Trussell

Kameryn Trussell

English 102

Dr. Wynne

9 February 2017

Genre Analysis: Incarceration Rates

Incarceration rates have increased tremendously and reportedly, in 2016, the American

criminal justice system holds more than 2.3 million people in 1,719 state prisons. This includes

federal prisons, juvenile correctional facilities, local jails, Indian country jails, military prisons,

immigration detention facilities, and civil commitment centers. When researching this topic, I

realized that an article called More Black Men Are in Prison Today Than Enslaved in 1850

written on laprogressive.com expressed factual information, in a chronological order, that

concluded my topic of growth in incarceration rates. Also, I found a song by Nas, an R&B

rapper, called One Love that expresses a different insight from the eyes of the black male

being incarcerated. Nas uses this to show his feelings about seeing everyone he knows gradually

going away due to an unprecedented increase in African American male incarceration and lets

the audience step in the shoes of the prisoner.

Both the written and oral genres I chose were used to raise awareness on the topic of

incarceration, in particularly African American men. Their point was more so not to change the

audiences views on Americas criminal justice system, but to enlighten not only African

Americans but America in general. A reader can tell this because the use of facts instead of

including words such as I am writing to or you should consider. Instead of using a forceful
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way of speaking to the audience, written and oral genres tend to use data that can be proven as

well as life experiences to show detailed effects it has had on a community or society.

We can assume that most audiences reading about incarceration have somewhat of an

idea about the growth it has had over the past few years because of the amount of families being

affected recently. Usually the audience can show mixed signals when hearing references to this

topic. As a result, this is why on specific topics that can cause bewilderment, turmoil or

passionate responses have to be delivered in a way that can speak to many different audiences.

With this being said written and oral genres show similarities but they show many differences as

well in how they approach topics. While both genres were made to inform, oral genres can use

more visuals and attention grabbers that creates a hook that hooks the reader to the topic. For

example, in the song One Love by Nas, he tells a visual story from the perspective of black

male that gets caught and has to serve time in jail. This male is in an up-roar as he is not able to

see his unborn child being birthed or grow up so, in a sense, he begins to tell him all about life on

the streets of New York and how tough they can be. With this style, the audience gets a visual

and vivid representation of the effects of that incarceration has not only the individual but also

the ones surrounding them. This emotional appeal is used to persuade the audience through the

use of pathos. Oral genres are meant to be heard and as Nas is speaking and using different tones,

the audience can relate the elements of sound and communication and combine them to get a

clear understanding of the topic in a popular style used to share facts or stories. Written genres

have been used for audiences that need to see factual information and gives a more rational

approach to relying material. In the article, the author introduces the idea that black men

incarceration rates have increased using numbers and relating it to factual information. Logos is

prevalent in this article because it continues to imply reason and logic to target the audience. For
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example, they describe how drugs have been affecting less fortunate and causing an incarceration

increase specifically in those areas.

Structure and delivery have had an important impact on how the audience receives the

information. When reading or trying to rely information that will appeal to all audiences, the

sequence of the content is important as well. The article uses chronological order to show how

incarceration rates have increased overtime. Why is chronological order important you may ask?

When events unfold, you are able to see how they are related and view the bigger picture from it

when you relate it to the previous events that occurred. Chronological order will appeal to an

audience in a written genre because they are able to prove that the information is factual. Oral

genres use a more lenient structure because the author is trying to grab the audiences attention

through visual and creative delivery. The use of visual arts and representation go a long way

when introducing a topic to a younger crowd. Sounds, artwork, and songs are things that society

more often listen to and grasp to when learning information. The song One Love by Nas,

creatively explains the effects that incarceration has on a family and still raises awareness on the

concerning topic.

In conclusion, both genres give a detailed representation of how concerning the rates of

black men being incarcerated increased tremendously over the past few years. Written and oral

genres may be different in the way they convey a message, but they share the common purpose

of letting society know the issues at hand. Raising awareness on the fact that crime rates have

had an enormous growth needed to be done in different ways so that people can really

understand the importance of this topic. When relying a message, you need to appeal to all types

of learners because not everyone is able to grasp a concept in the same way. Some people are

visual learners where you prefer using pictures and visuals, auditory learners prefer using music,
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verbal learners prefer writing and speech, and physical learners tend to prefer using their body

and hands to touch and feel. Overall I believe that the written and oral genres I chose were

effective in my research about the topic and helped convey the message. Although the two genres

have different approaches, I would recommend the audience use these two to get two different

types of understandings from the material trying to be taught.

Works Cited
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Price, D., 2015, February 24). More Black Men are in Prison Today than Were Enslaved

in 1850. Retrieved February 18, 2017, from https://www.laprogressive.com/black-men-prison-

system/

One Love [Advertisement]. (2011, March 26). Retrieved February 18, 2017, from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxce_qvhi5I
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