“It’s Your Fault”: The Overcriminalization and Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in the Imprisonment of African American Males in America

Abstract

African American men have been subjected to the abuse and neglect of America’s Criminal Justice System for centuries. Such subjection has made them victims of systematic racism and prejudice; however, they have been depicted as everything other than victims. Societies’ continuous rejection of them as anything other than criminal, has forced them into the confines of imprisonment. The basis of their imprisonment can be directly connected to history’s congestion of the African American community. The utilization of the prison system has become a new-found version of enslavement. Labels attached to African American men have remained consistent with America’s overcriminalization of them. Why? Answers to questions relative to the one posed will be studied beginning with the historical development of criminalizing black men post-slavery. Data tables and analysis are provided in addition, to demonstrate the racial disparities and consequences of such overcriminalization. Evaluations of the news outlet’s association with black men and criminality will also be discussed. Effects on the offspring and familial structure will also be considered and morphed into the census of continued repercussions black men are subjected to due to Americanism, and the effects on their families and vulnerability to criminality.