Incarceration: Misrepresented in Society (Prompt#10)

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By Kendrick Tran


Image result for incarceration
Source: https://visual.ly/community/infographic/education/education-vs-incarceration

Incarceration, a way of taking out all of the "bad apples" and putting them where they belong. Society has believed for a long time that mass incarceration was the key to preventing future crimes and to protect society in the long term. However, I am here to talk about the negatives of incarceration, and the common belief that incarceration is the answer to our society's problems of recurring criminals and career criminals (habitual offenders that continue to commit crimes. 

History dictated that in order to protect society, we must remove those who negatively affect it. Rapists, thieves, etc. All of that sounds reasonable, by removing the negatives, we are only left with the positives right? Not exactly. 

Image result for incarceration
Source: http://nypost.com/2015/11/01/how-to-fix-americas-mass-incarceration-problem/

According to Quartz, a reputable news outlet, prison actually decimates a person's ability to come back into society. "Prison obliterates your earnings potential. Being a convicted felon disqualifies you from certain jobs, housing, or voting" (Quartz). When convicted, many of a person's options are gone. If a person was convicted for manslaughter, unintentionally killing another, that becomes a permanent part of their record. After getting out of prison, options are severely limited and sometimes they are forced to commit a crime to get by. I'm not defending committing crimes, but the context behind a person's actions are important. This context is important to keep in mind when dealing with any situation that you're in because the consequences can be devastating. With this said, we should take to finding alternatives in order to better rehabilitate criminals rather than imprisoning them and taking away all of their options.

References:
https://qz.com/458675/in-america-mass-incarceration-has-caused-more-crime-than-its-prevented/

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