Tear Down the Walls?

Abstract

Although prisons have been repeatedly exposed for their inherent de grading and dehumanizing effects, their survival suggests that they are fulfilling four important manifest functions, in varying degrees: (1) reformation, (2) incapacitation, (3) retribution, and (4) deterrence. More significant are eleven latent functions serving various interests and needs: (1) maintenance of a crime school, (2) politicization, (3) self- enhancement, (4) provision of jobs, (5) satisfaction of authoritarian needs, (6) slave labor, (7) reduction of unemployment rates, (8) scientific research, (9) do-gooderism, (10) safety valve for racial tensions, and (11) birth control. These latent functions, largely unintended and generally unrecognized, suggest that abolition of the prison may not be as assured as some reformers suppose.