NCJ Number
86406
Date Published
1982
Length
33 pages
Annotation
The Attorney General's Task Force on Violent Crime has presented recommendations reflective of support for the continuation of current penal policy, i.e., the preferred use of incarceration for those convicted of 'street' crimes, which means that blacks will continue to be disproportionately incarcerated.
Abstract
The Task Force on Violent Crime has assumed that the increasing prison population is directly related to rising crime rates rather than to penal policy. The ideology of the present system is not questioned, so the Task Force advocates the building of more prisons to house more and more offenders. Policies that have created overcrowded prisons are left unchallenged, as little attention is given to the development of alternatives to incarceration and the training of personnel to serve in community corrections. By leaving current penal policy unchallenged, blacks can expect to be incarcerated in ever greater numbers, since currently they are disproportionately represented in the prison population. The criminal justice system is geared for the differential processing of lower-class, black males. The criminal justice system has multiple and conflicting external and internal constituencies. Unfortunately, policy is being drafted by only a portion of these constituencies. Black communities, who are predominantly impacted by the criminal justice system, represent a legitimate constituency. The voice against more prison construction and the continuation of a policy emphasizing incarceration to deal with crime should be raised before the State and Federal legislatures, so that policy may be influenced by those most victimized by current policy. Thirty references are provided.