Question

6 What are some of the emerging and growing concerns related to crime? What are some of the major trends and concerns regarding incarceration rates and prison populations over the last three decades?

Answer 1

The society is constantly becoming multi-cultural and pluralistic. This leads to the existence of people from different countries side by side. International trade is expanding which causes the movement of products and people to other countries. This has enabled illegal movements of goods, services and labor across the globe. This illegal movements of goods, labor and services, have brought corruption among the officials and those who don’t accept bribe are constantly threatened or even murdered. Drugs are another issue as more black markets have come into existence which facilitates the distribution of drugs among the young population thus making them not worthy of employment and forcing them to illegal acts for money. The invention of internet has brought new challenges as the cyber crimes are on the rise. The hacking technology has helped various terrorist and individual organizations to steal and blackmail both government and non-government organizations.

The implications of keeping people in the prison, is multifold, starting from the physiological and psychological impacts, imprisonment brings and the financial hardships the country faces in managing them inside the prison. Prisons are also the places where non-familiar criminals come together and plan future crimes. It’s the sum of all the crimes in the country as all those who have negative perspective towards the society come together. This has caused lots of pressure on the prison guards too.

The changing socio, economic and political scenarios have only increased the crime rates and the number of prisons. Factors such as more people becoming unemployed, more people consuming drugs, more youngsters lacking the guidance from family, gun license etc. have contributed to the rising crime and number of people in the prison.