Recidivism Among Black Men Research Paper

Red and blue flashing lights, sirens blaring, a recently incarcerated prisoner receives just a slim taste of freedom before they are back to square one… incarceration. In the modern world a common fear of an average citizen can be being confined in a small, cold, and depressing jail cell. And arguably for the prisoner, an even bigger fear is being released from the prison system, just to re-enter in a short period of time. Ethnic groups are being targeted into this never ending cycle, more specifically African Americans. Through the unjust and highly biased criminal justice system African-Americans are targeted into disadvantaged rehab while recidivism rates skyrocket.

When released from prison, a normal inmate might feel a wave of relief and alleviation but they are quickly confronted with the reality that they have to now reenter society all alone. Programs aid in the rehabilitation back to life, but they can only do so much. Specifically, one program called HEAT, an Afrocentric holistic approach to recovery, categorically aids people of the black community to easing back into life after prison. According to Lindsay Lazarski, a multimedia journalist at Keystone Crossroads, HEAT “addresses deep-rooted issues centering on childhood and intergenerational trauma”. HEAT is a 9 month program that touches on many sensitive topics for the common black folk. The curriculum discusses slavery, the civil rights movement, while circling it all back to the focus of self and the community. The program sounds perfect to the uneducated eye, but upon further examination one can see that it is only offered in twenty states and is tailored to a specific audience of black men from the ages of 18-29. With these limitations kept in mind, it is apparent that this program is only available for a very limited audience. With the slim participants within this organization a stable rehabilitation program is not offered for the people of the black community. Lazarski later says that "When someone finally gets released from prison, even if they want to live a normal life and be a productive member of society, their employment options are severely limited. It’s estimated that an individual who has a felony on their record reduces the likelihood of getting a call back from employers by 50%". Now HEAT may prepare participants well after prison, but they aren’t reaching a big enough audience for it to be efficient. By not actively preparing a recent inmate for the harsh realities of the real world and the job market is basically setting them up for failure, not to mention the black folk who have a rougher time securing a job. Not having a job not only leaves one financially unstable, it leads to a whole life of instability… further rising the recidivism rates.

Some might find it shocking that the average recidivism rate of the common black man is significantly higher than the average white man. What is even more astonishing is that, according to the Crime and Justice Research Alliance, "More than 58% of Black men in the study were reincarcerated in a North Carolina state prison within the 8-year follow-up period, compared to fewer than half of the White men and White women, and just over 41% of the Black women released during the same time frame. That occurred even though Black men were less likely to be identified as high risk and had lower scores on all but two risk factors that are thought to drive recidivism—age at intake and marital status”. Unfortunately, the statistics are worsening and nobody is doing anything about it. The Crime and Justice Research Alliance later shares that "A new study that estimated the effects of risk factors for Black and White men and women found that Black men were reincarcerated more often and more quickly than all others, despite having lower risk scores on nearly all of the variables on a standardized tool that assesses risk”. With these higher recidivism rates, the black community is surrounded by a negative stigma that has ruined their reputation with not only the media but all of America. Citizens of 

the United States are hearing everything negative about this race and carrying this information into their everyday lives. They assume that since they go to prison more often they are automatically worse people… little do they know the other factors that come to play.

Now what are these underlying factors? Well, some criminologists have formulated the idea that America is personally confusing race and poverty for race. When they say this they essentially mean that black men are seen doing these crimes because they have a disadvantage, poorer urban areas, little to no access to public services, and not to mention the negative stigma that surrounds them (Patrick Worrall, 4News). A commonly asked question is “do these African Americans feel obligated to follow in a cycle in which they commit a crime out of necessity?” and as Worrall discussed, it is clear that they are deprived from a great deal of things that most Americans are fortunate enough to have. Others argue that these such disparities root much deeper.  Jerome Dillard, director of the statewide organization Ex Incarcerated People Organizing offers a different perspective and shares his ideas that this is “a generation of kids without male role models. Children are raising themselves. Children are becoming more violent. We have communities today under great stress”. The list of how this specific community is at a disadvantage could go on for ages, it could stretch all the way from emotional trauma all the way to materialistic depravations. This “list” supports the idea that underlying causes affect recidivism rates.

The real problem at hand is how Americans today can fix this issue. It is apparent that the black community is suffering from extreme disservice, and that they need a helping hand to assist them. So what is this so-called helping hand? The program HEAT that is offered to them is working, but the problem is that it is not reaching a big enough audience. The first step would be to open up the program so it is more accessible. In order to open up more locations and broaden the curriculum, officials will need to be hired and trained properly. To make the program even more attainable one of the first steps should be to broadcast the program to all prisons and to teach them what the curriculum is trying to accomplish and the contents within. With more applicants, recidivism rates will quickly reduce, which is the main goal. Giving this specific race an upper hand is not the intention, but rather to give them equal opportunity and eliminate the disadvantages that they are at in this moment of time. 

News channels desperately need a shift of topics to talk about because hearing about the stereotypical black man who did something wrong is a time old tale that is wearing out the headlines. Underlying factors are never considered and deeper research into the disadvantages that these black folks might portray are never the first to the mind . Through this unjust and highly biased criminal justice system African-Americans are targeted into disadvantaged rehab while recidivism rates skyrocket. Hopefully, after a reform to the rehabilitation system for black citizens, the blue and red flashing lights of police vehicles are not to be feared and expected for this specific community.