African American Males’ Lived Experiences of Fathering Following Incarceration by Sherece Shavel MSW, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 2004 BA, Seton Hall University, 2000 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Human Services Walden University May 2017 Abstract In the United States, African American fathers are incarcerated at a disproportionate rate and have a poor prognosis of success. Although researchers have considered how crime, paternal abuse, poverty, and social disparities have affected African Americans, they have not adequately studied how formerly incarcerated African American fathers experience parenting. The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenologicalIn the United States, African American fathers are incarcerated at a disproportionate rate and have a poor prognosis of success. Although researchers have considered how crime, paternal abuse, poverty, and social disparities have affected African Americans, they have not adequately studied how formerly incarcerated African American fathers experience parenting. The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to bridge this gap in knowledge by exploring the parenting experiences of formerly incarcerated African American fathers on parole. The research question focused on the parenting experiences of African American fathers obligated to mandatory supervision following an incarceration. A criterion-based sample of 9 African American fathers from the Midwestern region of the United States completed 2 in-depth interviews. Interviews were analyzed using phenomenological techniques, resulting in 9 central themes focused on social objectification, survival, change, the agency of fatherhood, and parent-child relations. Despite difficulties and challenges, the quality of the fathers’ lives hinged on the quality of their relationship with their children. The findings and recommendations from this study may advance positive social change by stimulating and guiding the efforts of human service practitioners working to develop culturally relevant interventions, and raising the awareness of advocates working to influence legislators toward comprehensive policy reform. The application of this study’s findings may provoke community members to strengthen their support for African American fathers returning to the community following incarceration. African American Males’ Lived Experiences of Fathering Following Incarceration by Sherece Shavel MSW, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 2004 BA, Seton Hall University, 2000 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy

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African American Males' Lived Experiences of Fathering Following Incarceration

Felicity Gerry QC and Lyndon Harris, in partnership with Halsbury’s Law Exchange, have spent the last three years researching sentencing and treatment of female offenders within the criminal justice system to determine whether there is a true and principled case for reform. In 2014, they published the report Women in prison: is the penal system fit for purpose? which aimed to help further discussion to develop workable penal law and policy suggestions. Two years on, and despite a number of significant reports from leading charities such as The Howard League, Women In Prison and the Prison Reform Trust, which have similarly aimed to bring about change in the way we treat women throughout the criminal justice system, it is clear that both the justice and the penal systems are still failing to address the multiple and complex needs posed by women. This discussion paper therefore aims to bring these important issues once again to the forefront and to strengthen the other voices also trying to pave the way for true reform in this area. It sets out the key facts emanating from the research, identifies keys areas where reforms could be made, and makes suggestions on how these changes might be implemented. Building on the 2014 report, the authors concentrate on three key areas: 1. Training of judges and other actors in the criminal justice system; 2. The criminalisation of women subject to exploitation, abuse and coercion; and 3. Sentencing. Amongst the proposals, the paper notes judicial training on gender issues, particularly the content and existence of the Bangkok Rules, does not appear to be available in the published judicial college course materials. It highlights the issue of diversity in the judiciary and therefore suggests a test could be designed to ensure key players in the criminal justice system have knowledge of the UN Rules and domestic research, including key facts and gender issues. The paper also raises the question whether the failure to implement such training should be a reportable under the CEDAW mechanisms. It reinforces that women in prison are likely to be victims as well as offenders, more than half (53 per cent) report having emotional, physical or sexual abuse as a child. Over half the women in prison report having suffered domestic violence and one in three had suffered sexual abuse. It suggests that the incarceration of women who have committed offences when they have been subject of exploitation, abuse or coercion is unreasoned. It further suggests that treatment of women as victims is illogical when the patterns of abusive behaviour are diverse and so widespread. It goes on therefore to propose that women should be treated as witnesses to a global violence problem that nations must try to solve. It should be possible to accept certain acts as involuntary or recognise reduced culpability, thus apply new laws to move women from the position of “suspect” to the role of “witness”. Other than the limited defence of duress, the exploitation, abuse and coercion of women is not applied as a criterion to reduce or extinguish criminal liability, the paper strongly recommends that this is an area ripe for legislative reform. The authors propose that the absence of a sentencing guideline dealing with gender issues should be addressed. In particular, they note that primary care responsibilities should be taken into account but evidence is rarely called as it would be in a family case about the arrangements of children. The paper notes that the Sentencing Council has made advancements in this area, explicitly referencing “primary caring responsibilities” as a mitigating feature in its guidelines. However, the authors ask whether more ought to be done by the Council and ask whether courts should be provided with information concerning these issues. The Ministry of Justice estimates that between 24 per cent and 31 per cent of all female offenders have one or more child dependents and an estimated 17,240 children are separated from their primary carers (usually mothers) by imprisonment every year. Finally, they make the case for more fiscally prudent decisions to consider that those who receive community orders rather than custodial sentences are less likely to reoffend and when they do they are less likely to commit violent crime. What’s more, the average cost of to keep a female offender in prison was approximately £56,415 per annum compared to £10,000-£15000 for an intensive community order. This argument has been made by others, such as the Prison Reform Trust and the Howard League. The authors support those groups and others in this endeavour. The paper concludes that this argument is not about giving women lenient sentences, or sentences less than a man would receive in the same circumstances; it is about imposing the correct sentence by reference to the principles governing the sentencing system. It is important to note one positive point since the 2014 report and that is numbers of female prisoners have fallen. However, female offenders – and their children – are still experiencing the devastating effects of short-term sentences and reports this month suggest that suicides in prison have reached “epidemic” proportions, with rates of self-harm and violence soaring to unprecedented levels. It is time to bring about a fundamental and radical change in the way we treat women throughout the whole of the criminal justice system. As Corston identified in her 2007 report nearly a decade ago, “we require a radical new approach, treating women both holistically and individually – a woman-centred approach”.

Women in prison: is the justice system fit for purpose?

Detainees are a particularly vulnerable group in society and face a wide range of health issues that are often associated with their offending behaviour, yet many fail to receive the healthcare that they need. The authors’ research indicates that continuity of care, sometimes known as throughcare, is essential to successfully reducing recidivism among offenders and helping them to become contributing members of society. This article uses the prisoner’s journey as its framework and draws fromtwo major European research studies funded by the EU to identify the requirements for building a successfuland equitable throughcare process for detainees. The key findings are that, at every stage of the prisoner’s journey, there are gaps in throughcare, allowing prisoners’ health problems to go undetected and untreated, which in many cases leadsto offending behaviours, recidivism and the ‘revolving door’ into prison.

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Inequalities in healthcare for prisoners in Europe: A Review

Reintegration into society is crucial for the rehabilitation of ex-offenders. However, in Hong Kong, ex-offenders from ethnic minority groups often face specific difficulties in reintegrating into society when they have completed their sentence and have been released from prisons and correctional institutions. Due to language barriers and cultural differences, as well as a sense of inferiority originating from their convictions, many ethnic minority ex-offenders are likely to experience difficulty in accessing support networks that can help in their rehabilitation, and to re-establish and sustain an identity as a law-abiding citizen, and face more barriers to reintegration than their Chinese counterparts. These barriers are further compounded by problems reintegrating into their own ethnic communities. Many ethnic minority ex-offenders have experienced isolation, stigmatization and discrimination following rejection from their own communities. This, in turn, further complicates their reintegration and can...

‘Fighting a war alone’: reintegration of ex-offenders from ethnic minority groups

Este trabajo estudia la reinsercion social de sujetos que han cumplido una condena y recobrado su libertad. Se comprende la reinsercion social como un fenomeno que integra diversos niveles de analisis: micro, meso y macro. Participaron 160 liberados condicionales de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, a los cuales se les administro los siguientes instrumentos: Entrevista para evaluar Perspectiva Futura, Cuestionario de Apoyo Social Comunitario, Escala de Prejuicio, Cuestionario de Reinsercion Social, Inventario de Respuestas de Afrontamiento y Escala de Satisfaccion Vital. El analisis de regresion multiple mostro que las variables que mejor predicen la reinsercion social de los liberados son: prejuicio social, respuestas de afrontamiento conductuales por aproximacion, satisfaccion vital, factibilidad de las metas de futuro, edad de inicio en el delito, actitud temporal futura y apoyo social. Estos resultados tienen implicaciones practicas para la intervencion psicosocial ligada a la problematica de reinsercion y para la prevencion de la reincidencia en el delito.

Estudio de la reinserción social de liberados condicionales desde un enfoque psicosocial Study of parolees' social reintegration from a psychosocial approach

The report emphasizes that rehabilitation should begin when a person is incarcerated. Social reintegration programmes should be designed to fully meet prisoners educational, cultural and health needs while being delivered in a setting which respects dignity and human rights.

Prison can be used as an effective tool to equip offenders with the necessary social and educational resources which can help them to desist from crime when they are released. It is emphasized:

"social reintegration is affected by how successfully programmes which were started in prison can be accessed, continued, practiced, or completed in the community"

The report includes information from approximately 16-20 countries in the CoE including Ireland and found the following:

•35% of prisoners are homeless on release from prison.
•Between a fifth and two fifths of all prisoners in CoE states are less qualified than the average secondary school leaver .
•70% of Irish prisoners are unemployed prior to conviction.
•Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Portugal, Romania and the Russian Federation do not allow prisoners to vote at all.
•39% of Irish prisoners take up some form of education while serving their sentence. The highest reported was Germany with 60% of prisoners engaging with some form of education.
•Ireland is the only country where work in prison is totally unpaid.

Joe Casey

Papers

The social reintegration of ex-prisoners in Council of Europe Member States.