But one thing is clear: the 1994 bill interacted with—and reinforced—an existing and highly problematic piece of legislation: The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, which created huge disparities in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine. Under this bill, a person was sentenced to a five-year minimum sentence for five grams of crack cocaine, but it took 500 grams of powder cocaine to trigger the same sentence. Because crack is a cheaper alternative to powder cocaine, it is more prominent in low-income neighborhoods. These neighborhoods are more likely to be predominately Black and in urban areas that can be overpoliced more easily than suburban or rural areas. While the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, enacted under the Obama-Biden administration, reduced the crack/powder cocaine disparity from 100:1 to 18:1, the damage had been done, and its effects continue to this day.
Do you see how this demonstrates the Ratchet Effect yet? Conservatives (and Joe Biden) pass a piece of legislation during the Reagan years that causes mass incarceration of black men. Clinton doesn’t move us back to the left, but passes legislation that reinforces the conservative legislation. The closest the Democrats get to, “turning the dial to the left,” is when Obama gets legislation passed that makes the problem 18 times worse for the black community instead of 100 times worse for the black community, and only after the bulk of the damage is already done. Do you see how even, even when the Democrats, “move us to the left,” things are still worse than where they started? That’s the Ratchet Effect.
LOL, you’ve not proved me wrong, I just don’t care to debate, “It can be racist with if black politicians supported it,” with a guy who needed me to explain the crime bills to him. I said 5 comments ago that I shouldn’t bother with someone so ignorant of American politics, and I wish I’d stuck to that, because this is a waste of my fucking time. I’m out.
The example you gave was Democrats enacting legislation requested by the Black caucus. It is the job of politicians to listen to the citizens. Black citizens asking for laws to help the Black community are not racist by definition. Are you going to use affirmative action as an example of Democrats being evil too? Maybe you should understand the examples you are using instead of repeating Russian talking points.
But the crime bill did not increase the number of Blacks incarcerated
Boy, I know I said I was going to stop, but you’re just so wrong all the time and I just can’t stop dunking on you. The crime bills of the 80s and the 1994 bill absolutely did increase the number if incarcerated black men. Even when the percentage went down, the population went up. Let’s look at those statistics in terms of real numbers:
So, even if you see the percentage going down, the actual number of black men being thrown in prison was increasing until the end of the Trump years. It’s also worth noting that we’re only looking at the racist implications of mass incarceration, but all in all, mass incarceration itself is a terrible, right-wing policy that has increased under Democratic and Republican administrations.
Funny enough, the only significant fall came during the Trump years, when the prison population fell 500,000 between 2018 and 2020. I highly doubt that had anything to do with Trump, and imagine it had more to do with Covid than anything else (and potentially state-level legalization of Marijuana), but it again shows that Democrats did little to curb mass incarceration.
OK, I’m really done now. I know I said it before, but I’m really done this time. I’ll stop spreading all this, “Russian propaganda,” that I became aware 20 fucking years ago when I was in college (damn, those Russians play a long game, huh?). I’m out. Good luck.
Your numbers aren’t in the Wikipedia page you linked. Your link did say this:
“However, in the 21st century, the incarceration rates for African American and Hispanic American women have declined”
I already linked this article and here are more links:
“Imprisonment Rate of Black Men Has Fallen By Nearly 50% Since 2000”
Your numbers aren’t in the Wikipedia page you linked.
You gave me percentages. I took the total numbers from Wikipedia and did basic math. Took less than five minutes, dude. Anyway, nothing in the rest of this comment that I haven’t already addressed, so I guess we’re done here. Good luck.
Should have kept reading:
Do you see how this demonstrates the Ratchet Effect yet? Conservatives (and Joe Biden) pass a piece of legislation during the Reagan years that causes mass incarceration of black men. Clinton doesn’t move us back to the left, but passes legislation that reinforces the conservative legislation. The closest the Democrats get to, “turning the dial to the left,” is when Obama gets legislation passed that makes the problem 18 times worse for the black community instead of 100 times worse for the black community, and only after the bulk of the damage is already done. Do you see how even, even when the Democrats, “move us to the left,” things are still worse than where they started? That’s the Ratchet Effect.
A policy demanded by Black leaders having unintended consequences is not a Ratchet effect.
Yeah, I’m not really interested in your thoughts on the legislation you just learned about from me a few hours ago, but thanks anyway.
I actually lived through it instead of learning “Biden bad facts” from Russian trolls a year ago.
Funny how you are only now not interested in my thoughts after I proved your claim to be wrong.
LOL, you’ve not proved me wrong, I just don’t care to debate, “It can be racist with if black politicians supported it,” with a guy who needed me to explain the crime bills to him. I said 5 comments ago that I shouldn’t bother with someone so ignorant of American politics, and I wish I’d stuck to that, because this is a waste of my fucking time. I’m out.
The example you gave was Democrats enacting legislation requested by the Black caucus. It is the job of politicians to listen to the citizens. Black citizens asking for laws to help the Black community are not racist by definition. Are you going to use affirmative action as an example of Democrats being evil too? Maybe you should understand the examples you are using instead of repeating Russian talking points.
Percentage of blacks in prison:
1970 41%
1980 46%
1990 53%
2000 36%
2020 32%
https://www.sentencingproject.org/press-releases/new-report-finds-imprisonment-rate-of-black-men-has-fallen-by-nearly-50-since-2000-but-pushback-threatens-continued-progress/
Yes Blacks are still over represented in prison populations. But the crime bill did not increase the number of Blacks incarcerated.
Boy, I know I said I was going to stop, but you’re just so wrong all the time and I just can’t stop dunking on you. The crime bills of the 80s and the 1994 bill absolutely did increase the number if incarcerated black men. Even when the percentage went down, the population went up. Let’s look at those statistics in terms of real numbers:
1970: 328,020 prisoners, 134,488 black
1980 503,586 prisoners, 231,650 balck
1990 1,148,702 prisoners, 608,812 black
2000 1,937,482 prisoners, 697,494 black
2020 1,675,400 prisoners, 536,128 black
Source
So, even if you see the percentage going down, the actual number of black men being thrown in prison was increasing until the end of the Trump years. It’s also worth noting that we’re only looking at the racist implications of mass incarceration, but all in all, mass incarceration itself is a terrible, right-wing policy that has increased under Democratic and Republican administrations.
Funny enough, the only significant fall came during the Trump years, when the prison population fell 500,000 between 2018 and 2020. I highly doubt that had anything to do with Trump, and imagine it had more to do with Covid than anything else (and potentially state-level legalization of Marijuana), but it again shows that Democrats did little to curb mass incarceration.
OK, I’m really done now. I know I said it before, but I’m really done this time. I’ll stop spreading all this, “Russian propaganda,” that I became aware 20 fucking years ago when I was in college (damn, those Russians play a long game, huh?). I’m out. Good luck.
Your numbers aren’t in the Wikipedia page you linked. Your link did say this: “However, in the 21st century, the incarceration rates for African American and Hispanic American women have declined”
I already linked this article and here are more links: “Imprisonment Rate of Black Men Has Fallen By Nearly 50% Since 2000”
https://www.sentencingproject.org/press-releases/new-report-finds-imprisonment-rate-of-black-men-has-fallen-by-nearly-50-since-2000-but-pushback-threatens-continued-progress/
https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/ji20st.pdf https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/p00.pdf
You gave me percentages. I took the total numbers from Wikipedia and did basic math. Took less than five minutes, dude. Anyway, nothing in the rest of this comment that I haven’t already addressed, so I guess we’re done here. Good luck.