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What are the Impacts of Incarceration?
Team C: Stormie Roman, Tiyoka Phifer, Nichole Rabideau, Sharail Woods, Jeremy Paschke,
and Taurence Walker
Everest College Phoenix
November 23, 2014
Criminal Justice Capstone Course – 1001
Professor Moore
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What are the Impacts of Incarceration?
The United States has the most prisoners of any developed country in the world, and it has the
largest total prison population of any nation. According to Nicole Flatow:
“More than 1.57 million inmates sat behind bars in federal, state, and county prisons and jails
around the country as of December 31, 2013. Also, Black men are six times more likely than
white men to be in prison, while Hispanic men are 2.4 times more likely, according to a
Sentencing Project analysis of the data.” (Flatow, 2014). The impacts of incarceration can be
both negative and positive. Incarcerating an offender impacts victims, offenders, offender’s
families, the criminal justice system, and society in general.
Incarceration affects everyone differently. For some the fact that a particular offender is behind
bars may be a positive thing. They may be able to sleep more soundly at night knowing that the
offender or offenders who wronged them are behind bars. However sometimes the offender of
the victim may plea to a lesser charge and receives less time, or gain an early release. Some may
see this as a good thing, while others do not. For many the same offender’s incarceration may
negatively impact their lives. For example, if a single mother mugged another woman, the victim
would likely be glad that the offender was punished. However, the offender’s child would likely
be devastated, and their life negatively impacted; which could cause the victim to feel guilt. In
addition, if retaliation is taken against a victim for an offender being incarcerated, that impacts
their lives negatively.
Incarceration affects victims both positively and negatively. On one hand, victims are often
glad that the offenders are incarcerated and not in society; however on the other hand they may
feel some guilt. The likely feel much safer knowing that they cannot be victimized again by an
offender, due to their being incarcerated. This is good, as it allows them to freely go out, work,
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and socialize; all things they might be afraid to do if their offender was not behind bars. They are
glad that the offender is being punished for their crime(s), but may feel bad for their family
and/or dependents. Many offenders have families, children, or others who depend on them. Even
though it is not the victims’ fault that the offender committed such acts, it is hard not to pity
children who will become wards of the state due to the offender’s incarceration.
It is important to have national policies, as well as national educational initiatives. They
must be put in place to train and educate all criminal justice agency professionals. Such as, for
example, law enforcement, prosecution, judicial, probation and parole officers, on the traumatic
and disappointing effects of crime on the lives of victims, and even on the community (Chicago,
2014). Getting victims involved allows for victim impact statements to be filled out and crimes
to be reported. Also, getting victims involved allows law enforcement officers to measure the
level of crime, and victim participation in trials (Chicago, 2014). If victims are not involved, the
crime rates increase, and the level of crime nationally cannot be measured. This is due to the fact
of under reported crimes, as well as lack of victim statements; which help officials document and
measure crime rates (Chicago, 2014).
The impact of incarceration on offenders can be both positive and negative as well.
Incarceration however, negatively impacts offenders seemingly much more though than it benefit
them. Offenders lose their jobs when they become incarcerated. They also suffer the destruction
of many relationships, such as marriages, friendships, etc. Many people will lose not only
respect, but love in the eyes of former friends or family members. Also, offenders are labeled
with emotionally destructive labels, such as criminal, thief, rapist, abuser, convict, felon, etc.
However, incarceration may be able, in some cases, to positively impact offenders by giving
them a wake-up call, so to speak. Sometimes incarceration can make an offender realize how
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poorly they are behaving and living their life. They will see that their crime was not worth the
punishment, and resolve to live a crime free life upon release. They also may be motivated to go
to school, or obtain some type of degree or license. This way they can obtain a job, and not have
to pursue any criminal activities.
The impact of incarceration of offender’s families also can be both positive and/or
negative. Many times the impact of incarceration negatively affects a family. This is due to the
fact that the offender many times is the bread winner, or provider, for the family. In addition,
children suffer greatly when a parent is incarcerated. Research has shown that children of
offenders often suffer mental, psychological, emotional, and even physical effects when a parent
is incarcerated (NMSU, 2008). This can range from nervous tendencies and behaviors such as
nail biting, to destructive behavior such as vandalism or violence (NMSU, 2008). Sometimes
though, families of offenders may be better off without them. Sometimes the people an offender
hurts the most is their family. For example, if an offender were to physically and/or emotionally
abuse their family on a regular basis. Other ways that offenders could be harming their families
is by wasting money, doing drugs, stealing from them, etc.
The criminal justice system is also impacted by offenders being incarcerated. Negative
effects on the criminal justice system include overcrowding in incarceration facilities, an
enormous load of criminal cases to try, etc. There is a lot of work to do before, during, and after
the incarceration of an individual. Officers must collect proof, arrest, and detain the offender.
Judges, lawyers, juries, and others must work to decide a verdict in a case that goes to court, and
in plea deal cases. Then once offenders are incarcerated they take up space, beds, and require
basic essentials. They must be fed, clothed, and allowed to use bathrooms and showers. Also,
sometimes they may have to plea bargain with an offender, who will then receive a lighter
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sentence than they otherwise would have received. Prison overcrowding may also meant that
judges grant early release to some inmates. In addition, the prison guards are at a disadvantage
because there are more inmates then there are guards.
The rise in incarceration has led to overcrowding of such facilities and rising costs to take
care of offenders (Clear, Cole, & Reisig, 2013). Any reasonable analysis of the benefits of
private and public prisons would come with a cost comparison, as in which style of prison is
more cost effective and better utilizes their funds. As an article written in the Washington post
makes it clear, it is impossible to successfully analysis these differences because the way that
private prisons record their funds is completely different than public prisons. And to further
complicate this, the government does not require such a database to exist at the behest of private
prison officials (Volokh, S. 2014). This rouses ones suspicions even more than they already
were, as to the worth of private prisons.
It is the opinion of many that if a country has a for profit prison system then that country
will have a motivating factor in keeping a large prison population. And by every stat given,
America's prison population of over 2,000,000 people is tops in the world; A shameful fact for a
country that purports to be free. So who is it that is being locked up at astronomical rates? Drug
addicts with possession charges, which leads us to our failed war on drugs. This war on drugs
thrives on having a government dependent lower class with cheap and easily accessible drugs, so
they can justify hiring more and more police to arrest these terrible criminals and keep our streets
“safe”. With the ever growing private prison enterprise we now have an ever revolving prison
population to keep the CEO's of these prisons financially well off and content. So instead of
offering the addicts the mental, physical and financial help, they need, our society has deemed it
acceptable that we just thrown them away in prisons. Prisons that are no longer government run
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institutions, but privately owned for profit industries that make money off incarcerated
individuals.
Positive effects, however, include public support and faith in the criminal justice system. It
is important that people trust and support the criminal justice system, because if they didn’t they
might feel the need to take “justice” into their own hands. This would likely lead to anarchy
and/or chaos. People would start killing out of a sense of justice, vengeance, or even “justice”. In
addition, another positive affect is that it creates and maintains a need for new jobs in the field of
criminal justice. There are jobs in court settings, such as, bailiffs, judges, attorneys, paralegals,
etc. Then there are jobs in the prison setting nurses, correctional officers, prison managers, etc. In
addition there are also jobs such as police officers, crime scene technicians, FBI agents, DEA
agents, etc.
Then there is the impact incarceration has on society, in general and as a whole.
Incarceration of offenders can both positively and negatively impact any society. It can
positively impact a society by getting dangerous individuals off the streets and behind bars. This
can make parents and guardians feel safer when letting their children out to play. This can also
help to reduce crime and incidents of crime in the area. Due to the fact that the offender is behind
bars and can no longer victimize the person(s), or anyone else.
Many times, however, one offender will quickly be replaced by another. It also can be
beneficial to society, because many people will feel safer to go out and work, shop, or socialize.
Negative effects of offender incarceration however are the financial burdens incarceration
creates. It costs tens of thousands of dollars annually to take care of just one inmate. In addition,
not only does it cost money to incarcerate and care for inmates, but to support the families they
left behind. Family members, who were dependent on an offender, are now likely to be
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dependent on government support and assistance (NMSU, 2008). Also, the cost to house the
prisoners come from taxpayers and the costs seem to go up. According to Robin Moroney “a
prison record reduces a man’s annual earnings by 30% to 40% through less work and lower pay”
(Moroney, 2007). Also according to Moroney, “this can help turn minor offenders into hardened
criminals, along with the encouragement of other inmates” (Moroney, 2007). Massincarcerations can also lead to bad health which can filter out to the public.
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References
Chicago, U. o. (2014). Incrceration. Retrieved from Crime lab:
https://crimelab.uchicago.edu/page/incarceration
Clear, T. R., Cole, G. F., & Reisig, M. D. (2013). American Corrections (10th Edition ed.).
Mason: Cengage Learning.
Flatow, N. (2014, September 17). The United States Has The Largest Prison Population In The
World — And It’s Growing. Retrieved from Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/09/17/3568232/the-united-states-had-even-moreprisoners-in-2013/
Moroney, R. (2007, March 26). How Prisons Affect Society. Retrieved from WSJ:
http://blogs.wsj.com/informedreader/2007/03/26/how-prisons-affect-society/
NMSU. (2008, November 18). The impact of incarceration on families, children and the
community: consequences and costs. Retrieved from Family Impact Seminars:
http://www.familyimpactseminars.org/s_nmfis04report.pdf
Volokh, S. (2014, February 25). Are private prisons better or worse than public prisons?
Retrieved from The Washington Post: www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokhconspiracy/wp/2014/02/2014/are-private-prisons-better-or-worse-than-public-prisons?htm