Art in the Criminal Justice System?

About 25% of the world’s total prison population is here in the US. It is the second country with the largest prison population. It’s interesting to think that this country was built with the objective of it being the land of the free, however, there is that statistic. This article will go over how art is used in the criminal justice system to better prisoners and their lives.

In order to understand how art may be beneficial for prisoners then I must first define it. According to Google, art is “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.” Art comes in many shapes and sizes and it can be seen through paintings, music, fashion, theater, etc. Art should never be taken for granted because it gives people the ability to express themselves. In a sense, it’s a way of communicating one’s thoughts, feelings, and ideas to the intended audience.

Art can be utilized by prisoners as not only a way of therapy that can potentially heal them of their trauma. However, it can also be used to their advantage because it gives them a sense of freedom. Something that mostly all prisoners can agree on the fact that they long for it. Furthermore, it can give us, as “free” individuals the ability to learn about their perspective. I feel like this can be very useful, especially in a society where mass incarceration is prevalent. We are able to learn about their perspective of where they are and how they came into that position. I once read somewhere that art gives us the ability to practice empathy. It truly does because by experiencing someone’s art you must try to put yourself in the artist’s shoes.

This is why more art programs need to be made for prisoners to develop and better themselves. There are programs like “Art Behind Bars” where art galleries cooperate with prisoners to sell their works. These are very valuable programs because they give prisoners something to spend their leisure time on. Not only that but they can learn skills that can be applied once they get out of prison. Obviously, I understand that prison is a time of punishment, however, this should not limit offenders of the law from growing as people.

There is one thing that I was thinking about that can correlate with this topic of art intersecting with the criminal justice system. That is the crime of graffiti. It seems kind of hypocritical for people to enter the prison system for creating art graffiti when literal programs are promoting their “crime.” However, this idea is a whole other article in itself so I won’t bother to go into detail. The main point of this article is to explain why art programs should be implemented in the criminal justice system. There are many benefits to them and we should all have the ability to learn from anyone’s art, no matter if they are an offender.