Mass Incarceration

100:1 disparity a minimum sentence of 5 years without parole for possessing
5 grams of crack cocaine (mostly used by blacks), and the
same punishment for 500 grams of powder cocaine

it was the incarcerations of the drug was that lead to the government establishing this in the media.

diverting drugs users to rehabilitative treatment instead of incarceration

it brought attention to the inequalities of the implementation of the law among U.S. citizens.-- Racial profiling

The court case Planned Parenthood v. Casey legalized abortion. This relates to the mass incarceration of non violent criminals because the amount of women incarcerated decreased by a lot with the passing of the case.

due to the increase of so many drug incarcerations the government sought to discontinue the drug abuse in later generations.

The three-strikes law significantly increases the prison sentences of persons convicted of a felony who have been previously convicted of two or more violent crimes or serious felonies, and limits the ability of these offenders to receive a punishment other than a life sentence.

it is the largest crime bill in the history of the United States and consisted of 356 pages that provided for 100,000 new police officers, $9.7 billion in funding for prisons and $6.1 billion in funding for prevention programs, which were designed with significant input from experienced police officers

Clinton signs welfare reform, increasing obstacles for
people convicted of drug felonies to access the social safety net,
and immigration reform, which increases deportation for noncitizens

is an imprisonment (jail) sentence, except that the offender serves the sentence outside of jail, under strict, jail-like conditions. Conditional sentences are sometimes called “house arrest ,” because they often require an offender to spend all or part of the sentence in their house.

9/11 attacks prompt War on Terror, which increasingly
is used as just cation for intrusive policing in the name of
homeland security and counter-terrorism.

2002 US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) formed.

In United States v. Booker, the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that when imposing a sentence,
federal judges must only consider the facts

Jena High School in Louisiana makes
major headlines over a prosecutor allegedly
targeting students on racial grounds.

Second Chance Act of 2007, which increases the programs that people
have access to in prison and reforms the re-entry
process to give those released a second chance

Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 was passed to reduce
the 100 to 1 disparity between crack and powder
cocaine possessions laws to 18 to 1. Mandatory

The fatal shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin by
a local vigilante sparked a national outcry against
potentially racist motivations in the way the case

Obama administration reverses its policy on asylum
seekers, deciding that ICE will detain all arriving Central
American families, even those judged to be "fleeing a “credible
threat” who will likely be granted asylum.
California voters pass Proposition 47, which reclasses
many non-serious, non-violent property and drug crimes as
misdemeanors.