Rooted in Oppression: Why the U.S. Policing and Carceral Systems Are Issues of Systemic Environmental Injustice

ABSTRACT

It is well established within both the scientific literature and social discourse that policing in the United States has a history of racial bias. Black people make up a disproportionate percentage of the prison population in this country-a direct result of policies such as "convict leasing" and the War on Drugs, designed to hyper-police the Black community. In this article, we explain how the development of the U.S. carceral system is inextricably linked to slavery at its foundation, how the late twentieth century saw the development of laws that discriminately impact Black people, and why policing and the carceral system must be viewed through a lens of environmental justice. Using modern case studies, we argue that the U.S. carceral system is fraught with issues of environmental injustice, both historically and in the face of new challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We aim to show that any path forward must be intersectional in its approach, and highlight that the environmental movement must incorporate social justice to address systemic issues of environmental injustice.