Over 2 million people are currently locked up either in a US jail or prison. When also including people on parole and probation this number shoots up to a staggering 6.84 million. To put this into perspective, the US population makes up only 5 percent of the world´s population but holds 25 percent of the global inmate population – no other country in the world puts this many people behind bars. Furthermore, it is disproportionately the black population that is locked into the system of mass incarceration. Examining the issue of black mass incarceration in more detail, a strong argument can be made that this system maintains and perpetuates a racialized social order severely marginalizing people of color.
Author: Klara Sinha
Klara Sinha holds a BA in philosophy and sociology and is currently enrolled in the Master´s Program International Studies/Peace and Conflict Studies at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt. She is also a student assistant at the HSFK working in the project “Gesellschaft Extrem: Radikalisierung und Deradikalisierung in Deutschland“. Her research interests include epistemic injustice, right-wing extremism, racism, gender and emancipation.
