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Documentary Sociology

Frontline: Prison State



Before Video Discussion:

• What do you think are the best deterrents to keep youth from offending or reoffending?

• What is a zero tolerance policy? Does our school have one? Do you think it is an effective way to create a successful school environment? What are the positives and/or negatives of this approach?

• Do you think that harsh punishment for even small infractions is a good way to deter young people from committing more serious crimes? Explain why or why not.

• Do you think that once kids get in trouble with the law they will get in trouble again through adolescence and into adulthood? Explain why or why not.

Background:

The United States puts more people behind bars than any other country in the world. It has about 5 percent of the world’s population yet holds about 25 percent of the world’s incarcerated individuals. Each year, the U.S. spends over $50 billion to house 2.3 million inmates in federal, state, and local lockup and correctional facilities. According to 2013 Bureau of Justice Statistics, 716 out of every 100,000 people living in the U.S. were incarcerated (living in prisons or jails). Just counting adults, the figure was closer to 1 in 100.

There is a clear racial and ethnic component to incarceration. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, blacks (including Hispanic blacks) make up about 14 percent of the U.S. population. Yet in 2009, blacks accounted for nearly 40 percent of the total prison and jail population. Overall, in 2010, black men were more than six times as likely as white men to be incarcerated. This disparity has contributed to the rise of protest movements that we learn about in the news and social media, including the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, co-founded by Dr. Cornell West.

Between 1980 and 2008, the incarcerated population in the U.S. quadrupled. Most of this increase was caused by changes in sentencing law and policy, not an increase in crime. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI, the number of criminal offenses dropped nearly 17 percent during that time. Many of the sentencing changes were made during Republican administrations in response to the crime rates of the 1960s and 1970s and to support the national “War on Drugs.” Mandatory minimum sentences for certain offenses, including drug possession, “three strikes” laws for repeat criminal offenders, and stricter parole and early release eligibility requirements, resulted in more prison sentences and longer time served. While the number of violent crimes has declined in the U.S., more and more people being locked up today are nonviolent offenders with no prior criminal record.

Because correctional costs are expensive, some states have attempted to reform their criminal justice programs. In Kentucky, a 2011 law allows nonviolent offenders early release, offering medical and mental health assistance to ease their transition back into society and reduce recidivism (a relapse into criminal behavior). Other state efforts focus on drug-sentencing reform and investments in rehabilitation programs to reduce the prison population.

To date, the results of state reform efforts are mixed. In other parts of the world, sentencing and corrections strategies have led to lower recidivism rates than in the U.S. For example, some European nations, including Germany and the Netherlands, are more inclined to issue fines and community service over jail time. One of their guiding principles is to keep nonviolent, convicted criminals as a part of society as much as possible, so that incarceration does not become their standard way of life. Over the long term, these strategies have saved money.

In the 1980s, as the incarcerated population rose in the United States, demand for more prison space and costs to individual states grew. The result was the development of privately run prisons. Private prison operators are for-profit companies, many of which issue stock shares. Arguably, their financial success is tied to a higher prison population. In fact, some of these companies require states that do business with them to fill prison beds or else reimburse the companies for empty spots. Some experts claim that while private prison operators may not have been responsible for the explosion in the prison population, they help sustain it today.

During viewing, look for these key points:

• better ways to stop school truancy than punishment

• the message that a cradle-to-grave prison system sends to people who live with it

• sending juveniles to jail versus releasing them to a home incarceration program

After the video, answer the following questions:

1. How does the perception that, in high poverty areas, “whether you follow the rules or you don’t, you are going to jail” affects the psychology of children in these communities? In particular, how would it impact their approach to school, personal safety, and connections with other people inside and outside their community?

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2. What is the impact on children when someone in their family or neighborhood is incarcerated?

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3. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of zero tolerance policies on juveniles, the schools they go to, and the communities in which they live. Do you feel they are effective overall? Why or why not?

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4. Research indicates that when a juvenile becomes involved in the juvenile justice system, he or she is more likely to be involved again in adulthood. Why do you think this is the case? What effect do you think this has on young juveniles who become involved in the system? Do you think anything can break this cycle?

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