Foremost, significant reforms are highly required in the domain of the criminal justice system to address social issues. The literature has reported that Black men, in particular, are drastically overrepresented in the prison population. They are found more likely to be incarcerated five times more than white men in the course of life (Carrega, 2021). Moreover, they used to serve longer sentences than white men. This bitter reality has profound effects on the life of Black men.
Usually, they face barriers in finding growing employment opportunities and housing. Many among them lose their fundamental right to cast a vote of being a citizen. Also, many lack equitable access to social services. This minimizes Black men’s available resources and economic opportunities by ultimately reducing their role in society. Therefore, reform in the criminal justice system must be made a policy priority to address these hindrances.
Another crucial breakthrough for reducing the Black issues is to pay heed to the education system. Black men have fewer opportunities to attain higher education because those with a felony record encounter limited access to educational opportunities. Additionally, the perceived bias in teachers causes grading bias, higher suspension and expulsion rates, higher rates of arrests, and other covert and overt forms of racism. Thus, it’s evident that there needs to be a policy reform to deal with the educational disparities.
Following the disparities in the educational system, improvement in employment opportunities is a dire need because Black men experience higher rates of unemployment and lower earnings than white Americans. And this trend is indicative of the ultimate more inadequate access to quality healthcare and limited social connections (Liberman and Fontaine, 2015). Thus, policy should be amended to facilitate Black men with better employment opportunities to bring positive outcomes. It is linked with improving educational outcomes that will consequently increase chances in the labor market.
If it is desired to strengthen the connections and relations of Black men within a community, mentorship programs play a vital role in making it successful. Policy to provide Black men with a Black male role model benefits them across several areas, including academic performances, mental and physical health, social and emotional well-being, and preventing threatening behaviors. Such programs can be promoted through investing in public policy. Before this, desired qualities in the mentor should be evaluated, like he needs to be positive, academic, accessible, and visible (dominating and influential). Reliability is also the crucial factor to look at as mentors that come and go often do more harm than good. This will be a significant step to making a remarkable and notable positive difference in their lives.
References
Carrega, C. (2021). Black Americans are incarcerated at nearly five times the rate of Whites, new report on state prisons finds. CNN Politics. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/13/politics/black-latinx-incarcerated-more/index.html
Liberman, A. M., and Fontaine, J. (2015). Reducing harms to boys and young men of color from criminal justice system involvement. Urban Institute. https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/39551/2000095-Reducing-Harms-to-Boys-and-Young-Men-of-Color-from-Criminal-Justice-System-Involvement.pdf