Article Critique / Theory and Practice of Corrections - Book Report/Review Example

Article Critique Philip Zimbardo’s article, “Revisiting the Stanford prison experiment: A lesson in the power of situation,” focuses on how a situation can alter the mental and emotional capabilities of even the most headstrong individual. By referring to the results of his infamous Stanford prison experiment and comparing it to the real-life events at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, Zimbardo was able to show how an evil situation can overcome good people. As Zimbardo’s experiment took a turn for the worse, he was capable of proving how “the situation and the system creating [the horrible behavior] must share the responsibility for illegal and immoral behavior (Zimbardo, 2007).

” Zimbardo’s prison experiment involved twenty-four participants who were split into two groups - guards and prisoners. For two weeks, these participants, in their roles, were to live in a makeshift prison and live the lives of these prisoners and guards. The purpose of the experiment was to see how well, if at all, the participants took on the roles assigned to them. Furthermore, Zimbardo was curious to see if the prisoners brought on their punishments, or if the guards and the overall situation played roles.

After only six days, the experiment had to be shut down. The participants portraying guards had become too abusive and many of the prisoners experienced mental and emotional trauma. When the experiment had been concluded, many years later similar incidents occurred in a prison in Iraq. The only difference with the prison in Iraq as opposed to the Stanford experiment was that the events in the Abu Ghraib prison were real and not the result of psychological research. This prompted further research into the roles that guards play in increasing the threat of a prison situation.

The results of the experiment were that, despite the fact that each participant had been renowned young men in their communities, the situation that they had been placed in caused them to react accordingly. The sweet young men who were given the roles of prison guards took their parts and ran rampant with them, causing much stress and abuse to their prisoner counterparts. As such, Zimbardo concludes that degrading and psychologically trying situations can negatively influence the behavior of others.

These findings are significant and relevant to criminal justice as they divulge into the little-known subtext of guard/prisoner relationships. When prisoners are placed into jail cells, that is their punishment. They are away from the public, they can no longer cause harm, and that should be the end of it. However, prison guards tend to take advantage of the situation and their position, which leads to them wrongfully mistreating their prisoners. By comprehending the findings of Zimbardo’s study, the criminal justice system and guard/prisoner relationships can be altered for the better.

In 2004, decades after Zimbardo’s experiment, it was brought to the attention of the public that prisoners being held in the Abu Ghraib prison were being physically, psychologically, and sexually abused by American soldiers. The circumstances that these prisoners found themselves in had many parallels to the Stanford prison experiment, yet the greatest difference was that what these Iraqi prisoners were experiencing was real. As was the case in Zimbardo’s experiment, the prison guards at Abu Ghraib were abusing their authority and torturing their prisoners, including rape and sodomy; many prisoners were even killed at the hands of the prison guards.

Despite the few differences that exist between the Stanford prison experiment and the events at Abu Ghraib, they both resulted in the same conclusion: abuse of authority. The prison guards, already at a higher position than their prisoners, felt that whatever treatment they subjected their prisoners to was well-deserved. After all, the guards weren’t the ones behind bars. These guards, according to Zimbardo, were not evil people; their misdeeds were vicious, but their actions came down to the situation.

If these guards had walked past these prisoners on the street as normal civilians, they would not have been subjected to the same torture. Being in prison, on the other hand, gave the guards the opportunity to dish out their own punishment. The outcomes of both the Stanford experiment and the events at Abu Ghraib could have been different if two factors had been present. The first factor being that the guards knew the boundaries and better understood what they were and were not allowed to do in regard to the treatment of the prisoners.

The second factor, which is what Zimbardo pointed out in his concluding statements of his experiment, is that, in both cases, nobody was there to step in on the behalf of the prisoners (Zimbardo, 2004). Zimbardo himself admitted to having stood aside to watch the experiment instead of intervening, which would have prevented the trauma that his participants had experienced. Likewise, nobody had been immediately present at Abu Ghraib to help the prisoners. When word finally got out about the torture that these men were facing, they finally got the help that they needed, though for many, help came too late.

Zimbardo concluded that “the critical message then is to be sensitive about our vulnerability to subtle but powerful situational forces and, by such awareness, be more able to overcome those forces (Zimbardo, 2007).” In prison and military situations when the guards know that they have power over their prisoners, it becomes vital for these guards to understand the kind of impact that they are capable of. They need to also be aware of the damages that can come about if they overstep their boundaries.

By nature, people are mentally and emotionally fragile and the power that others can have over people is all that it takes before a person cracks completely. Even if guards feel that prisoners deserve the abuse, it’s not their place to decide. References Zimbardo, P.G. (2004, May 9). Power turns good soldiers into ‘bad apples’. Retrieved from http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/05/09/ power_turns_good_soldiers_into_bad_apples/ Zimbardo, P.G. (2007). Revisiting the Stanford prison experiment: A lesson in the power of situation.

The Chronicle of Higher Education 53(50).