You should watch Alice Goffman’s TED Talk

By vinodnarayan on May 7, 2015 • ( 0 )

It is true that many of the people living in US are not aware of the real numbers… but United states stands second, next only to seychelles in the number of incarceration per 100000 population. United states has 707 people behind bars for every 100000 people that is roughly 2.2 million people who are kept away from the society so safety can be guaranteed. I will not get into the cost this incurs… Additionally, 4 million plus adults at year-end 2011 were on probation or on parole. In total, 6 million plus adults were under correctional supervision (probation, parole, jail, or prison) in 2011 – about 2.9% of adults in the U.S. resident population…. Now this is just the adult incarceration.

Come to Youth incarceration, the US juvenile and judicial system incarcerates more of its youth than any other country in the world, In 2010, approximately 70,800 juveniles were incarcerated in youth detention facilities alone. Approximately 500,000 youth are brought to detention centers in a given year. This data does not reflect juveniles tried as adults. Around 40% are incarcerated in privatized, for-profit facilities. Did you hear that… for-profit facilities…. the fact is there is profit made in incarcerating kids…..

Alice Goffman is a sociologist and the author of the book ‘On The Run’ who has worked several years in struggling Philadelphia neighborhood and shown the world how a justice system creates suspects rather than citizens. She has over the year first hand seen teenagers of African-American and Latino background mercilessly funneled on the path to prisons. In this TED talk Alice delivers with so much emotion the problem we have in our system and why she feels there is hope and still more work needs be done….

It is sad when the system makes the path to education tougher and unaffordable to many…. For kids prison is not a choice they make.. it is the result of the lack of choices given to them… Invest in education, divest in prisons, pump time and resources for decarceration…. education is what keeps kids out of trouble not prisons and detention facilities. Instead of providing kids with pens and class time they get handcuffs and jail time. It is unfair and we have all the adults to blame for it…..

This is a must watch…. and I just ordered her book which I think is a must read for every adult in the united states