Crime, punishment, and poverty overlap and compound one another, as pointed out by Wheelock and Uggen (2006) in their paper on that subject. Poverty increases chances of being both a victim of crime or charged with a crime. Criminal punishment increased the likelihood of poverty after release for the criminal and for their family when they are imprisoned. Being charged with a crime also simultaneously reduces opportunities, further entrenching economic problems. This poverty begets more crime, as generations live out this reality. Five core arguments are made to support this view of the interconnection of social problems, that being a system of disadvantage, the wider social network that is punished, the statistical facts regarding racial differences in incarceration, the economic deprivation factor and Collateral sanctions and racial and ethnic stratification.
A system of disadvantage
Crime and the criminal justice system are a system of disadvantage that reinforces and maintains itself. Those communities which are overrepresented in the criminal justice system are impacted by the targeting of their community as well as the crime that arises from economic and other disadvantages. Poverty is perpetuated, and according to Wheelock and Uggen (2006) even worsened by criminal sanctions and victimization. For example, as young Black American men with few career opportunities or education have a greater chance of being incarcerated, and given that they are also more in danger of becoming victims of crime, overall economic and security disadvantages are far greater than for those in other communities with other profiles.
The social network of criminal punishment
There is a wider social network of punishment when one individual faces charges or is incarcerated. It has an impact on their dependents and those who depend on them for social supports. On a broader scale, when a community is targeted with a much higher incarceration rate particularly with regard to men under forty years of age, this removes them from the community and often removes the broader role that they play in that culture as parents, development of a career or maintaining social structures with family.
Statistics and facts regarding racial differences in incarceration
When the statistics and facts make clear that a specific population is overrepresented in prisons, it is important to look for structural and systematic reasons for this. As Wheelock and Uggen (2006) point out Black Americans are seven times more likely to be imprisoned than a Caucasian, and there is a direct link to economic factors including poverty and deprivation.
The economic deprivation factor
Variation in criminal punishment is linked to economic deprivation, and given the interlinkages of the social impacts of criminal justice and of crime it is easy to see why. Opportunities are reduced, those charged with crimes are taken out of the workforce, and their dependents experience the economic deprivation as a result of this with can further the cycle for yet another generation.
Collateral sanctions and racial and ethnic stratification
When, such as in the African American community, young black men are removed from their communities in large numbers due to incarceration, preventing their future opportunities to develop careers and limiting their experience, the community pays a price greater than that paid by the prisoner for their crimes as the collateral sanctions entrench stratification through the disadvantage this poses for the community. Further, social stress and exclusion from the society at large also have an impact on mental health, with further exacerbates this situation and possible crime (Draine, 2013).
Conclusion
Given the overlap between crime, punishment, and poverty which reinforces and maintains a system of disadvantage for racial and ethnic minorities, producing economic deprivation through compounding impacts of the incarceration through families and communities who are without these individuals and cumulatively resulting in collateral sanctions and stratification over generations, if we want to fight crime, we must first address discrimination, poverty and the impacts of the criminal justice system on the families of the incarcerated, as proposed in methods of restorative justice and community based sentencing (Worrall, 2014).
- Draine, J. (2013). Mental health, mental illnesses, poverty, justice, and social justice. American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 16(2), 87-90.
- Wheelock, D., & Uggen, C. (2006). Race, poverty and punishment: The impact of criminal sanctions on racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic inequality. The Colors of Poverty: Why Racial and Ethnic Disparities Persist, edited by David Harris and Ann Chih Lin (New York: Russell Sage, 2008), 23.
- Worrall, A. (2014). Punishment in the community: The future of criminal justice. Routledge.
