What are the effects of incarceration on families?

The immediate effects of incarceration and the loss of a parent can include feelings of shame, social stigma, loss of financial support, weakened ties to the parent, poor school performance, increased delinquency, and increased risk of abuse or neglect (Travis, McBride, and Solomon, 2005).

What are the consequences of high rates of incarceration?

Prisoners often carry additional deficits of drug and alcohol addictions, mental and physical illnesses, and lack of work preparation or experience.

What is incapacitation effect?

This is taken as an estimate of the “incapacitation effect,” defined as the number of crimes averted by physically isolating an offender from society at large.

What are the effects of family?

Having a close-knit and supportive family provides emotional support, economic well-being, and increases overall health. However, the opposite is also true. When family life is characterized by stress and conflict, the health of family members tends to be negatively affected.

What is the impact of incarceration on society?

High incarceration rates may also have detri- mental effects on communities due to factors such as a loss of working-age adults in the community, increased exposure to infectious diseases, and shifting public resources from health and social supports to the penal system.

What impact does a high incarceration rate have on minority communities?

In the era of high incarceration rates, prison admission and return have become commonplace in minority neighborhoods characterized by high levels of crime, poverty, family instability, poor health, and residential segregation.

What is incapacitation through incarceration?

It involves capital punishment, sending an offender to prison, or possibly restricting their freedom in the community, to protect society and prevent that person from committing further crimes. Incarceration, as the primary mechanism for incapacitation, is also used as to try to deter future offending.

What is the incapacitation effect as it pertains to criminal behavior?

The incapacitative effect of imprisonment presents a compelling logic: while in prison, an offender cannot offend in the community. Consequently, the incapacitation of an offender may be expected to prevent crime that an offender would commit were he or she at liberty in the community.