When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry

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When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry

01 Jan 2003-

TL;DR: In this paper, a profile of returning prisoners is presented, along with a discussion of the changing nature of Parole Supervision and Services, and the role of the victim's role in prisoner reentry.

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Abstract: Preface 1. Introduction and Overview 2. Who's Coming Home? A Profile of Returning Prisoners 3. The Origins and Evolution of Modern Parole 4. The Changing Nature of Parole Supervision and Services 5. How We Help: Preparing Inmates for Release 6. How We Hinder: Legal and Practical Barriers to Reintegration 7. Revolving Door Justice: Inmate Release and Recidivism 8. The Victim's Role in Prisoner Reentry 9. What to Do? Reforming Parole and Reentry Practices 10. Conclusions: When Punitive Policies Backfire Afterword

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Journal Article•DOI•

Redemption in the presence of widespread criminal background checks

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Alfred Blumstein¹, Kiminori Nakamura¹•Institutions (1)

Carnegie Mellon University¹

01 May 2009-Criminology

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors estimate a point of redemption as the time when the hazard intersects the age-crime curve, which represents the arrest risk for the general population of the same age, and another similar redemption point when the declining hazard comes "sufficiently close" to the hazard of those who have never been arrested.

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Abstract: Criminal background checks have now become ubiquitous because of advances in information technology and growing concerns about employer liability. Also, a large number of individual criminal records have accumulated and have been computerized in state repositories and commercial databases. As a result, many ex-offenders seeking employment could be haunted by a stale record. Recidivism probability declines with time “clean,” so some point in time is reached when a person with a criminal record, who remained free of further contact with the criminal justice system, is of no greater risk than a counterpart of the same age—an indication of redemption from the mark of crime. Very little information exists on this measure of time until redemption and on how its value varies with the crime type and the offender's age at the time of the earlier event. Using data from a state criminal-history repository, we estimate the declining hazard of rearrest with time clean. We first estimate a point of redemption as the time when the hazard intersects the age–crime curve, which represents the arrest risk for the general population of the same age. We also estimate another similar redemption point when the declining hazard comes “sufficiently close” to the hazard of those who have never been arrested. We estimate both measures of redemption as a function of the age and the crime type of the earlier arrest. These findings aid in the development of guidelines for the users of background checking and in developing regulations to enhance employment opportunities for ex-offenders.

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236 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Blessed Be the Social Tie That Binds: The Effects of Prison Visitation on Offender Recidivism

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Grant Duwe, Valerie A. Clark

01 May 2013-Criminal Justice Policy Review

TL;DR: The authors examined the effects of prison visitation on recidivism among 16,420 offenders released from Minnesota prisons between 2003 and 2007, using multiplicity of visits to the same facility and found that the effect of visitation was significant.

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Abstract: Following recent studies in Florida and Canada, we examine the effects of prison visitation on recidivism among 16,420 offenders released from Minnesota prisons between 2003 and 2007. Using multipl...

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236 citations

Cites background from "When Prisoners Come Home: Parole an..."

...Because about half of returning prisoners were serving a sentence for a drug or violence-related conviction, and even more ex-prisoners have at least one prior drug or violence-related conviction, most returning prisoners are not eligible for federal housing assistance (Petersilia, 2003)....
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...Because many offenders lack education, vocational skills, and a steady history of employment (Berstein & Houston, 2000; Petersilia, 2003; Visher et al. 2004; Western, Kling, & Weiman, 2001), obtaining employment represents one of the largest obstacles encountered by returning prisoners (Brees,…...
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...Because many offenders lack education, vocational skills, and a steady history of employment (Berstein & Houston, 2000; Petersilia, 2003; Visher et al. 2004; Western, Kling, & Weiman, 2001), obtaining employment represents one of the largest obstacles encountered by returning prisoners (Brees, Ra’el, & Grant, 2000; Rocque et al....
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...A history of serious offending can make an individual appear untrustworthy and, therefore, less employable (Pager, 2003; Petersilia, 2003; Western et al., 2001)....
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...The capacity of state and federal corrections systems to manage prisoner reentry has not kept pace with the increasing number of returning prisoners (Lynch & Sabol, 2001; Petersilia, 2003)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Reentry as a Rite of Passage

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Shadd Maruna

01 Jan 2011-Punishment & Society

TL;DR: This paper reviewed the socio- logical and anthropological literature on rituals, explaining what they are and what they do, focusing in particular on the role of status degradation ceremonies in criminal justice work and the core elements that would be needed to develop rituals of reintegration powerful enough to counteract these degradation effects.

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Abstract: Mary Douglas argues that, 'There are some things we cannot experience without ritual.' Ex-prisoner reintegration may be one of them. The punishment process involves an inordinate amount of ritual behavior, from the drama of the courtroom to the elaborate de-individuation processes involved in institutionalization. Durkheim argues that these rituals serve a distinct purpose for society: engendering social solidarity and shaping penal sensibilities. Like the commission of a crime, the reintegration of the former outcast back into society represents a challenge to the moral order, a delicate transition fraught with danger and possibility. However, unlike punishment, reintegration is not a process characterized by well-orchestrated and familiar rituals. This lack might explain the failings of prisoner reentry in contemporary society. This article reviews the socio- logical and anthropological literature on rituals, explaining what they are and what they do, focusing in particular on the role of status degradation ceremonies in criminal justice work. Drawing on this literature, the core elements that would be needed to develop rituals of reintegration powerful enough to counteract these degradation effects are discussed, and the potential impact of such hypothetical rituals is explored.

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232 citations

Cites background from "When Prisoners Come Home: Parole an..."

...Like Braithwaite (1989), I contend that most contemporary societies lack clear rituals of reintegration and that this lack may be implicated to greater or lesser extent in the substantial failings in reentry processes that are recognized widely in criminological research (Petersilia, 2003; Travis, 2005)....
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...…(1989), I contend that most contemporary societies lack clear rituals of reintegration and that this lack may be implicated to greater or lesser extent in the substantial failings in reentry processes that are recognized widely in criminological research (Petersilia, 2003; Travis, 2005)....
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...I argue that contemporary Anglo-American societies (not just Britain, but Britain represents a typical example) are particularly bad at reintegrating and re-accepting individuals who have committed offenses back into wider society (see Petersilia, 2003; Travis, 2005)....
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Journal Article•

What Works in Prisoner Reentry? Reviewing and Questioning the Evidence.

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Joan Petersilia¹•Institutions (1)

University of California, Irvine¹

01 Sep 2004-Federal Probation

TL;DR: More than 600,000 individuals will leave state prisons and return home this year as discussed by the authors, which is 1,600 a day, and a sixfold increase in prisoner releases since 1970.

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Abstract: MORE THAN 600,000 individuals will leave state prisons and return home this year. That is 1,600 a day, and a sixfold increase in prisoner releases since 1970. Of course, inmates have always been released from prison, and corrections officials have long struggled with how to facilitate successful transitions. But the current situation is decidedly different. The increase in number of releasees has stretched parole services beyond their limits, and officials worry about what assistance can be provided at release. Research confirms that returning prisoners need more help than in the past, yet resources have diminished. Returning prisoners will have served longer prison sentences than in the past, be more disconnected from family and friends, have a higher prevalence of untreated substance abuse and mental illness, and be less educated and employable than their predecessors. Legal and practical barriers facing ex-offenders have also increased, affecting their employment, housing, and welfare eligibility. Without help, many released inmates quickly return to crime.

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230 citations

Cites background from "When Prisoners Come Home: Parole an..."

...Petersilia (2003) agrees and writes that prisoner reentry "simply defined, includes all activities and programming conducted to prepare ex-convicts to return safely to the community and to live as law abiding citizens."...
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Journal Article•DOI•

Mapping the shadow carceral state: Toward an institutionally capacious approach to punishment

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Katherine Beckett¹, Naomi Murakawa¹•Institutions (1)

University of Washington¹

22 Apr 2012-Theoretical Criminology

TL;DR: The shadow carceral state as discussed by the authors expands penal power through institutional annexation and legal hybridity, including increased civil and administrative pathways to incarceration; the creation of civil alternatives to invalidated criminal statutes; and the incorporation of criminal law into administrative legal processes in ways that enhance state carceral power.

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Abstract: The expansion of the US carceral state has been accompanied by the emergence of what we call the ‘shadow carceral state’. Operating beyond the confines of criminal law and justice institutions, the shadow carceral state expands penal power through institutional annexation and legal hybridity, including: (1) increased civil and administrative pathways to incarceration; (2) the creation of civil ‘alternatives’ to invalidated criminal statutes; and (3) the incorporation of criminal law into administrative legal processes in ways that enhance state carceral power. Although legal doctrine deems civil and administration sanctions to be ‘not-punishment’, we call for a broad understanding of penal power and the carceral state.

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226 citations

Cites background from "When Prisoners Come Home: Parole an..."

...…toward ‘waste management’ styles concerned with efficiently managing the risk of reoffending (Feeley and Simon, 1992; Simon, 1993).4 Parolees are subject to myriad rules and requirements, violations of which frequently lead to (re)incarceration (Lynch, 1998, 2000; Petersilia, 2003; Simon, 1993)....
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...Parolees are subject to myriad rules and requirements, violations of which frequently lead to (re)incarceration (Lynch, 1998, 2000; Petersilia, 2003; Simon, 1993)....
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When Prisoners Come Home: Parole and Prisoner Reentry

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Cites background from "When Prisoners Come Home: Parole an..."

Cites background from "When Prisoners Come Home: Parole an..."

Cites background from "When Prisoners Come Home: Parole an..."

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