Why is mass incarceration in the U.S. a big problem? Who’s the most susceptible to being incarcerated in America?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Just Mercy<\/em>, Bryan Stevenson<\/a> finds that the U.S. justice system consistently doles out extreme punishments to the most vulnerable Americans. He discusses four demographics that are susceptible to unjust punishments: children, the intellectually disabled and mentally ill, veterans, and women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Find out why these groups of people are more likely to be victims of the corrupt justice system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n To begin, Stevenson argues that children make up a big chunk of mass incarceration in the U.S. The incarceration of children became the norm in the \u201890s. According to Stevenson, faulty predictions by criminologists led to excessive punishments of children<\/strong>, especially children of color. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Stevenson notes that in the late \u201880s, criminologists predicted that \u201csuper predators\u201d\u2014violent children without remorse\u2014would inundate the juvenile justice system. He argues that widespread panic consequently gripped the justice system, leading to increased prosecution of children as adults and harsh punishments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Stevenson, the fear of super predators led to a troubling trend: Judges reactively condemn children to die in prison, robbing them of the potential for rehabilitation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trina Garnett illustrates this trend. The daughter of an abusive, alcoholic father, Garnett fled her home at a young age, sometimes staying with family and sometimes homeless. At age 14, as Stevenson recounts, Garnett climbed through the window into the house of some nearby boys, carrying a match to light her way. After accidentally dropping the match, however, she lit the house aflame, ultimately asphyxiating the two boys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite her lack of intent, Garnett was tried as an adult and convicted of 2nd-degree murder. Moreover, due to uncompromising laws that don\u2019t consider intent, the judge sentenced Garnett to life in prison<\/strong>, without the possibility of parole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Stevenson also discusses how the justice system treats individuals with intellectual disabilities and mental illness. He argues that the evidence is clear: The U.S. Justice System disproportionately imprisons the intellectually disabled and mentally ill<\/strong>, even though prisons exacerbate mental illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the 2014 publication of Just Mercy<\/em>, Stevenson notes that more than 50% of U.S. prison inmates have been diagnosed with a mental illness<\/strong>\u2014five times the general population\u2019s rate. Further, because guards aren\u2019t trained to address mental illness, they mistreat prisoners with mental illnesses. For example, rather than receiving needed care, prisoners are regularly placed in solitary confinement, where their conditions worsen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: Although mental illness is rampant in prison, prisoners often fail to receive adequate treatment. Indeed, a 2017 study found that only 36% of prisoners suffering from mental illness actively received treatment<\/a>. Moreover, the prevalence of co-pays for medical care exacerbates this issue; all federal prisons, and 40 states, charge prisoners a co-pay for initiating medical treatment<\/a>, which disincentivizes the mentally ill from seeking help.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n To illustrate, Stevenson discusses Joe Sullivan, who was sentenced to life without parole for a crime he didn\u2019t commit as an intellectually disabled 13 year-old. At 13, Sullivan burglarized Lena Bruner\u2019s empty house with two older boys in 1989. According to Stevenson, another man entered the house later that day when Bruner was home, violently raping her. She could only describe her rapist as African-American, and the older boys were quickly apprehended by police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To earn leniency with the judge, the older boys claimed that Sullivan\u2014who freely turned himself in\u2014had raped Bruner. Though he confessed to the burglary, Sullivan denied committing sexual battery, and Bruner couldn\u2019t positively identify him. Moreover, though the police collected DNA evidence of the rape, they destroyed it before trial, making it impossible to exculpate Sullivan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: Because Bruner didn\u2019t clearly see her assailant\u2019s face, her testimony focused on Sullivan\u2019s voice in particular. After listening to Sullivan speak, Bruner ultimately testified that \u201cIt\u2019s hard, but it does sound similar.\u201d<\/a> Thus, a key piece of evidence driving Sullivan\u2019s conviction was the assertion that his voice was merely \u201csimilar\u201d to that of Bruner\u2019s assailant.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite lacking credible evidence, prosecutors tried Sullivan as an adult and he was sentenced to life without parole. In prison, he was raped repeatedly by older inmates and became suicidal. He would later develop multiple sclerosis<\/a>, possibly as a result of severe trauma, and require a wheelchair. Consequently, Stevenson observes that Sullivan\u2019s condition grew drastically worse through his experience in prison<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: It\u2019s possible that the repeated sexual abuse Sullivan suffered in prison also played a part in his developing multiple sclerosis, as one 2022 study found that childhood abuse is associated with an increased risk of developing multiple sclerosis<\/a>. In particular, researchers found the strongest link between sexual abuse suffered as a child and multiple sclerosis onset later in life.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a similar vein, Stevenson argues that the U.S.. Justice System disproportionately imprisons traumatized veterans<\/strong>, who can\u2019t smoothly return to society after their service has scarred them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To demonstrate the system\u2019s failure toward veterans, Stevenson recounts the story of Herbert Richardson, a traumatized Vietnam War<\/a> veteran. Suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Richardson began dating a nurse in Alabama and grew obsessed with her. However, she recognized his obsession and tried to sever the relationship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Richardson\u2019s reasoning, Stevenson writes, became faulty and deluded. Consequently, he built a small bomb to detonate on his ex-girlfriend\u2019s porch, planning to win her affection by rescuing her after the explosion. However, his ex-girlfriend\u2019s niece found the bomb first and decided to shake it; she was killed instantly by the explosion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At trial, the prosecution argued that Richardson was evil, rather than recognizing that trauma had made him mentally unstable. Further, Stevenson mentions that the prosecution claimed Richardson had intended<\/em> to kill, making the crime punishable with the death penalty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, because Alabama law only paid public defenders $1,000 for preparation time, Richardson\u2019s counsel\u2014who was later disbarred\u2014didn\u2019t research any mitigating factors, like his military tenure and lasting trauma. So, after a one-day trial, the judge sentenced Richardson to death. Despite Stevenson\u2019s best efforts to get a stay of execution, the sentence was carried out: Richardson was executed via electric chair in August of 1989<\/strong>. As he walked to his death, the prison played the hymn, \u201cThe Old Rugged Cross,\u201d per his final request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, Stevenson examines how women fare in the justice system, and finds a similar result: Women\u2014especially impoverished ones\u2014are frequently subject to cruel and unjust punishments<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n First, Stevenson notes that the rate of incarcerated women is growing quicker than that of incarcerated men. Between 1980 and 2010, he observes that the amount of women in prison increased 646%\u2014about 1.5 times the rate of increase for men. This increased incarceration, Stevenson argues, has systemic effects: Over 75% of women in prison have young children, who become more likely to end up in prison without a maternal caregiver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: According to experts, it\u2019s unclear why the rate of incarcerated women has increased quicker than that of incarcerated men<\/a>. However, data suggests that the so-called \u201cWar on Drugs<\/a>\u201d is responsible for many of these incarcerations\u2014in 2019, 26% of women in state prisons were convicted of drug crimes<\/a>, compared to 13% of men.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n To illustrate this trend, Stevenson discusses the case of Marsha Colbey, a poor mother of six from rural Alabama. In the wake of Hurricane Ivan in 2004, which destroyed Colbey\u2019s home, she became pregnant at age 43 but couldn\u2019t afford to see a doctor. Consequently, Stevenson observes she wasn\u2019t aware of a placental abruption cutting off oxygen to her unborn child. Months later, Colbey delivered a stillborn son in her bathtub, and her attempts to revive him failed. However, due to a nosy neighbor, police were notified that Colbey was no longer pregnant and suspected that she had murdered her newborn child. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (Shortform note: In addition to the pain of being falsely accused of murdering her child, Colbey was likely still processing the trauma of her stillbirth when police arrested her. After all, experts note that stillbirth is a deeply traumatizing experience for many women<\/a>, on par with that of combat veterans.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n After exhuming the infant\u2019s body, state forensic pathologist Kathleen Enstice\u2014who had a track record of mistakenly declaring deaths to be homicides\u2014asserted that the baby was born alive and subsequently drowned. Despite several medical experts discrediting Enstice\u2019s assessment at trial, Colbey was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life without parole. This conviction, Stevenson notes, won the praise of local media, which often sensationalized high-profile cases of mothers allegedly killing their children.<\/p>\n\n\n\nExtreme Punishments of Children<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Extreme Punishments of the Intellectually Disabled and Mentally Ill<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Extreme Punishments of Veterans<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Extreme Punishments of Women<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n