Reflection Paper

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Question: Prepare a paper of 2-3 pages discussing your observations from the Learning Activities. Especially correlate the poverty rates based on education attainment. What does that imply about the importance of education in breaking the cycle of poverty? 

Module 6 Learning Activities:

  1. Read the excerpts from The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness 
  2. Download The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, 2010, The New Press, 2012
  3. Read “Prison and the Poverty Trap Download Prison and the Poverty Trap” by John Tierney, The New York Times, February 18, 2013
  4. Go to “Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2020.” (Links to an external site.)  Please review the charts and read the entire report. It is full of interesting data.
  5. Go to “State Profiles” (Links to an external site.) and click on Alabama on the map. Review the data for Alabama and consider how it compares to the national data you reviewed.
  6. Go to “States of Incarceration: The Global Context 2021” (Links to an external site.) and see where Alabama ranks in the listing. Compare Alabama’s incarceration rate to that of the U.S. and other countries.
  7. Read “First Step Act Passes Download First Step Act Passes” by Steve Horn, Prison Legal News, January 2019 Read “Beyond the First Step Act Download Beyond the First Step Act” by Bernard Kerik, Newsmax, January 2, 2019.
  8. Research the amount of funding by Alabama for the “Department of Corrections” (or the equivalent in Alabama) and also the amount of funding for other departments or activities. Note where the funding for corrections ranks in the total budget. That is, is it the largest budget item, or where does it fall?
  9. Go to Alabama Possible data sheet (Links to an external site.) and review the data, comparing the information for Dallas County to the Alabama average and other counties around Dallas County. In terms of the percentage of Alabama population living below the federal poverty levels and note what the federal poverty levels are for various family sizes.