CSUN On Point

In a population of more than 320 million American citizens, The Prison Policy Initiative estimates around 2.3 million of those citizens are incarcerated in local, state and federal prisons. Of those, more than 433,000 are serving time in federal prison for drug-related offenses.

According to NAACP, African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of Caucasians. Combined with the Hispanic population, these two minority groups comprise around 58 percent of all prisoners, even though they make up around 25 percent of the U.S. population.

“The whole criminalization of drugs really impacts minorities more than anybody else,” said Jane Bayes, CSUN political science professor. “Those are the people who are being picked up for drugs and targeted for drugs… I’m not even sure they’re the major consumers of them [though], because many whites are not targeted in the same way by law enforcement.”

According to The Sentencing Project, more people are incarcerated today just for drug-related crimes, than for all crimes in 1980.

“To a certain degree, you may look at racial profiling and stereotyping [as the reason], depending …[on the]…law enforcement agencies concerned,” said Los Angeles Harbor College political science professor Van Chaney. “I still think that is a problem within law enforcement.”

Chaney said minority groups are incarcerated at higher rates for a variety of reasons, such as lack of good legal representation, dysfunctional families and communities, and low income.

“We are all familiar with the zip code 90210,” Chaney said. “If you have a helicopter in that area at two in the morning … compared to say, Figueroa and King … who would the DEA’s office probably take the case with? Would it be at 90210, compared to South LA or at least South Central LA? Just the name itself changes [things]. I mean it’s that discrepancy that affects, unfortunately, a lot of minority groups.”

The Sentencing Project also reported that people of color make up about 37 percent of the U.S. population, but comprise 67 percent of the total prison population. A TIME study estimates black youth are arrested for drug crimes at a rate 10 times higher than whites, but whites are more likely to abuse these drugs.

Another controversy is the increasing privatization and profitability of prisons. According to the Drug Police Alliance, federal and state governments have spent over $1 trillion on the so-called war on drugs over the past four decades, relying on tax dollars to pay the bills.

“To me, one of the biggest problems is we’ve made prisons into money making operations,” Bayes said, “and that provides all kinds of new incentives to fill the prisons and to keep them [full,] too.”

Private prisons make a huge profit from incarcerating drug offenders, according to the NAACP, mainly due to the mandatory minimum sentencing put in place for drug possession. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the average prison sentence for federal drug offenders is more than 11 years. According to the VERA Institute of Justice , the total cost to house prisoners ranged from $14,603 in Kentucky, to $60,076 in New York, per inmate each year. Critics suggest taxpayer dollars are not being well spent, considering that more than two-thirds of all incarcerated prisoners will return to prison within three years of being released.

The debate over the war on drugs is an ongoing one among many Americans, who are concerned about how their tax dollars are spent. Considering the high rate of recidivism, and how much money is spent to imprison drug offenders, many question whether the criminal justice system of prisons is a big business, or a new form of slavery, or both.

Moderator: Nicholas Seaman

Anchor: Caitlin Pieh

Producer: Nicholas Seaman

Social Media Editors: Noemi Barajas and Juaneeq Elliott

Reporters: Noemi Barajas, Halie Cook, Juaneeq Elliott, Ala Errebhi, Caitlin Pieh, Jamie Perez and Nicholas Seaman

Mixed Martial Arts has been gaining popularity over the last decade, even with children. With prominent figures like Rhonda Rousey, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather and many others involved, it is no surprise that MMA would eventually appeal to kids.

But many parents are on the fence about placing their kids in MMA, because of the perception that this sport causes a lot of serious injuries through direct physical contact.

Studies published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine and the North American Journal of Sports Physical Therapy report that MMA poses greater risks for injury than other combat sports, especially among professionals.

But, according to some UFC advocates, MMA does not incorporate violence into classes for kids, and may actually be an outlet for some children to channel their aggression in healthy ways.

“There’s a misconception that parents think throwing kids into martial arts is actually going to make them more aggressive, and [the] kids are going to become bullies,” said Turbo, a UFC fighter and coach. “In reality, it’s the complete opposite. They now have a structure where they can kind of channel their energy.”

Many parents are signing their kids up, despite the controversy, because the training and exercise seems to increase their kids’ confidence and motivation, in school as well as in other areas of life. In 2012, ESPN reported nearly 5.5 million teenagers and another 3.2 million kids under 13 participating in MMA training.

“[My daughter] became very confident, very outgoing,” said UFC coach and mother Aja Starr, “and being able to do one workout gave her the confidence that she could to do the next workout…[Kids] make the connection between being a good athlete and being a good student, and being a good person.”

“There’s a lot of children throughout the world who could benefit from this, and could also increase their self-esteem and their grades, and actually their relationship with their parents,” said CSUN Psychology Professor Herman Rodriguez.

“I think it’s just a misconception that parents think that they’re basically ushering their kids into this very violent arena, when in fact it’s like any sport,” Starr said. “It’s no different than karate or taekwondo or soccer, for that matter. I think what people miss is that there’s a sport, there’s a real discipline to it, and there’s a real path that their kids are on that doesn’t necessarily have to lead to aggression.”

Moderator: Caitlin Pieh

Anchor: Ala Errebhi

Producer: Halie Cook

Social Media Editor: Nicholas Seaman

Reporters: Noemi Barrajas, Halie Cook, Juaneeq Elliott, Ala Errebhi, Jamie Perez and Nicholas Seaman