The Effects Of Incarceration Rates On The United States

In the U.S., our criminal justice system incarcerates more people than any other country on earth. Incarceration rates have skyrocketed over the past 30 years due to stricter laws and harsher penalties for drug use and possession. As a result of these high incarceration rates, many households and society, in general, has been adversely affected by the absence of men and women from their families and from their communities. While being in confinement is definitely tough on those incarcerated, the ones left on the outside are also greatly affected. Several studies have shown that this absence has had a dramatic impact on children as they struggle to survive without mothers and fathers. This is a significant sociological issue because this societal phenomenon can have lasting effects and create family voids that can contribute to the deterioration and arrested development of the offspring of those who are incarcerated. There are more that 2 million men and women incarcerated in U.S. prisons and the majority of them are parents of children under the age of 18. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, parents in prison had approximately 2.6 million children at the time they were admitted to prison and of those children, approximately 1 million will reach the age of 18 at the time of the inmates expected release (Petit 2012. Previous research has shown that these children have been shown to underperform academically (Foster and Hagan 2009), have a higher risk ofShow MoreRelatedLegislation and Incarceration in United States956 Words   |  4 PagesLegislation and Incarceration (Order #A2068178) The incarceration rate in the United States has steadily risen since 1973, and Franklin Zimring has examined the relationship between penal legislation and the incarceration rate. He has discovered three distinct periods which demonstrate three differences in the way legislation effects penal practices. During the first period in which there was a major rise in incarceration rates, 1973-1985, Zimring asserted that there was no relationship betweenRead MoreCrime Rate And Its Effect On The Incarceration Rate1335 Words   |  6 Pagesvariable is whether a state elects or appoints judges. The dependent variable is the incarceration rate (per 100,000 people) for each state. To control for these variables, we also measured the violent crime rate (per 100,000 people) for each state. The violent crime rate allows us to see whether or not crime rate or judges are having a measurable effect on the incarceration rate. Without controlling for the crime rate, we would not be able to tell if hig her incarceration rates were truly a resultRead MoreAmeric Land Of The Incarcerated1296 Words   |  6 Pagesthe poem The Star Spangled Banner after witnessing the attack on Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy in the War of 1812. 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