Running head: EFFECTS OF IMPRISONMENT 1
Effects of Imprisonment on Male and Female Offenders
Sarabeth Kaur
13214383
James Cook University, Singapore
Dr. Nenna Ndukwee
PY2110 Forensic Psychology
9th December 2015
Word Count (excluding headings): 2100
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EFFECTS OF IMPRISONMENT
Effects of Imprisonment on Male and Female Offenders
Imprisonment is often used as a correctional supervision to decrease the number of
criminal activities and as such, actions has been increasingly imposed on offenders since the
1980s (Singh Bhati, & Piquero, 2015). It may be, however, not the best way to correct
criminal behaviour as past studies have shown recidivism (Singh Bhati, & Piquero, 2015).
Imprisonment will cause major changes to happen in an individual’s life. This paper seeks to
analyse the social impacts (marriage, employment, role of parents and recidivism) that one
will go through and how different it may be between a male and a female.
Employment
An ex-offender will have to live with a social stigma (e.g personal violence, theft, doubts
in trustworthiness) latched on to him/her for the rest of his/her life. Such labels are usually
negative and affect his/her ability to fit into the community once again after being released.
Employment is a concern as it is normally hard for ex-offenders to find a job and earn enough
to meet their day to day needs. This is known as “collateral consequences” (Wermink, Apel,
Nieuwbeerta, & Blokland, 2012).
According to Uggen (2006), employers have a certain standard they look for when
hiring. This will in turn restrict career jobs for ex-offenders. In addition, skills that are
required for specific kinds of jobs (e.g plumber, engineering) might depreciate over time
while being imprisoned.
An experiment done by Devah Pager (2003) had shown that employers do show strong bias
and adverse attitudes towards hiring ex-offenders. She sent out roughly 200 matched pairs of
black applicants (i.e., where one applicant purports to have a criminal record and one does
not) and 150 pairs of white applicants to employers in Milwaukee. Only 14 percent of the
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EFFECTS OF IMPRISONMENT
black men who were without criminal record were called back which is equaled or less than
the number of whites with criminal background who are called back. This shows that race has
an effect on employment as well. A similar experiment was done by Pager and Western
(2005) as cited by Holzer (2007), with a larger sample of employers in New York City but
with resumes of Hispanic workers instead, results are similar. One drawback was that if
characteristics of applicants with criminal records are truly representative of the relevant
individuals in the real world.
This shows a criminal record may not be the main reason for employers to reject
certain resumes. Racism may be one of the reasons why employers do not want to hire the
Blacks or Hispanics. According to (Warren, Chiricos & Bales, 2011), young Black and
Hispanic males are stereotyped to be greatly linked to criminal activities. Their findings had
reported that the Blacks might have a disadvantage outcome compared to other races for
certain kinds of criminal activities (e.g drug crimes).
As for women, they might face problems in finding full time employment instead
(Reisig, Holtfreter & Morash, 2006). As a result, they tend to depend on public assistance to
survive. Such financial difficulties are further complicated when they are taking on a role as a
caregiver.
Looking at the results of these two studies, race might be the main motivator for
negative stereotypes of Blacks in America that might hinder ex-offenders from acquiring a
job. These studies were based mostly on male offenders; it is probably because men are
expected to be the main provider of household incomes, thus it should be affecting them
greater compared to female offenders. Without a job and an income, it will put a strain on the
offender and his/her relationships especially if he/she has a family to support. This leads on to
the next point on marriages.
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EFFECTS OF IMPRISONMENT
Marriage and Divorces
Data collected from Laub & Sampson (1993) found that men sentenced to a
reformatory as juveniles were more likely to be divorced in young adulthood (ages 17–25)
and middle adulthood (ages 25–32). To add on, Apel, Blokland, Nieuwbeerta, & van Schellen
(2009), found out that 40% of imprisoned men who remained unmarried till the age of 40.
Having a criminal record might decrease one’s prospects in forming a family or even
permanently disrupting the transition into marriage (Apel, Blokland, Nieuwbeerta, & van
Schellen, 2009). Imprisonment also has an immediate effect of isolating oneself and
separating unmarried men from a pool of possible partners (Lopoo & Western, 2005).The
reason is due to stigma and labelling; a criminal record is not ideal to someone who is
looking for a partner. Links can be drawn between labelling, employment and marriage. Due
