Stanford Prison Experiment and Criminal Justice Essay

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Psychologist Philip Zimbardo and his teammates prepared an experiment, which examined the outcome of becoming a prison guard or an inmate. The researchers conditioned human lives in order to examine the effects of human behaviors. The researchers placed the participants in a simulated prison area to find out how they respond to such an environment. The researchers developed a prison experiment plant at Stanford University.

The researchers selected the participants from a huge group of seventy volunteers (McNamara and Burns, 2009). The participants had neither any criminal records nor psychological issues. The researchers assigned the twenty-four participants to either act as prison guards or inmates. The inmates stayed in a mock prison for 24 hours daily during the study period. The researchers assigned the correctional staffs (prison guards) to work in shifts of each team group operate for eight hours. The researchers used cameras and microphones to assess the behavior of the correctional staffs and inmates.

The Stanford prison experiment lasted for six days. The result was that inmates felt anxiety and stress while the prison guards became violent and abusive. The researchers allowed the correctional staffs and inmates to socialize in any manner they needed. Such interactions were unfriendly and inhuman. According to Northern Arizona University Criminal justice Collective (2009), the prison guards behaved abusively and aggressively towards the inmates. The inmates became distressed and inactive (passive). Five inmates eventually felt acute anxiety, crying and negative severe emotions. The researchers therefore had to release the five inmates from the experiment. The Stanford prison experiment shows a substantial contribution on how the conditions pose the impacts on human behavior.

Present the significance of cultural diversity as it relates to correctional facilities using your selected case as an example.

Cultural diversity is an important factor when considering the effective management of the correctional facility. The correctional facility should employ prison guards from culturally diversified regions. The capability of managing the correctional facility depends on effective communication between the inmates and the prison guards. McNamara and Burns (2009) view that the lack of effective communication may cause violence and riots in the correctional facility.

When people do not understand the viewpoints of one another, chaos does occur. Prisoners can cause rampage riots in the correctional facility. A situation may happen that certain correctional staffs (prison guards) are authoritative and violent which prisoners may not accept. Prison guards may not be able to understand certain prisoners who came from different backgrounds such as African American origin. Cases of rampage riots and conflicts happened because the inmates and person guards do not understand each other. Correctional staffs should be reasonable and fair when handling the inmates.

Understanding how to address various challenges that inmates encountered and promoting effective communication are vital and essential priorities. Correctional workforce that comprises of cultural diversified personnel is important in managing the prison (Northern Arizona University Criminal justice Collective, 2009). Encouraging cultural diversity in programs such as working, training, and team building are important in addressing the needs of the inmates and coping with troublesome individuals. There is a need to avoid problems, which lead to misunderstandings, frustrations and stress in the correctional facility. Making cultural diversity a priority is necessary because it promotes achieving correctional facility’s objectives.

Give a brief discussion regarding discrimination and ethnic disparity and discrimination in the correctional facility. The focal point should be the arrival of inmates, the guards, and rebellion.

The legal portion serves the role of determining the kind of punishment which inmates are likely to receive. Legal factors aim to work in accordance with the rule of law (McNamara and Burns, 2009). However, prisoner guards can engage in undesired behaviors that lead to discriminatory actions. Correctional staffs may sometimes handle inmates through discrimination, prejudice and bias actions. Such kind of injustices may cause revolts and protests in the prison.

Correctional staffs can involve in discriminatory actions when handling inmates while considering their appearance, gender, religious and cultural beliefs, age, race, community relations, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity. The rule of law requires that prison guards to minimize discrimination, prejudice and biases when handling inmates. Ethnic disparity occurs when the law enforcers favor some inmates who come from major social and cultural groups but discriminate against the other prisoners.

Northern Arizona University Criminal Justice Collective (2009) says that prison guards can discriminate against the inmates who come from the minority groups. Ethnic disparity and discrimination infringe the prisoners’ constitutional rights. The prison guards are the law enforcement agents who possess discretionary power, but may abuse their duties when they prejudice against certain inmates from other particular cultures. When the prison guards engage in discriminatory actions, they thus infringe the rights of the inmates. The prisoners from the minority groups such as the Hispanics and African Americans can greatly suffer in the jail.

Prison guards therefore need to understand the role of cultural diversity. Imprisoning the minority groups for three times more than the whites is an illegal action, which the court systems need to address. The Criminal justice system should offer equality to all people and avoid discrimination, prejudice and biases that take place in the correctional facility.

References

McNamara, R & Burns, R. (2009). Multiculturalism in the criminal justice system. New York: NY: McGraw-Hill.

Northern Arizona University Criminal justice Collective. (2009). Investigating difference: human and cultural relations in criminal justice (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

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