Incarceration
So far, the main purposes of incarceration are incapacitation, rehabilitation and integration. In the model of incapacitation, the prisoner is deterred from committing more crimes, and the security of the populace is under consideration. In the rehabilitation model, there are treatment sessions in the prison system in order to reform the prisoner, while integration has the objective of enabling prisoners to return to society such that they become productive members of it, and are able to maintain productive relations with family and acquaintances (Cole and Smith, 336).
What are some potential impacts of incarceration on an individual? the family? Their community?
One major impact of incarceration on an individual is psychological in nature. As prisons are isolated. As they adapt to the “normal” conditions in the abnormal conditions of prison life, and oftentimes they become unable to make informed decisions on their own as they have come to rely on the decisions made for them within the penal system. They are also traumatized in the sense that the harsh life in prison becomes an extension of the already harsh life they have experienced so far. Residents of communities with relatively high incidences of incarceration are said to have experienced anxiety and depression. Schools in these areas often adopt zero-tolerance policies, treating the children of incarcerated individuals as if they were criminals as well (The Atlantic: How Incarceration Infects a Community).
What is the Relationship between Incarceration and Racism?
The norm for incarcerated individuals is that 5.1 % of the US population is seen as being incarcerated at one point in their lives. For African-Americans, this figure moves up to a whopping 33.3%. Black individuals make up almost half of those who are waiting on death row, and it is said that the odds of a defendant receiving the death sentences is four times higher if the defendant is African-American. This means that there may be an “incarceration or sentencing bias” towards African Americans in the US criminal justice system (Attn: Our Prison System is Even More Racist than You Think).
Works Cited
Cole, George and Smith, Christopher. Criminal Justice in America. 2010. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadworth. Web.
Macarow, Aron. Our Prison System is Even More Racist than You Think. 2015. Web.
Von Hoffman, Emily. How Incarceration Infects a Community. 2015. Web.
