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But They All Come Back: Facing the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry

12 Apr 2005-
TL;DR: Travis as mentioned in this paper proposes organizing the criminal justice system around five principles of reentry to encourage change and spur innovation, and argues that the impact of returning prisoners on families and communities has been largely overlooked.
Abstract: As our justice system has embarked upon one of our time's greatest social experiments?responding to crime by expanding prisons?we have forgotten the iron law of imprisonment: they all come back. In 2002, more than 630,000 individuals left federal and state prisons. Thirty years ago, only 150,000 did. In the intense political debate over America's punishment policies, the impact of these returning prisoners on families and communities has been largely overlooked. In But They All Come Back, Jeremy Travis continues his pioneering work on the new realities of punishment in America vis-a-vis public safety, families and children, work, housing, public health, civic identity, and community capacity. Travis proposes organizing the criminal justice system around five principles of reentry to encourage change and spur innovation.
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the degree to which offenders expect to be stigmatized or reintegrated after conviction and punishment in the justice system and the factors that influence variations in expectations.

37 citations


Cites background from "But They All Come Back: Facing the ..."

  • ...On the other hand, evidence in the reentry literature documents the difficulties that former felons have in finding and maintaining stable employment, repairing broken family relationships, and finding acceptance in the community (Travis, 2005)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For example, the authors found that more than 60% of employers would not knowingly hire an applicant with a criminal background (Holzer, 1996) and that over 80% of those employed would not employ an ex-offender with such a background.
Abstract: The problems of prisoner reentry are by now well known to academics and policymakers. With over two million individuals currently incarcerated, and over 12 million individuals with prior felony convictions, the challenge of integrating this large and growing population has become an urgent priority. Employment is widely considered a centerpiece of the reentry process, with evidence that steady work can reduce the incentives that lead to crime (Bushway and Reuter, 1997; Travis, 2005). And yet, hindering this goal, we know that ex-offenders face bleak prospects in the labor market, with the mark of a criminal record representing an important barrier to finding work (Pager, 2003). Indeed, more than 60% of employers claim that they would not knowingly hire an applicant with a criminal background (Holzer, 1996). Overcoming the barriers to employment facing ex-offenders, then, represents an important challenge for policies aimed at effective prisoner reentry. At the same time, it is important to keep in mind that the employment of ex-offenders is not necessarily without cost. Employers bear the burden of theft and violence in the workplace, as well as the more mundane problems of unreliable staff and employee turnover. With respect to each of these concerns, a criminal record is arguably a relevant signal. Indeed, to the extent that the past is a strong predictor of the future, a conviction conveys some information about the likelihood of future illegal, dangerous, or debilitating forms of behavior. Employers thus have good reason to be cautious about hiring individuals with known criminal pasts. Any policy designed to promote the employment of ex-offenders will have to address the real and perceived risks facing employers who hire individuals with criminal records. How then can we balance our interests in promoting the employment of ex-offenders with the desire to safeguard those employers who stand at the front lines of reentry initiatives? To date, most policies focusing on exoffenders have emphasized either “promoting reentry” or “reducing risk.” The first of these approaches seeks to facilitate employment for exoffenders through various strategies, such as establishing antidiscrimination legislation, removing legal barriers, providing job training and placement services and the like. By contrast, those focused on

37 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors bring together research on parole governance with women's experiences of reentry and highlight how parole governance intersects, conflicts with, and complicates their efforts to return to their communities and transition out of the gaze of the penal state.
Abstract: This article brings together research on parole governance with women’s experiences of reentry. In particular, drawing on longitudinal qualitative interviews with a group of women leaving prison and returning to their communities, the present study highlights the way parole structures women’s reintegration efforts post-incarceration. The women’s experiences highlight how parole governance intersects, conflicts with, and complicates their efforts to return to their communities and transition out of the gaze of the penal state.

36 citations


Cites background from "But They All Come Back: Facing the ..."

  • ...…record makes finding work (Mallik-Kane & Visher, 2008; Pager, 2003) and housing (Bergseth, Jens, Opsal 191 Bergeron-Vigesaa, & McDonald, 2011; Travis, 2005) difficult; notably, the very things that having a criminal record limits access to are very often critical aspects of a successful…...

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  • ...Research indicates that although some who leave prison are uncertain what they will be able to call home, most individuals initially depend on their families to provide them a place to lay their heads but wind up shuttling between “family, friends, shelters, and the streets” (Travis, 2005, p. 219)....

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  • ...Email: Tara.Opsal@colostate.edu Opsal 189 a criminal record has tremendous impacts on the formerly incarcerated as do various policies and laws that institutionalize a variety of legal and cultural consequences of holding this discredited social identity (Travis, 2005)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared employment, housing, and recidivism outcomes of reentering offenders who were either randomized into the program or simply provided with a list of community resources.
Abstract: The need for re-entry assistance is widely acknowledged, but specifics about what services actually lead to reduced recidivism are hard to find—at least among rigorous studies. This is a critical issue: at a time when there appears to be unprecedented support for expanding rehabilitative programs for offenders, there is a dearth of rigorously vetted program options from which to choose. Collaborating with a nationally known employment-focused reentry program in Southern California, the authors compared employment, housing, and recidivism outcomes of reentering offenders (n = 217) who were either randomized into the program or simply provided with a list of community resources. This approach was possible because the number of applicants at the time exceeded program capacity. Outcomes were based on self-report interviews conducted 1-year post-randomization and arrest records reflecting a 2-year follow-up period. The follow-up rate for interviews was 87 %. No significant differences were found for any of the between-group comparisons on any of the major intervention outcomes. Findings from the study suggest a greater need to apply randomized designs to more carefully evaluate current reentry efforts. Methodological challenges of field experiments are also discussed.

36 citations