Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • Chapter 9 - Looking through the Wrong Side of Prison Bars: The Psychology of Injustice

  • from Part II - Rethinking Behavior in the Larger World
  • Fathali M. Moghaddam, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book:
    How Psychologists Failed
    Published online:
    27 October 2022
    Print publication:
    03 November 2022, pp 119-128

  • Summary

    Prisons reflect a justice system for the rich, and an injustice system for the poor. Most people in prison are poor. Given the high recidivism rates, the purpose of prisons is not to teach convicted criminals that crime does not pay. A close examination of what happens to people in prison shows that there is very little effort to reform and offer education, and much more effort to isolate and punish. There is serious collatoral damage, with the deepest harm inflicted on the family of the incarcerated. In the United States, the children of incarcerated, paroled, and recently released parents number well over three million. Having a parent incarcerated negatively impacts these children, particuarly in terms of their mental health and educational performance. Ethnic groups are disproportionally represented in prison, but poverty is the most common feature of all the people from different ethnic groups in prison. The poor are the victims of the ongoing prison boom in the United States and in much of the rest of the world.