Project Reflection #1

Beginning my 20 Time Project I had a few hurdles to overcome. I am beginning this project a week late, so I have some extra work to complete in the next week or two to get caught up and on schedule. In addition, I have to do some more research and investigation to find scholarly sources to support my project. Luckily I work well under pressure and am excited to get to work.

For my 20 Time Project, my topic of choice is Systemic Racism: Incarceration and the Criminal Justice System. 

I'm still deciding on what education product I want to create about my topic, but I have been ruminating on the ideas of an Instagram account, an informational video, or a display poster/infographic on mass incarceration. 

In my initial research findings, I have learned that the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. While the U.S. only accounts for 5% of the global population, our prisoners make up 25% of the world's incarcerated population. Beyond that very shocking initial finding, I learned that since the 1970s and 1980s, the U.S. incarceration rate has boomed to its current number-one status. As a country that totes itself to be the "Land of the Free," how can we believe that is true when so many people are not free?

For my next steps, I will need to do some online research into mass incarceration and the effects it has on American populations and communities. I want to know more about the incarcerated population. What is the racial makeup of those incarcerated? What are the crimes most prevalent for those incarcerated? What are other countries doing that we are not doing here in the United States? I have done academic research through online databases, so I'm confident I will find some relevant material. After doing some research, I need to return to this blog and complete an update.

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