Lost Opportunities

Three Strikes has its fair share of issues as it applies to the prison system, but overall it has done well to reduce crime. Reoffenders are being locked away, meaning many crimes are being prevented, saving local governments millions of dollars. Yet, crimes still take place. Younger offenders are being introduced to the system every day, and those offenders will serve time for crimes they have committed. However, they will one day be released into society. Are we to trust that our young inmates will learn their lesson, on their own, from inside a prison cell? It is naive to believe that prison time is a strong enough deterrent of crime. Prisoners need some form of guidance to make them beneficial members of society when they are released. There is a reason why our recidivism rates are as high as they are.

When offenders break the law and are caught doing so, their lives are placed on hold. Time for the offender essentially stops while they are inside prisons. Jobs they may have had are lost, education ceases (if they are in school), and acquaintances continue on with their lives. Non-incarcerated people and technology changes while the incarcerated are stuck inside a controlled world. After an inmate has served their time and are released, the world outside of can seem wildly different from when they were last a part of it. Losing out on the changing environment places the inmates at a huge disadvantage when compared to non-felons in the job market. The only skills the felons have come from before they were incarcerated. Without training those skills can deteriorate or prove outdated when they are released. Felons can’t hope to compare to non-felons in the job market. Thus, jobs and opportunities are immediately limited to felons. They are left to make their own opportunities with the means they have. Often they turn to criminal activity to get by.

If prisons were to initiate more work related programs, where inmates can become trained and certified in a variety of jobs, we would see a large reduction in the amount of recidivism. “Employment also provides a stabilizing routine, occupies time that might otherwise be used for illegal activity, keeps individuals responsive to employer’s behavioral demands, and provides a nonstigmatized social role.” [1] Those felons become reincorporated into society where prison time truly does become a deterrent from crime. Studies have shown that work programs in prisons have reduced recidivism anywhere from 9% to 22% [2]. The major problem is that not all offenders care about attaining the opportunity to better themselves and the community.

Work and rehabilitation problems don’t work for everybody. Career criminals certainly wouldn’t care about job opportunities provided for them. Drug dealers, burglars, and other criminals with high risk, high reward criminal skills can easily make more in a day than a minimum wage worker does in a week. This is where the Three Strikes law does well. Those career criminals obviously have no will to rehabilitate and will continue to commit crimes. If that is their attitude, then they can be considered a menace to society and locked away with extended sentences. Not all criminals wish to make a career out of crime. By providing work opportunities in prison we can help lower recidivism rates and improve society in the long run.



[1] McKean, L., Ransford, C., (Augest, 2004) "Current Strategies for Reducing Recidivism" ImpactResearch accessed (3/17/2010) from: http://www.impactresearch.org/documents/recidivismfullreport.pdf

[2] Gaes, G. (April, 2008) "The Impact of Prison Education Programs on Post-Release Outcomes" Florida State University accessed (3/17/2010) from: http://www.jjay.cuny.edu/TheEffectivenessofPrisonEducationProgramsNov_09.pdf