Positive And Negative Effects Of Incarceration

In this article, Rose and Clear base their research upon a unique proposition that incarcerating individuals can have both a positive and negative effect on their communities from which they were removed. More specifically, they argue that overdependence on incarceration as a formal control—that which originates from the state—may actually reduce communities’ capacity to develop informal controls locally, thereby increasing these communities’ susceptibility to social disorganization. In reviewing previous literature, the researchers discover that many studies do not report on what negative consequences public or state controls can have on neighborhoods. They posit that not only can such controls devastate the neighborhood’s organization, but

Incarceration has a devastating effect on families who may depend on the incarcerated individual for economic and familial (i.e., child rearing) support. Incarceration increases single-mother households, increases residents’ skepticism of police and the criminal justice system, and also has negative effects on the economy. Not only does imprisonment remove an offender from his job, but it also depletes his human capital. In other words, it diminishes his work experiences and skills he could have obtained from legitimate work. In accordance with systemic theory, incarceration also has an effect on illegitimate or criminal systems. When a criminal is incarcerated, there is a tendency for that criminal to be replaced by another. Thus, incarceration also does not have a deterrent effect for future criminal activity. Overall, these negative consequences diminish a neighborhood’s social capital and thwarts the residents’ efforts to foster informal control. In the end, Rose and Clear propose that criminal justice agencies work with neighborhoods to control local crime, thereby increasing these neighborhoods’ ability to regulate their communities on their