Mass incarceration is somewhat overlooked by those on the outside and those who are on the inside are considered forgotten about and viewed as less than. But the reality is, these high rates of imprisonment effect many areas of the community. Not to mention the social costs linked to the communities from which these immense population of felons come from. Pattillo, Weiman, & Western, 2006 analyzes how this disregarded population can sometimes increase criminal statistics after the prisoners return into the same community they left – which is another point rarely ever talked about. Other than the invisible consequences that mass incarceration provides, there are even more myriad studies offered surrounding this topic, identified in The Prison
This website covers the issue of prison overpopulation. This issue affects prisons all across the country. The first feature the website provides a list of each of the fifty states. Choosing a state will take you to a page that provides the number of incarcerated prisoners currently being held and the total cost to run the prison per day. The website also has a section that has articles explaining why prison overcrowding is a problem.
This is just one manifestation of America’s culture of incarceration. The United States has twenty-five percent of the world’s prisoners and only five percent of the world’s population. The prison population in the
Over the last thirty years, the prison population in the United States has increased more than seven-fold to over two million people, including vastly disproportionate numbers of minorities and people with little education. For some racial and educational groups, incarceration has become a depressingly regular experience, and prison culture and influence pervade their communities. Almost 60 percent of black male high school drop-outs in their early thirties have spent time in prison. In Punishment and Inequality in America, sociologist Bruce Western explores the recent era of mass incarceration and the serious social and economic consequences it has wrought.
Individuals residing in these areas experienced high incarceration rates and widespread mistrust about the criminal justice system's ability to serve justice. Alexander thoroughly dives into the negative effects of mass incarceration on the prison population, especially in minority populations. She explores the history and the sociological effects that have led up to and resulted in this continuous predicament. In the novel, Alexander stated, “The collateral consequences of a criminal record, such as restrictions on voting, housing, and employment, create a permanent underclass of individuals who are unable to fully participate in society.” (Alexander 140).
Abstract: This paper provides an introduction to the social impact of the collateral consequences (the families left behind) of mass incarceration. The reading will include thoughts from sociological perspectives and empirical studies that focus on the consequences incarceration and re-entry have on the striving family left behind. Partners and families of felons suffer from the system in place that punishes, rather than “corrects,” criminal behavior. Collateral Consequences Patience Kabwasa Prof. Laura Howe Soc 231-C21 May 1, 2014 Collateral Consequences
Beside restorative justice, mass incarceration acts as another solution to decrease the amount of crime, yet it should be limited. There has been a longstanding debate over the effectiveness of correctional institutions. Some argue that incarceration deters offenders while others argue that the experience of being incarcerated causes individuals to continue in their life of crime. According to Bruce Western, a professor of sociology and director of the Malcolm Wiener Center, the drastically increase amount of incarceration resulted from problems such as harming prisoners, families, and social groups. He indicates, “Black are seven times more likely to be incarcerated than whites, and large racial disparities can be seen for all age groups and
III. Literature Review Prison overcrowding has been a global issue for many years. We can all attest to the fact that incarceration is said to be the main deterrent for individuals who have committed a criminal offense. The sole purpose of this literature review is to identify prospective policies that may assist Ohio with the reduction of their overcrowded prison population. My aimed is to identify four best practices that other states like New York, New Jersey, California and Massachusetts have been using as alternatives to prison hence reducing prison overcrowding.
Rich et al (2014) discusses how prison provides a “stable environment with regular meals; reduced access to drugs and alcohol and increased access to health care”, many privileges not necessarily attainable by offenders outside of prison. For offenders who are struggling to reach the goals society places on them, prison can be considered an almost pleasant experience. If we consider a homeless person who was in prison for theft it can be understood that having shelter, regular food and medical care would be an improvement compared to their life out of prison. Mitchell, Cochran, Mears and Bales (2016) support the idea that prisons are not effective at deterring offenders. They claim that the prison environment does the opposite in some cases and encourages offenders to commit crime, this is because labelling someone as a ‘criminal’ makes them more inclined to be a criminal.
Since 1970, our prison population has risen by some 700% - an increase far outpacing rates of population growth and crime1”. The reason America has so many incarcerated people is not because Americans commit more crimes or the police are just better at finding criminals,
In the article, Unwinding Mass Incarceration by Stefan Lobuglio and Anne Piehl, they argue that unwinding the mass incarceration “well neither be cheap nor easy, and to be done responsibly will require a new infrastructure of coordinated community-based facilities and services that can meet evidence-based incarceration needs while also ensuring public safety.” Hence, their argument is clean-cut with evidence in the article to back up their argument of unwinding the mass incarceration. Similarly, a solid fill of a concluding statement upon the unwinding of the mass incarceration as stated in the article, “requires much more than stopping current practices or reversing course by mass commutations and early release programs.” Subsequently, from this article, there are numerous interesting key points, and perspective of unwinding the mass incarceration.
The most known punishment for crime is being sentenced to prison or incarcerated. If a person is in jail, he or she cannot commit further crimes by being removed from society. Incarceration is a forceful way to end crimes by reproducing and reinforcing social inequalities. Sociological research has shown current experiments with mass incarceration in the United States and proof of understanding the effects on social stratification. Punishment has increased too big to ignore, by stating incarceration as a powerful “engine of social inequality” (Western 2006, p.198).
Incarcerated Americans face many challenges when they attempt to re-enter society. Inmates that are released from prison have no money, no job, and in many cases, no place to live. On top of these challenges former inmates face, they must also navigate the same pressures and temptations that landed them in the American prison system in the first place. To make matters worse, these ex-offenders are typically released into the same environment that they left when they were originally incarcerated, adding to the dangers of these temptations. The key elements that create a successful reentry into society post incarceration include; finding and keeping a solid, decent paying job, finding a safe place to live, preferably away from the dangers
Over the decades, mass incarceration has become an important topic that people want to discuss due to the increasing number of mass incarceration. However, most of the people who are incarceration are people of color. This eventually leads to scholars concluding that there is a relationship between mass incarceration and the legacy of slavery. The reason is that people of color are the individuals who are overrepresented in prison compared to whites. If you think about it, slavery is over and African Americans are no longer mistreated; however, that is not the case as African Americans continue to face oppression from the government and police force.
The United States has a larger percent of its population incarcerated than any other country. America is responsible for a quarter of the world’s inmates, and its incarceration rate is growing exponentially. The expense generated by these overcrowded prisons cost the country a substantial amount of money every year. While people are incarcerated for several reasons, the country’s prisons are focused on punishment rather than reform, and the result is a misguided system that fails to rehabilitate criminals or discourage crime. This literature review will discuss the ineffectiveness of the United States’ criminal justice system and how mass incarceration of non-violent offenders, racial profiling, and a high rate of recidivism has become a problem.
An extensive history of slavery is the root of mass incarceration. The easiest way to define prison is as a modernized version of slavery. The reality of prison systems is different from the perception that it’s the ideal place for convicts to recover or to serve as punishment. Currently, the amount of people being incarcerated is substantially more than it used to be. Due to the crack epidemic, anyone in possession of a form of narcotic was automatically imprisoned causing an uprising in many communities.