Flipping the Narrative of Stagnation: Essex County and Incarceration Disparity

Introduction

New Jersey ranks 5th in lowest incarceration rates and 3rd in public safety nationwide. One might assume New Jersey’s safety policies, policing, and incarceration systems are working coherently and effectively, which is true, but only to an extent. New Jersey remains a highly segregated state: Essex County, in particular, is the most segregated county in New Jersey. According to a UCLA’s Civil Rights Project, New York and Illinois have the most segregated schools with Michigan and New Jersey close behind. Although they are two adjacent communities within Newark, Belmont, which has a greater Black community, has an imprisonment rate 4x University Heights, a predominately white community. So if New Jersey is one of the safest states in the country, why should we look to reform the blatant incarceration disparities and segregation within communities? This question would implicate that imprisoning minorities and segregating communities results in safer communities, and overall, a safer state. This approach to our criminal justice system operates in a sense of comfort for non-minority groups, a lack of analysis of the system’s effects, and a stagnation in policy analysis at the detriment of quality of life for minority groups. I believe we need to scrutinize and examine our system closer.

Presumption of Guilt

Presumption of guilt enables for profiling, higher incarceration rates for minority groups, and disproportionate decisions, sentences, and plea negotiations; if we don’t examine how presumption of guilt operates within segregated communities and New Jersey incarceration rates, we are, in effect, allowing for mistaken incarcerations and unfair processes within our criminal justice system. Presumption of guilt is the notion that a person is guilty of a crime or neutral until proven to be innocent. Presumption of innocence is the opposite, holding that a defendant is assumed to be innocent until they have been proven guilty and that a prosecutor has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt every element of a crime with evidence. Presumption of innocence has been recognized as one of the most basic requirements of a fair trial; however, studies have shown unconscious associations between being Black and criminality. This association results in higher police searches, searches, and juvenile court sentencings towards young men of color; harsher decisions and disadvantaged plea negotiations; increased likelihood of being denied bail and diversion; and an increased risk of wrongful convictions or unfair sentencings. The difference between population and incarceration rates by race, in Essex County, is overwhelming: Black people make up 72% of incarcerations in comparison to 14% of White people; the population difference is close, with there only being 11% more Black people residing in Essex County. So how do we make sure our system doesn’t utilize presumption of guilt–which leads to higher incarceration rates and unfair sentencings–with minority groups in attempts to consolidate its public safety or safety ranking? This is difficult to answer due to the unconscious nature presumption of guilt can take. Our justice system needs to make sure police searches, rulings and decisions are consistent with the law and restrict biases.

Reframing Limited Mindsets on Violence

It might be common to assume that desegregating cities would bring violence to other cities and predominantly white communities, but what if the mindset isn’t that minority groups would bring violence to other cities, thus the need for segregated systems, but that these segregated systems perpetuate and bring violence for minority communities. The first operates from an exclusionary mindset and fosters stagnation while the second invites a change in systems. Communities with high incarceration rates are more likely to have high unemployment rates, long average commute times, low household income, a high percentage of residents with less than a high school diploma or GED, decreased life expectancy, and higher rates of children with elevated blood-lead levels. Homelessness makes an individual 11 times more likely to be incarcerated, and being incarcerated makes a person 10 times more likely to be homeless. More than one-fourth of all homeless individuals reported being arrested for activities related to homelessness. Witnessing so much loss within your own community, family members being incarcerated, higher stress, and an inability to provide your children with adequate food can lead to attempts to escape pain and suffering through substance use. According to the American Action Forum, “Of the 226,000 people in federal prisons and jails, 78,000 (47 percent of the convicted population) are serving for drug offenses and 22,000 are being held by U.S. Marshalls for drug charges but have not yet been convicted.” Defining aspects of homelessness and drug use(in cases where the person is still not convicted) as crimes continues the cycle of oppression within marginalized communities. Judicial and governmental intervention is needed to make housing in New Jersey affordable, dissociate homelessness with incarceration, release people for drug charges they have not been convicted of, reduce harsh sentences, and implement inmate reentry programs for a better quality of life after prison instead of a worse one.