Why do minorities make up the majority of prison populations?

Question

Yeah,you can call this panchas stupid question of the day.

Answer 1

Some are Lazy, Crazy, or don't care about their future.

Some didn't have parents around to teach them because they were to busy working trying to provide for them or they were on drugs, or in prison.

Another reason would be that its a vicious cycle that goes on in some families

Another reason is that some teachers and our government leaders had low expectations or put them down, so they prove them right.

And last but not least, I am not prejudice but have seen this time and time again, most courts and judges are more lenient on white youths charged and convicted of the same crime as Minorities.

Answer 2

I read the responses and they all make a point. My opinion, being a minority soon to be a majority is nuts and bolts answer.
We are not stupid or irresponsible. Part of our existence is survival and attaining a sense of self esteem. How we get there is incidental. The path of least resistance is to use and break the rules of society. It is a life style and career. The stigma means nothing to us, for it is looked upon as a medal of honor and respect from our peers. This life style carries itself into the prisons. Everything is free and the strongest is still king. The following is free: food,sex,energy,education,pencils,computers, health care and if you need anything, you just need to bend over to get the postage stamp.
Now judge who is smarter. The person working his *** off for the government and needs to pay income taxes and property taxes each year.
To eliminate the problem, execute the SOB the same day after the death sentence is given.
San Quintin State Prison in California has over 650 inmates in death row. The state execute 1 every 3 years. Do the math, for most will outlive you. Plus it is great job security for the guards secretaries and wardens.

Answer 3

I'm not sure if they do. I work with juvenile offenders and they seem to follow about the same percentage of the population as this city. Like 45 - 50 % white, 25% hispanic, 10% black and 14% native american. I've worked there two years and I do the records and it's always about that percentage. Also at least in this town, for big people prisons there are more minorities attracted to gangs, so they are in there more.

Answer 4

because a lack of equality, such as schooling, money, family values..etc

I may get some negative responses to my answer but keep this in mind... If I was to be locked up in prison, against my will for 30 years and all of a sudden released, would i have the same chance as the rest?

Now I'm not saying Ive been in prison because i haven't and I'm not even touching on minorities in prison... I'm touching up on equality. Not being given a chance to vote to get a well paying job, to be able to drink for a certain fountain or use the same bathroom as someone else is LIKE being in a prison. Even though times have changed for the latter part of 50 years...it will take an additional 100 more years of nurturing the minorities who were freed without nothing to catch up on the equality scale.

lets be real with one another... if you had the choice would you be born in a wealth family or a poor family...?

If you're poor and your family has no money to get you involved in sports and pay for you to go to the movies or money to buy you a bike ...what else is there to do? go out and get it, possibly by stealing it and what not

Answer 5

In not all prisons are whites the minority population. There are multiple reasons for why overall, minorities are the majority of prisoners. One main reason is that minorities get involved in crime earlier, and are less likely to escape it. For example, if a white kid and a black kid committ the same crime, with no record, the white kid is more likely to just be given a warning, and the black kid is more likely to be taken to jail. Once someone is involved with the legal system, it is difficult to avoid in the future. There is bias in every level of the judicial process, so at the beginning the levels of whites and minorities are approximately equal, but the further along the line you look, the fewer white people there are, therefore, the larger the percentage of minorities present.

Answer 6

This is not a stupid question at all.

Not in every case but,I think a lot of times its because they were raised without a father, or very little adult supervision.. Sometimes when only one parent is left to raise a child they have to work all the time to make ends meet and the children are left to run the streets..A lot of them end up joining gangs.. From what I have seen a lot of the prisoners interviewed were raised by one parent.

In New York 60% of the inmate population is foreign born.

Answer 7

Hey..I used to like your questions...but at this point..to call this your stupid question of the day?...they are all at pretty much the same level anymore...please consider dumbing down a bit your "stupid question of the day"..In order for anyone to recognize it as your 'stupid question of the day", we must find some differences between it and the other questions you pose.
To answer your question...and using L.A. a reference point...the majority of prison inmates are indeed minorities...and of those they are disproportionately Mexican and an even still greater of those are illegals...this may be caused by the fact that they have no desire to learn the laws of America. I am saying this as a benefit to them because the laws that are being broken by the afore-mentioned people should really be understood and respected by all no matter what their country of origin or color of their skin. They are basic things like do not kill, rape,steal, etc..etc...However in as far as my subject group is concerned...many of those things are outright over looked or can be bribed away in their native countries..therefore giving a person a false sense of freedom to commit crimes. Please keep in mind that most criminals commit crimes with the thought that they will not be caught.

Answer 8

Why is this a stupid question? It is true.

Sadly, we have failed minorities in North America. If you take into account the lack of quality education (re: inner city schools), minimum wage jobs, high crime neighbourhoods, lack of health care due to wages, etc., you can see why these children would not succeed.

Studies have shown that children form their core personalities from ages 1-6. If they are in a turbulent and unstable home, we can scar them for life.

THERE IS HOPE.

Seek out your local parent support group, that gives classes and resources for those in need. Even parents with lots of $ attend; as $ does not equal parenting skills.

Do not let your pride get in the way of guiding your child towards the right path.

Follow your instincts, and never give up!

Answer 9

there are a lot of issues to look at in this question. it is hard to believe that one of the answers is that they are not given an opportunity. i lived in the city, in a middle class neighborhood with good schools and good police. after about 5 years the minority population increased as did the crime rates. these people had nice homes, good schools and every advantage i had growing up there. They choose to steal and commit crimes because it has become part of their culture. the kids grow up believing that they dont have a chance and the only thing they can do is turn to crime. its not true, in fact most minorities have more opportunites than white people now and are still not pulling it together. every other discriminated race in this country has pulled it together to thrive here-polish, irish, jewish

Answer 10

lack of education? No leadership? No hope for the future?

Have u ever been to Detroit? not the nicer parts, but the poorest of the poor sections. U don't need to go to Detroit to c such sad scenes, I'm sure any major metropolitan area can give u the same reality dose.

Some elementary white schools have computers for every student. Black/hispanic schools will be lucky if they have a few computers for their +100 graduating class.

Answer 11

Not sure, but why do blacks in Africa still have slavery?

You'll hear because they're black or hispanic. You'll hear it's against what they believe. But you won't hear often enough it's because they got caught.

And many prisoners are from illegal entry the border states say it's their biggest population - and the governor of Arizona sent the Federal Government a bill to house them for $50 million bucks.

And don't say it's because of no job opportunity. I've has many minority supervisors that got fired and arrested for stealing, etc.