won't be solved with this bill.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4545493/jesse-jackson-testimony-crime-bill]]> 2016-11-30 16:05:15 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/140857094 gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141293796 2016-12-02 02:42:22 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141293796 gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141294123 2016-12-02 02:46:40 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141294123 gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141295846 As shown above, the increase of sentenced inmates means that the trends also increase. Between 1925 to 1974 the change was mild compared to the jump we see in the late 1980s and 1990s. The bill funds prisons, without prisons you cannot put prisoners in them. Probably, one of the reason for the increase is that they had money to spend on housing. This meant that judges could sentence more people into prisons because now they have a place to go. another reason could simply be popular increase, although the one of the biggest would be the baby boom after World War 2 and it doesn't show much boom in the 1970s, where they could be turning adults. Another reason for the trend could be that their were more mandatory minimum sentencing being done in courts. ]]> 2016-12-02 03:14:55 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141295846 US Violent Crime Rate Graph gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141760889 As it is in the two articles, it looked like crime hit it's peak at 1993 and then as been steadily fallen from there. Now people who approve of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act would say that the two are related. The act caused the sharp decline with it's funding, programs and harsher penalties among other things.

However, there could simply be other factors. People now could just be better off and no longer live in poverty. Maybe they're being better educated about the harmful drugs and effects of violence. In the article below there are some weird, but sometimes valid theories as to why.

"Most criminals are responding to neighborhood, economic, and health conditions that can quickly shift and improve."

People who feel like they have nothing to lose are the ones who commit violence crimes. When they now have neighbors who care for them, money in their pockets and no longer feel sick they will be less willing to hold on to the anger enough to commit violence.

It would be nice to assume that this Act was productive, considering the money they put into it, however it seems that one or two graphs isn't enough to prove it's worth. Instead, other graphs and statistics will show that the trends in mass incarceration leaves a lot to be desired and shows that they our justice and corrections system still requires a lot of work. ]]> 2016-12-05 15:07:43 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141760889 Chapter 20, All the Tigers in the World: Race and Rehabilitation in an American Prison by Robert L. Clark and Ying Yang, Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141873757 “…suggested that heredity and genetics lie at the heart of criminality, downplaying the roles of culture, environment, socioeconomic status, stereotyping a casual factions shaping public and judicial perception of criminals.” – 339

If you focus on the race and use that as the scapegoat then you can ignore the other factors. The ones that you can change but that take a little more work than simply blaming something people can’t decide. No one gets to decide the color of their skin, but they are shaped by the changing and flexible culture, environment, socioeconomic status and stereotyping. The latter are things that we can change. We don’t have to live with a culture that perpetrates one minority group as bad, however, we do because it is easy. We see it in the news because people will watch that. They don’t want to watch what is really wrong because that would require effort.

What happens then when you force a group into a rehabilitation center or prison? Yes, the job is to punish the offender for their crime, but when they get out they should be able to be productive members of society again. However, their social identity is damaged by always being a criminal. Race plays a crucial role in how they’re seen while they’re in the system. First, it is a way to control and classify them. Second, for protection, to form a racial alliance to make surviving easier. Third as a way for the criminal justice system and government to classify and give us knowledge about their race.

When classify a criminal in the late 19th century the trend was see criminals as a race in themselves. They have their own distinct hateful features and characteristics. Unfortunately, these characteristics can be applied to anyone that people fear. Such as the lower-class urban minorities, who already have the years and centuries worth are hate on to them. It would only make sense that the negative continue to feeds the negative in people’s mind.

]]> 2016-12-05 20:13:53 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141873757 “Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department.” (March 14, 2015) gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141874841 The systematic, seemingly never ending stories of racial violence done by police towards black people never ceases in America. This article tries to come into understanding why police are doing it, what allows for policemen in the system to be so careless towards the rights of their fellow citizens. Police in the Ferguson Police Department FPD are under investigation because of the long standing tradition of them committing acts of, “unlawful and harmful practices in policing and in the municipal court system erode police legitimacy and community trust, making policing in Ferguson less fair, less effective at promoting public safety.” (Page 283) Racial bias and stereotypes heavily play a role in why African Americans feel so unsafe with police. They know the biases out there and they also see what is in the news. If the statistics coldly show the reality of the unconstitutional practices than it must be completely disheartening and scary to have to live it. Although this is just a piece of the problem in America in one city, it shows why there is a distrust with the incarceration system that America uses. It is one where it’s foundation of law and order, the police on the streets are abusing their power. It is logical for African Americans to be distrustful of the system that has consistently worked to abuse them. The Act of 1994 does not do anything that combats police from falling into the trap of racial profiling. Their job is hard and dangerous and one bad experience can move them into making bad decisions based on immediate fears. However, how come the Act of 1994, which allowed for the federal spending for the punishment of prisoners does nothing to protect people from wrongfully becoming prisoners? If police are able to write tickets and abuse their power in small everyday ways that it must have been trickling from above. People are letting them get away with this and it is causes the large increase in the mass incarceration problem.

]]> 2016-12-05 20:17:38 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141874841 Racial Bias Influences Law Enforcement Decisions By Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141876981 “Ron Hampton, a retired police officer and executive director of the National Black Police Association, told Amnesty International in 1998, “In a training video, every criminal portrayed is black.” Page 81 ]]> 2016-12-05 20:25:10 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141876981 Dangers of Racial Bias gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141877298 Now with that in mind, why wouldn’t police jump to conclusions when they see a single black man fitting any vague description they have? It is ingrained their training for them to be on the lookout for suspicious people, but suspicious people who they are trained to see in one color. In Race Relations they show that officers are being trained to see blacks as the criminal. A race is a factor in police decisions. If it wasn’t then roughly the % of blacks in the population would be the same as incarcerated, but this is not true. They are hugely represented and make an alarming 40% when they only make about 13% of the general population. There is something wrong, and the Act of 1994 did not help it. ]]> 2016-12-05 20:26:28 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141877298 gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141879175 2016-12-05 20:33:09 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/141879175 gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/142813742 2016-12-09 15:04:07 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/142813742 Thesis gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/142814010 The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 was in response to the heightened violent crimes that were happening in 1993 and 1994. Although graphs show a steadily decline since 1993 to present, the Act probably did more to hurt than help, especially in black communities. Mass incarceration and with a justice system already biased to blacks lead to the increase of blacks being sent to prisons in disproportionate percentages. ]]> 2016-12-09 15:04:49 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/142814010 Prison Labor = Modern Day Slavery gianetta https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/142824843 This video by Young Turks show what's happening on the inside of our prisons and how they relate.

Because of the Bill's mass incarceration funding and minimum sentencing, it is feeding into the system that allows this to happen. Modern Day Slavery because of it's bias against black men. ]]> 2016-12-09 15:35:35 UTC https://padlet.com/gianetta/hrccealvx1ac/wish/142824843