Felons are viewed with a different level of scrutiny than any other group in America. While many believe in equality between people of all races, genders, identities, etc., criminals are not often extended this same kind of sympathy.
It doesn’t take much heavy thinking to see why this is the case. From a young age, we are taught not to engage in crime. We are told that rules are rules, and people who break those rules and harm other people are dangerous to society. As a result, they must be locked away and separated from the good, law-abiding citizens. This belief is taken with us for the rest of our lives.
The reason why this is true is because of something called the “Cycle of Socialization.” Author Bobbie Harro describes it in her essay, The Cycle of Socialization, as the process by which we are socialized to grow into our identities. She explains how such presentation of ideas from a young age have a huge effect on us, “Immediately upon our births we begin to be socialized by the people we love and trust the most, our families or the adults who are raising us. They shape our self-concepts and self-perceptions, the norms and rules we must follow…” (47).
Essentially, we are taught from a young age what society expects from us. This occurs both subconsciously as we notice how our peers navigate the world, and consciously as our parents explicitly tell us how to behave. As we grow up, we are constantly reminded to follow rules. Our parents reprimand us when we go against what they say. Our schools have rules and mandates that we are punished for transgressing. As a result, we are socialized to be rule-followers. We understand the importance of order and what can happen if we break rules — we can hurt others or ourselves.
Thus, it’s not hard to understand why easy to see why criminals are outcast from society. Bobbie Harro explains this in the context of “target and agent groups.” Essentially, agent groups belong to the majority — they enforce societal norms and benefit from their perpetuity. Target groups are in the minority, and they are quite literally the targets of the agent groups. The societal norms the agent groups enforce work to break down agent groups and keep them weak. She writes, “People who go against the grain of conventional societal messages are accused of being troublemakers… If they are members of target groups, they are held up as examples of why this group is inferior to the agent group… If members of agent groups break the rules, they too are punished” (45).
While Bobbie uses these groups in the context of race, ethnicity, gender, or sexuality, these groups can also be extended to the idea of “rule-breakers” and “rule-followers”. Rule-followers are praised for working within the system. They create the rules and restrictions that everyone else has to follow. They benefit from these policies at the expense of the rule-breakers. For example, “dangerous criminals” are taken off the streets and placed in prisons, keeping fellow rule-followers safe.
However, all of this talk begs a question — if we are socialized to follow rules, why do some people break them? The answer to that depends. Some people are socialized incorrectly; they do not learn the importance of following rules while they grow up. Or, they do not understand the consequences of their actions when they do break the rules. The worst kind of rule-breakers are those that are impulsive and selfish, performing crimes out of self-interest. When I first think of a criminal like this, what pops into my head are rapists and murderers — people that don’t deserve any kind of respect whatsoever. I know that I would never want to encounter these people in my lifetime, and I’m grateful they’re in prison and away from me. These people deserve to be punished for their actions!
However, these extreme cases are what are often associated with criminality by the media and by society. We are led to believe that these people, and by extension, criminals in general, choose to do wrong and deserve to be punished. But as it turns out, these people are an extremely tiny proportion of criminals. The average criminal is in prison for a very different reason. Our justice system sweeps millions of people into prison for much more petty crimes, specifically the possession/distribution of drugs. Because these people are also sent to prison, they are deemed dangerous to society, and are treated with the same stigmas. But in reality, these people have no choice but to partake in crime.
It seems backwards, but the institutions set in place by the rule-followers actually causes more people to do crime. This is actually intended — our justice system has been designed to be a form of social control meant to oppress African-American people (another target group in the United States). The true reasons behind this are beyond the scope of this blog, but it has a lot to do with the agent groups adapting institutions to keep oppression alive as society evolves. Regardless, the system has been specifically designed to place people in jail, and more importantly, keep them coming back.
Some of these modifications are described in Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. By placing extremely strenuous conditions on ex-convicts, it becomes hard for them to reintegrate into society. She writes, “TANF imposed a five-year lifetime limit on welfare assistance, as well as a permanent, lifetime ban on eligibility for welfare and food stamps for anyone convicted of a felony drug offense—including simple possession of marijuana… Clinton also made it easier for federally assisted public housing projects to exclude anyone with a criminal history—an extraordinarily harsh step in the midst of a drug war aimed at racial and ethnic minorities” (57). Essentially, political leaders have passed legislation barring ex-felons from certain government benefits, such as access to welfare, food stamps, and government-regulated public housing. Furthermore, Alexander highlights how convicts are legally required to “check the box” on employment applications — making their ex-convict status known. Combine this with the fact that convicts are often released with almost no money, and you have a perfect recipe to turn back to crime. They are legally discriminated against in terms of employment, and the government provides no favors by barring them from welfare, food stamps, and public housing. With no roof over their head and no way to get a job to support themselves or their family, they turn to selling drugs. This, ultimately, places many released prisoners right back into jail.
The sad part as that this is done with full intent. When legislation is passed, government leaders know what the effects will be and what in situation criminals will be placed upon release. And for the most part, society supports such legislation as well. Keep in mind that many of these prisoners are simply people incarcerated for petty drug crimes. However, our society and our institutions simply condemn these crimes instead of actually trying to solve the problem. The result: devastated families. Alexander writes, “Throughout the black community, there is widespread awareness that black ghetto youth have few, if any, realistic options, and therefore, dealing drugs can be an irresistible temptation… The fact that this ‘career’ path leads almost inevitably to jail is often understood as an unfortunate fact of life, part of what it means to be poor and black in America” (209).
This pretty much sums up why the “why don’t they just not do the crime?” argument fails. Our justice system imprisons African Americans at extremely high rates, and then proceeds to strip their rights and leave them with no other choice than to go back to crime. Then, what are the kids of these families to do then turn to crime themselves? African Americans are stuck in a perpetual cycle of crime due to how our government deals with drug offenses and the rights of the convicted. That’s a pretty tough sentence if you ask me.
Keypressing with Kyle 