Transitions from Prison to Community: Understanding Individual Pathways
28 Nov 2003-Review of Sociology (Annual Reviews 4139 El Camino Way, P.O. Box 10139, Palo Alto, CA 94303-0139, USA)-Vol. 29, Iss: 1, pp 89-113
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the problem of prisoner reentry, which is the process of leaving prison and returning to free society, and focus solely on recidivism and ignore the reality that recidivity is directly affected by post-prison reintegration and adjustment, which, in turn, depends on four sets of factors: personal and situational characteri...
Abstract: ▪ Abstract In 2002, over 600,000 individuals left state and federal prisons, four times as many as were released in 1975. However, according to a national study, within 3 years, almost 7 in 10 will have been rearrested and half will be back in prison, either for a new crime or for violating conditions of their release. Clearly, an individual's transition from prison back into a home and into a community is difficult, and avoiding crime can be the least of his or her problems. Understanding these pathways and the reasons for and the dimensions of an individual's success or failure is the focus of recent scholarly attention to the problem of “prisoner reentry,” the process of leaving prison and returning to free society. However, most of the existing research on prisoners' lives after release focuses solely on recidivism and ignores the reality that recidivism is directly affected by postprison reintegration and adjustment, which, in turn, depends on four sets of factors: personal and situational characteri...
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TL;DR: In the past three decades, incarceration has become an increasingly powerful force for reproducing and reinforcing social inequalities as discussed by the authors, and a new wave of sociological research details the contemporary experiment with mass incarceration in the United States and its attendant effects on social stratification.
Abstract: In the past three decades, incarceration has become an increasingly powerful force for reproducing and reinforcing social inequalities. A new wave of sociological research details the contemporary experiment with mass incarceration in the United States and its attendant effects on social stratification. This review first describes the scope of imprisonment and the process of selection into prison. It then considers the implications of the prison boom for understanding inequalities in the labor market, educational attainment, health, families, and the intergenerational transmission of inequality. Social researchers have long understood selection into prison as a reflection of existing stratification processes. Today, research attention has shifted to the role of punishment in generating these inequalities.
579 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focused on a neglected but potentially critical factor, inmate visitation, that may reduce recidivism, using data from the Florida Department of Corrections, and tested hypotheses about the effects of visitation.
Abstract: Despite increased scholarly and policy attention to prisoner reentry, much remains unknown about the factors that contribute to a successful transition from prison to society. The authors focused on a neglected but potentially critical factor, inmate visitation, that may reduce recidivism. The expectation of such an effect stems from prominent crime theories and an increasing body of work that stresses the importance of social ties to the reentry process. Using data from the Florida Department of Corrections, the authors tested hypotheses about the effects of visitation on recidivism. The measures of visitation included whether any visits occurred, the frequency and recency of visitation, and the type of visitor received (e.g., family member, friend). The authors also examined whether visitation effects varied by age, sex, race, type of instant offense, and prior incarceration. The findings indicate that visitation reduces and delays recidivism. Their implications for theory, research, and policy are disc...
434 citations
TL;DR: This paper employ an integrated conceptual framework in order to test hypotheses about the link between familial ties, post-release employment, and recidivism and find that family ties have implications for both recidivate and job attainment.
Abstract: Scholars consistently find that reentering offenders who obtain steady work and maintain social ties to family are less likely to recidivate Some theorize that familial ties may operate through employment to influence recidivism and that such ties may also serve a moderating role The current study employs an integrated conceptual framework in order to test hypotheses about the link between familial ties, post‐release employment, and recidivism The findings suggest that family ties have implications for both recidivism and job attainment In fact, the results suggest that good quality social ties may be particularly important for men with histories of frequent unemployment The implications of these findings are discussed with regard to theory and future research on prisoner reentry and recidivism
427 citations
Cites background from "Transitions from Prison to Communit..."
...Studies consistently find that two conditions play a particularly salient role in the reentry process: employment and social ties to family (Glaser, 1964; Laub & Sampson, 2003; Petersilia, 2003; Visher & Travis, 2003)....
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...Employment, however, also enables individuals to pay their bills, secure housing, and develop a wider network of ties to conventional society (Petersilia, 2003; Visher & Courtney, 2006; Visher & Travis, 2003)....
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...…have yet to isolate, “how exactly social ties aid released inmates in the transition back into society” (Bales & Mears, 2008, p. 313); in particular, little is known about whether family ties help offenders overcome obstacles in the job market and secure employment (cf. Visher & Travis, 2003)....
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TL;DR: Variation in social integration in the first months after prison release with data from the Boston Reentry Study, a unique panel survey of 122 newly released prisoners indicates severe material hardship immediately after incarceration.
Abstract: The historic increase in U.S. incarceration rates made the transition from prison to community common for poor, prime-age men and women. Leaving prison presents the challenge of social integration—of connecting with family and finding housing and a means of subsistence. The authors study variation in social integration in the first months after prison release with data from the Boston Reentry Study, a unique panel survey of 122 newly released prisoners. The data indicate severe material hardship immediately after incarceration. Over half of sample respondents were unemployed, two-thirds received public assistance, and many relied on female relatives for financial support and housing. Older respondents and those with histories of addiction and mental illness were the least socially integrated, with weak family ties, unstable housing, and low levels of employment. Qualitative interviews show that anxiety and feelings of isolation accompanied extreme material insecurity. Material insecurity combined with the...
313 citations
TL;DR: Despite high levels of health risks among all homeless and marginally housed people, the levels among homeless former prisoners were even higher, suggesting efforts to eradicate homelessness also must include the unmet needs of inmates who are released from prison.
Abstract: Objectives. We studied a sample of homeless and marginally housed adults to examine whether a history of imprisonment was associated with differences in health status, drug use, and sexual behaviors among the homeless.Methods. We interviewed 1426 community-based homeless and marginally housed adults. We used multivariate models to analyze factors associated with a history of imprisonment.Results. Almost one fourth of participants (23.1%) had a history of imprisonment. Models that examined lifetime substance use showed cocaine use (odds ratio [OR]=1.67; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.04, 2.70), heroin use (OR=1.51; 95% CI=1.07, 2.12), mental illness (OR=1.41; 95% CI=1.01, 1.96), HIV infection (OR=1.69; 95% CI=1.07, 2.64), and having had more than 100 sexual partners were associated with a history of imprisonment. Models that examined recent substance use showed past-year heroin use (OR = 1.65; 95% CI = 1.14, 2.38) and methamphetamine use (OR=1.49; 95% CI=1.00, 2.21) were associated with lifetime imprisonme...
264 citations
References
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TL;DR: Multilevel analyses showed that a measure of collective efficacy yields a high between-neighborhood reliability and is negatively associated with variations in violence, when individual-level characteristics, measurement error, and prior violence are controlled.
Abstract: It is hypothesized that collective efficacy, defined as social cohesion among neighbors combined with their willingness to intervene on behalf of the common good, is linked to reduced violence. This hypothesis was tested on a 1995 survey of 8782 residents of 343 neighborhoods in Chicago, Illinois. Multilevel analyses showed that a measure of collective efficacy yields a high between-neighborhood reliability and is negatively associated with variations in violence, when individual-level characteristics, measurement error, and prior violence are controlled. Associations of concentrated disadvantage and residential instability with violence are largely mediated by collective efficacy.
10,498 citations
3,835 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1950TL;DR: This is the sort of American book which makes British social scientists writhe with envy as discussed by the authors, and it is the record of a sustained and elaborate criminological research project, lasting ten years and costing three-quarters of a million dollars.
Abstract: This is the sort of American book which makes British social scientists writhe with envy. It is the record of a sustained and elaborate criminological research project, lasting ten years and costing three-quarters of a million dollars. As might be expected, this is therefore as good a book of its type as is likely to be written. However, it adheres to the orthodox methodology for the study of crime, and there is every reason for feeling that this is no longer adequate.
1,680 citations
TL;DR: Laub and Sampson as mentioned in this paper analyzed newly collected data on crime and social development up to age 70 for 500 men who were remanded to reform school in the 1940s and found that men who desisted from crime were rooted in structural routines and had strong social ties to family and community.
Abstract: This text analyses newly collected data on crime and social development up to age 70 for 500 men who were remanded to reform school in the 1940s. Born in Boston in the late 1920s and early 1930s, these men were the subjects of the classic study "Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency" by Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck (1950). Updating their lives at the close of the twentieth century, and connecting their adult experience to childhood, this book is arguably the longest longitudinal study of age, crime and the life course to date. John Laub and Robert Sampson's long-term data, combined with in-depth interviews, defy the conventional wisdom that links individual traits such as poor verbal skills, limited self-control and difficult temperament to long-term trajectories of offending. The authors reject the idea of categorizing offenders to reveal etiologies of offending - rather, they connect variability in behaviour to social context. They find that men who desisted from crime were rooted in structural routines and had strong social ties to family and community. By uniting life-history narratives with rigorous data analysis, the authors shed new light on long-term trajectories of crime and current policies of crime control.
1,587 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1986
TL;DR: This article developed a framework for collecting information about individual criminal careers and their parameters, reviews existing knowledge about criminal career dimensions, presents models of offending patterns, and describes how criminal career information can be used to develop and refine criminal justice policies.
Abstract: By focusing attention on individuals rather than on aggregates, this book takes a novel approach to studying criminal behavior. It develops a framework for collecting information about individual criminal careers and their parameters, reviews existing knowledge about criminal career dimensions, presents models of offending patterns, and describes how criminal career information can be used to develop and refine criminal justice policies. In addition, an agenda for future research on criminal careers is presented.
1,273 citations