Another Reason Why the High Incarceration Rate of Black Men Is a Serious Problem
The one out of every ten black men in the United States are currently in prison has been widely reported, and rightly so. That fact alone demands that this issue be discussed and addressed with effective solutions. However, a repercussion of this reality that has remained largely unheard is that the eviction rate for black households can also approach rates of one out of every ten in some areas.
When a black man is locked up, it doesn’t just end with him. Those around him–his wife, girlfriend, children, mother–are left with much less ability to meet the financial demands life imposes on them. A family already struggling is pushed over the edge, and then eviction, homelessness, destitution follows. From an article by Megan Cottrell discussing a new study out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison:
And eviction has consequences, more consequences than just getting put out on the street. One eviction on your record makes it harder to find your next apartment. Your security deposit might be higher. Your rent might be greater. For families who are already struggling that much, that kind of pressure leads to more trouble, more evictions. Many of the families… were paying 80 to 90 percent of their income in rent per month.
We are deluding ourselves if we believe this is in anyway just or that it does anything more than perpetuate cycles of poverty and crime from one generation to the next. This needs to be talked about; this needs to be heard. The goals of social justice and criminal justice are not mutually exclusive.
