Pros And Cons Of Prison Incarceration

Many of the convicts incarcerated were poor and underprivileged Americans. Prisons contained more poverty-stricken individuals because they did not have enough money to pay for a lawyer or bail. Since the poor could not help themselves financially when it came to conviction, the prison system considered them guilty of any charge that was placed against them. Wealthy people were less likely to be incarcerated because they had the finances to pay for bail and a lawyer. Also, having a sufficient amount of money represented intelligence and power. American society believed that the “person who looks like a criminal is presumed to look, and is therefore offensive to the court, goes to prison; the person who looks like a pillar of society, and behaves like one in the presence of the court goes free” (O’Hare 77). …show more content…
The judicial system was judgmental when convicting people because appearance and financial status determined whether or not an individual was incarcerated. Many of the poor were convicted of crimes that they did not commit, but were sent to prison because they either looked like a criminal or carried the title of being poor. This caused the judicial system to be unfair because “The man charged with petty stealing ‘looks like’ a criminal, and the man charged with ‘profiteering’ looks like a business man, and the judge unconsciously shades the law accordingly” (O’Hare 77). The judicial system did not sentence people to prison ethically because they did not consider the seriousness of a crime. Appearance and social status highly determined whether or not someone was going to be convicted of a