Mass Incarceration and Social Work Values

“Our problems are man-made therefore they may be solved by man.

And man can be as big as he wants.

No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings”. – JFK

As a social worker, the founding principles we must abide by are to promote social justice and fight for human rights. Social workers must remain aware of injustices, spread awareness, and work towards solutions. Mass incarceration is one of those injustices that social workers must take responsibility for alleviating.

In order for a social problem to be recognized by the public as a crisis, it must be legitimized. In order for a problem to be legitimized it must be recognized and people must be aware of it.

Who is responsible for spreading awareness?

Naturally, those who are directly affected by an injustice will spread awareness to garner support. For example, members of the LGBTQ community, their families, and friends will rally and, usually, support their loved ones in fighting for rights like marriage equality.

What about those who don’t have a voice?

Social workers must speak on behalf of the oppressed and give them a voice.

Individuals who have been incarcerated and currently are incarcerated face such grave injustices in the United States. A lot of the time, these individuals are so oppressed that they cannot find a voice to speak up for themselves or a platform to do so. Social workers must take responsibility in assisting to spread awareness of mass incarceration in order to legitimize is as a social crisis.

If not us, then who? If not now, then when?

According to Jonathon Simons’ “Mass Incarceration: From Social Policy to Social Problem”,mass incarceration was a public policy and form of control over people living in poor urban settings. This trend began over thirty years ago with “the drug war” and the hype surrounding it in the 1970s-1980s. However, in recent years American society has made the shift to recognizing mass incarceration as a social problem.

The fight is not over…

Awareness is just beginning to spread. As social workers we must recognize our established values, fight against injustices, and work to make the change we promise in the National Social Worker’s Code of Ethics.

Whether at the micro level of clinical social work or the policy changing level of macro social work, every social worker can play a role in ending policies that promote mass incarceration and negatively affect individuals who are and have been incarcerated.

Macro social workers can put forth efforts to create policy changes surrounding drug crimes, which account for many of the reasons why individuals are incarcerated, as well as the systematic barriers that inhibit individuals once released from prison.

Micro, or clinical, social workers can counsel incarcerated individuals and work with individuals who have been released from prison by providing rehabilitative counseling an connecting them to services for housing, employment, and others.

The possibilities for social workers to effect change are endless. Mass incarceration provides a limitless platform for social workers to make a difference on many levels.

Sources:

"Code of Ethics." Code of Ethics. National Association of Social Workers, 2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. https://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/default.asp.

Petersilia, Joan, and Kevin R. Reitz. The Oxford Handbook of Sentencing and Corrections. New York: Oxford UP, 2012. Print.