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Art is a powerful force of social introspection that does more than communicate an idea, emotion, or aesthetic. This research outlines factors contributing to the failure of the American corrections system in regard to reducing crime and diminishing penal recidivism. Also, it examines the efficacy of using art to generate empathy for convicts caught up in a broken system. The ways by which the American prison structure exacerbates crime in America and it´s unintended outcomes will be highlighted and discussed. The skyrocketing incarceration rate as a primary contributing factor to a broken penal system will also be explored. Criminological studies, research papers, and other forms of literature documenting problems with the corrections system are illustrated. As an artist with an internalized understanding of my potential to be a change agent, I offered incarcerated felons as well as society at-large the opportunity to develop empathy via artistic pathways. This book describes both the present need for change, as well as my approach to pursuing a solution.

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Sean Michael Taylor, MFA: University of Maine. Project Manager of the Innovative Media Research & Commercialization Center. Taylor graduated from the Intermedia MFA program in 2014, receiving the Dick Higgins Award for Academic Excellence 2014. Taylor´s work seeks counter social apathy towards mass incarceration crisis in America.

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