Pelican Bay State Prison

Social bond theory shows an interesting way to look at the social problems, such as crime, that surround the world we live in. The theory primarily focuses on the peers and peer groups of individuals. The four basic elements that the theory focus on are attachment, commitment, involvement in activities including both criminal and noncriminal, and also the the common values that are giving to an individuals groups and subgroups. The element of attachment can be described as the values or the norms that someone has in their society. Attachment is most important with the figures that have a strong influence over a person 's life such as parental figures. Friends at school can also be important people related to attachment. Commitment is different than attachment in that it focuses on how much a person is committed to abiding by legal behavior. As a child we are hopefully taught was is the right thing

The Stanford Prison Experiment sought to recreate a prison experience to study behaviors of prisoners and guards. The authors were seeking answers to the question of dispositional hypothesis which states “that the state of the social institution of prison is due to the “nature” of the people who administer it, or the “nature” of the people who populate it, or both” (A Study of Prisoners and Guards in a Stimulated Prison, 1971, pg. 2). In other words, they were studying whether the prisoners and guards behaviors changed due to their personalities or was it the prison environment that caused these changes. The authors considered the recidivism rate that was 75 percent at the time, conditions in prisons, and the belief that prisons

In this paper I am going to go with the video for social structure theory when covering the following topics. I will introduce how the video supports a social structure theory, the primary subject and content, major principles of the sociology theory addressed and social issues discussed. I am going to discuss, in the last part of this paper, what are some possible consequences for a social policy change. The video that I have chosen to do this paper on will be the “Pelican Bay State Prison: War Zone” to best fit with my beliefs of social structure theory simply the top reason for criminality evolving.

Examination of the macro sociological perspective of incarceration and completed educational programs will confirm or oppose if rehabilitation on inmates can make a difference and create a safer environment for society. Inmate human development and socialization are critical and an affair of importance. Although, inmates are placed in unpleasant conditions the well being of the human mind must be taken into consideration to be mended and preserved. The prison system is known to be dangerous and a degrading environment leading prisoners to become resentful, hostile, and feeling hopelessness. Therefore, inmates could commit more crimes out of anger causing more danger to society.

Attachment refers to the degree to which an individual is close to non-deviant others, including, family members, friends and peers. One’s willingness to conforming to norms and expectations is dependent on how attached they are to others. This element goes on to extends

Solitary confinement is commonly used throughout prisons in the United States. It is used among correctional facilities, which vary from state to state. The use of solitary confinement is to isolate the inmate from any human encounters, usually based on a form of punishment. The conditions of solitary confinement according to the American Friends Service Committee (2015) include:

The film, “Prison State” was extremely informative in the area of prison life that I knew little to nothing about. The film told a few stories of two children and two adults that were incarcerated and spent lengthy times in prison and juvenile detention centers. Therefore, the video focused on criminals, the type of norm violations that are legal norms. We see in the video the two children that were locked up were girls in their early teens who grew up in a community within Kentucky. We can see that once they get out of the correctional system, they are set to stay in this community for up to 6 months on probation. In this community, the norms were the same as most communities, but breaking the norms in this community had a larger punishment such as skipping school resulted in weeks in a correctional facility. In chapter six, “Deviance”, we learn that the deviance level varies within different cities, states, and even countries. The film discusses many theories throughout the chapter such as the Labeling theory, this means that each person in the film is given a discredited identity. A discredited identity is the identity you are given in your community.

Social bond theory was initially developed by Hirschi in 1969. The basis of this theory is that criminal behaviour occurs when social bonds are broken. Hirschi (1969) explains how there are four key factors of a social bond and the strain on these factors motivates deviant behaviour. By applying Hirschi's social bond theory to prison can begin to explain why the prison experience may increase later reoffending. Nagin et al (2009) furthers this explaining how prison may have negative effects on offender through reducing exposure of positive pro social bonds and increasing the exposure of negative influences.

The prisons are unreasonably overcrowded due to mass incarceration in the United States; consequently, it is costing taxpayers billions of dollars a year to sustain this “lock them up and throw away the key” mentality, not to mention the millions of lives, of offenders and the families that are left in the communities, that have been affected in a negative way (Clear 1). The sad thing is that, since the end of 1974, over 34 million human beings have been processed through America’s criminal court system and close to 24 million children have been traumatized by the loss of a parent or even worse, both parents (Drucker 44). The growth rate of prisons, for close to a century (1880-1975), stayed

Prisons are correctional facilities where offenders are incarcerated as punishment and deterrent from engaging in other criminal activities. It serves justice for victims of criminal offenses and provides a chance for the offender to reflect, and with prison time; they will become better citizens of society. This however, may not always be the case. If an inmate exhibits understanding of good behavior and structure, a prisoner may not serve his or her full sentence in prison. They may be released on Home Detention Curfew (tagging) or granted parole. Some offenders get up to half of their sentence time removed. In both situations, the inmate is expected to benefit from integration in the community and leading a positive lifestyle. According to the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (1), there are laid down laws who is legible and who is illegible to early release from prison. The Department of corrections can allow early release of an offender if they exhibit commendable behavior and take part in other recommended programs for disciplinary treatment, while in prison. There are individuals who agree and disagree for the idea of early release from prison. Individuals of both sides have specific reasons for their position on the effects of early prison release. Giving inmates a chance to portray positive and beneficial behavior, allows them to gain responsibility and incentive, in order to strive for success. In contrary, according to Christine

Chapter 14 of the Criminological Theory book by Frank Williams III and Marilyn D. McShane is dedicated to Contemporary theories of Process. Contemporary theories of process in this chapter include general strain theory, self-control theory and developmental life course theory. These three theories focus on “the importance of factors in early life” (Williams & McShane 2014 Page 204). I believe the theories that are reviewed in this chapter adequately depict the possible causes of future antisocial behavior developed from factors in early life. These theories provide a good perspective on possible causes of antisocial behavior that we can use as guidelines to provide the proper rehabilitation programs for prison inmates. Each of these three theories is implicated in some way with rehabilitation of criminals. These theories can be seen implicated in prison-based rehabilitation programs, such as prison-based education, prison-based transcendental meditation programs, and prison-based relationship education programs.

“The history of correctional thought and practice has been marked by enthusiasm for new approaches, disillusionment with these approaches, and then substitution of yet other tactics”(Clear 59). During the mid 1900s, many changes came about for the system of corrections in America. Once a new idea goes sour, a new one replaces it. Prisons shifted their focus from the punishment of offenders to the rehabilitation of offenders, then to the reentry into society, and back to incarceration. As times and the needs of the criminal justice system changed, new prison models were organized in hopes of lowering the crime rates in America. The three major models of prisons that were developed were the medical, model, the community model, and the crime

In addition, Bartollas and Miller (2014) state that according to Travis Hirschi’se social control theory, examination must be made on the individual’s ties to conventional society. Hirschi linked delinquent behavior to the bonds that an individual has with his family and school. If those bonds are not strong, the individual may follow people who he believes have his back and who he feels close to. In addition to this, Hirschi says there are four basic elements to his theory. First is individual attachment, which relates to a person’s closeness to such groups as family, school, teacher, and church. If a person has a close relationship with such groups, the chances of committing a criminal act go down. Second is individual commitment, where a person spends time, effort, focus and money on some goal. This may involve something worthwhile like education or home ownership. Third is individual involvement, where a person gets involved in something he is really interested in

Prison culture or the “values, norms and attitudes that inmates form in terms of institutional survival” (Bartollas, 2013), can be described in one of three models. The Deprivation Model describes the inmate’s behavior as the product of the environment, more specifically the attempt to adapt to that which he is deprived of as a result of incarceration (Bartollas, 2013). An example of such would be the pseudo family unit or physical relationships that inmates form as a result of the absence of such relationships while incarcerated.

Attachment is the most basic element of social bonds - it is the internalization of the norms and values of a society. More plainly speaking, attachment is the emotional bond an individual has to the society around them.The three basic forms of attachment are attachment to parents, peers and school. The strongs these attachments the less likely a juvenile is to engage in criminal activity. As Hirschi found, juveniles with strong attachments who are tempted to commit criminal behavior, will refrain from that behavior due to the negative consequences of that act. An juvenile with a strong emotional attachment to the people around them will not act upon criminal behavior that might harm those people or put their relationship