Revenue Generation Through Financial Sanctions in the Prison Industrial Complex

Abstract

America has yet to address mass incarceration properly. Here we are in 2022, and America still leads the Nation in the amount of people that are incarcerated. The problem goes well beyond the need to simply lower the number of people who are incarcerated. Yes, the problem is mass incarceration; however, in America, there’s an issue of the criminal justice system being used as a mechanism to profit from those who are arrested and charged with a crime, which creates an added pressure on those who are incarcerated as well as their families. The fact that people of color, specifically African Americans, are disproportionately represented in the amount of people who are incarcerated, implies a racial problem with the justice system in this Country. When you tie together the racial disparity of African Americans incarcerated, and the systematic ways in which the fines and fees associated with incarceration perpetuate financial hardship on individuals whom majority of their crimes were likely financially motivated; it becomes difficult for me to believe this Country’s criminal justice system is not perfectly in the manner in which it is supposed to work. My hope is the articles in this publication will not only make others aware of this issue who were not; but also, lead to the change in which those who have Power over the millions of people who are pushed through the criminal justice system - akin to product on an assembly line - discontinue the for profit aspects of incarceration in America.