Furthermore, these families who took custody of toddler and teenagers also had a hard time guiding them on the bus, train, and taxis. Trips to the Correctional Facility was a burden for families, causing them not too visit whomever was incarcerated. For the women who are incarcerated families can be a source of support when serving their term in prison. For example, piper describes when families went to visit in prison women were extremely happy to have seen all of them (Kerman, 2011). Having the support from family can help and motivate the individual while in
I found an opinion article from CNN written in 2015 by Evan Feinberg. His article is titled, “Why are so many Americans criminals?” In the article, he explains how America has the highest incarceration rate in the world, creating a huge problem for its citizens. Feinberg cited a statistic that incarceration leads to an 11% drop in wages, 9 weeks lost of employments each year, and a 40% annual reduction in wages (Pew).
The prison system itself is corrupted and unfair to those individuals in it. Even though there are reform programs within the prisons, many prisoners return to prison due to inconsistent follow ups and the absence of these programs outside of prison. This creates high recidivism rates because they have a place to sleep and guaranteed meals and outside of prison it’s harder from them to have access to all of that. Elliot Currie states, “As we have crammed more and more offenders into prison, we have simultaneously retreated from the already minimal commitment to help them reenter productive society.” When the Eastern State Penitentiary was first opened in 1829, its main focus was to rehabilitate prisoners so they could reenter society (Eastern State Penitentiary).
III. Prison system affects poverty ● America 's prison system is increasing the poverty in The United states. According to “Out of prison and out of work: Jobs out of reach for former inmates” an article by published by CNN, written by Tanzina Vega the united states has 5 percent of the world 's population but 25 percent of its prison population. A large part of this is due to unemployment. As can be seen in an article published by VICE named “Why Is Getting a Job After Prison Still Such a Nightmare for Ex-Cons?”.
I also agree that both the person gettin incarcerated, and the family is affected. They miss out on each others lives. Like with Mr. Harris he was in prison for 20 years. Now all of his kids are grown, and he missed out on them growing up. This also puts the mother in a weird position to take care of the children by herself.
It relates because a lot of the careers we may choose to take, involve dealing with prisoners, helping people after prison, mental health, and substance abuse. We learn early the reason people commit crime or act out in prisons. From bad neighborhoods to mental disorders, there is always a reason someone does the things they do. Maybe in the future, we can reform the prison system into a better function place, and help people instead of hurt
Introduction: In the United States today, state and federal prisons house over 1.5 million prisoners. Families of incarcerated individuals share in their time of confinement, including their children, who become indirect victims of crime. Approximately 1.7 million children under eighteen in the U.S. have at least one parent behind bars, constituting 2.3 percent of the 74 million minor children (Russell-Brown, 2015). Numerous children encounter the challenging reality of having a parent behind bars.
My findings focused on the points that mass incarceration substantially affects families and jobs, which then become factors in the issue of recidivism. Moreover, these problems especially target minorities at high rates. To strengthen these points, I could have done more interviews, especially with past convicts or convicts who have returned to jail in order to get more first-hand experiences. As well as interviews with different ages of children exposed to incarceration to see if or how the effects differed. In the future, I hope to expand on the other ways incarceration affects lives, such as through health, especially mental health, or college opportunities.
Slavery, Jim Crow, the ghetto, and the carceral apparatus are all structural institutions that share a mutual beneficial relationship where each has supplemented and historically progressed into more advanced subtle forms of oppression and racism. Past and current regimes served as social functions with the objective of encompassing African Americans in a permanent subordinate position. In each generation, newer developments of a racial caste emerge with the same objective of repudiating African Americans citizenship. The only thing that has changed since Jim Crow is the language we use to justify racial exclusion (Alexander, 2). These four regimes are genealogically linked because they all advanced and developed from one another.
Levitt and Dubner used the study “On Behalf of a Moratorium on Prison Construction” (123) to counter and, in the end, strengthen their theory of incarceration rates. This literature review will answer the following question: Do high incarceration rates in fact deter criminals from commiting crimes and, if there is a link, how big of an impact do they
history has undeniably proven incarceration of the masses is not the answer to restoring justice in our communities. There is not one program or theory that will resolve all crime or criminal activity at all levels. The definition of crime is fluid as society, itself, defines crime, thus society creates crime. Those in society with the greatest power and status, in the majority of cases tend to be those with the highest incomes, are the most influential in defining and creating crime. Those same individuals are those who represent our political beliefs and agendas.
Children need to feel secure and loved and need supervision and guidance. If a parent cannot be present to care for and look after their children, it can cause the child to feel afraid and they may act out or behave in ways that they would not if the parent were living with them. Several studies have found that a significant number of children of incarcerated parents struggle with a variety of childhood problems that have long term implications for adult adjustment (Kjellstrand, 2012). Even if children visit parents in while they are incarcerated, the physical and emotional distance can become a strain on their relationship. I think more should be done to encourage courts to take families into consideration in sentencing and correctional facilities should have better resources for incarcerated parents to maintain healthy relationships with their children.
Parental Incarceration: The Impact on Families The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, over 2 million people are in the nation's penitentiary facilities across the country. Within this figure there are an estimated 900,000 prisoners in the country's penitentiaries that were parents of minor children or children under the legal adulthood, estimated 1,706,600 minor children, accounting for 2.3% of the nation's population (Glaze & Maruschak, 2008). When a parent is sent to prison, many dimensions of the family dynamic alters significantly, the effect of incarceration is not restricted to those serving time for their committed crime but can influence children through the emotional and behavioral social stigmas and the social stigma from financial instability. Instrumental/Technical:
But even when someone ends up incarcerate family will always be together depending on the crime. Convicts that are eligible for parole or are serving a short sentence are allowed to have conjugal visits because it can be an eye opener for them to realize what they can lose if they decide walk the same path that took them to where they are. (Girshick, 1996) Children have a long term advantage about these visitations because even if a parents is incarcerated they are allowed to have overnight stays with them. The way a child develops can be affect by the limited time they are allowed to be with a parent.
Poverty’s effects on crime can be explained through a variety of reasons. There is a higher rate of mental illness among the poor than the rich. Poverty can lead to high levels of stress, which in turn drive individuals to commit theft, robbery or other violent acts. Moreover, poverty may lead to actual or perceived inferior education. Youth with less access to quality schools, jobs, and role models and opportunities end up spending time on the streets associating with gangs.
