Incarceration and African-American Men

Paper Summary:

African-American male adolescents and adults are embedded in a context that is less supportive of their health and well being than of any other group in this country. They have lower life expectancies, high-risk exposure and higher levels of incarceration than any other group.
The paper shows that African-Americans are disproportionately residents of large cities which seem to have higher homicide rates and higher rates of alcohol and drug abuse. When they do drink, they tend to have worse consequences from their drinking, including incarceration and addiction. The paper shows that with incarceration, comes additional problems of exacerbated health issues and exposure to new, life-threatening infections. Services have been cut for education and prevention in prisons and jails. Finally, recidivism rates are longer for African-American males as are jail sentences. The paper argues that improving the health status of African-American males requires a multi-faceted approach, including support of a two-adult family structure, continuing emphasis on the negative impacts of racism, reduction of drug and alcohol abuse, intervention in prison health systems and improved recidivism programs. The paper provides an overview literature on the subject.

From the Paper:

"Results indicated that mortality rates were excessive for both men and women in all of the poverty areas, especially among African-Americans. For example, boys in Harlem who reached the age of 15 had only a 37 percent chance of surviving to the age of 65. The only African-American area study that had mortality rates comparable to those of standardized national rates for white American was the Queens-Bronx area in which the mortality rate for men was 1.18 (Geronimus et al., 1996)."

More papers on Incarceration and African-American Men:

• Research Paper # 27161 : "African-American Men"
• Argumentative Essay # 148833 : "African Americans and Jail Time Served"
• Research Paper # 16371 : "African-American Leaders"

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