Digital Commons Network^™

Prospective Hires: Examining Ex-Offender Stigma Effects On Employment, Amanda Neff

Justice Studies Theses

Formerly incarcerated persons face many barriers upon being released from prison–one of which is gaining employment. Obtaining a job can be difficult due to employers’ perceived employability of those who have been involved in the justice system. Organizational and personal characteristics of employers have been found in previous research to impact how likely an employer is to hire formerly incarcerated individuals. This thesis examines how stigma surrounding formerly incarcerated persons is perceived by employers through quantitatively examining employer demographics and their willingness to hire these individuals. This study used a mixed-model randomized sampling method for surveying employers in Bristol, Central …

Families With Fathers In Minimum Security Prison: A Family Treatment Approach To Treating Families With Fathers In Prison, Alexandria Davis, Madison Schrack

Student Projects

The population of those in prison is increasing, and many of those who are in prison have families. Much research has been done on the effect prison has on prisoners, but not as much has looked at the children and what the effect is of having a parent, specifically their father, who is absent in prison. It is important to understand the possible behaviors, risks, and challenges that children face. This research essay looks at what it is like for children between the ages of 5 and 10 to have a father in minimum security prison while also examining the …

“Social Workers By Day And Terrorists By Night?” Wounded Healers, Restorative Justice, And Ex-Prisoner Reentry, Allely Albert

Articles

Common to many post-conflict societies, former political prisoners and combatants in Northern Ireland are often portrayed as security threats rather than as potential contributors to societal peacebuilding processes. This distrust limits their ability to contribute to the transitional landscape and additionally hinders desistance processes during their reentry from prison. Drawing from the work of Maruna, LeBel, and others on “wounded healers,” this article critically examines the restorative justice work of ex-prisoners who have become involved in leadership roles within community based restorative justice. It is argued that such practitioner work can help former combatants overcome many of the challenges typically …

Addressing Barriers To Housing In Reentry Programs Working To Address A Variety Of Needs: A Qualitative Study Of Second Chance Act Grantees, Elizabeth L. Beck, Natasha N. Johnson, Sommer Delgado, Victoria Helmly, Susan Mclaren, Alice Prendergast, Leigh Alderman, Lorenzo Almada, Brian Bride, Eric Napierala, William Sabol

CJC Publications

Using data from an evaluation of three Second Chance Act grantees, we explore formerly incarcerated people’s (FIP) access to housing. This study is unique in that it includes the perspectives of individuals with lived experiences and the insights of the reentry program providers working to meet their overall needs, including in the area of housing. The data come from reentry programs in three regions of the United States. Although the needs of the people with lived experiences have similarities, regional differences exist, particularly related to housing costs and supply, including the availability of transitional housing. Also, variations exist between FIP …

Precarious Citizenship: Ambivalence, Literacy, And Prisoner Reentry, Maggie Shelledy

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Precarious Citizenship: Ambivalence, Literacy and Prisoner Reentry examines the role of literacy in the experiences of formerly incarcerated people as they navigate the process of reentry into mainstream citizenry. I argue that the unsustainability of mass incarceration has created uncertainty about the place of formerly incarcerated people in the democratic imaginary, opening for debate who deserves to participate in civic life. In response, higher education is increasingly being called upon to address the precarious citizenship of formerly incarcerated people and, I argue, serves to credential formerly incarcerated people not only for future employment but for inclusion in social life. The …

Idle Hands Are The Devil's Workshop? Exploring The Connections Between Prison-Work Release Programming, Post-Release Employment And Recidivism, Ryan Maranville

Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development—Student Research

This paper focuses on evaluations of employment-based reentry programs. It begins with an overview of recidivism, touching on the both theory and empirical research framing employment as a pivotal factor in the reentry process. Next, it reviews the limited assessments of work-release programming and their findings. The final sections examine the structural factors which complicate reentry, specifically low wages and community disorganization. And identifies the benefits of incorporating qualitative methods in criminological research as it relates to evaluating programs, their impact, and tying findings to program adaptations and future implementation.

Incarcerated Mothers And Their Children's Caregivers: How Their Relationship Impacts The Mother-Child Relationship, Jodi Simmons Ford

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Mass incarceration has impacted much of the population in the United States over the last several decades. One of the most significantly impacted groups is women. Over half of incarcerated women are mothers. Mothers are typically the primary caregiver of their children at the time of their incarceration, and most want to maintain a relationship and have contact with their children throughout their incarceration. However, the children’s caregiver controls their relationship and contact with their incarcerated mother. The primary purpose of this research was to examine how the incarcerated mother’s relationship with her children’s caregiver impacts her relationship with her …

Understanding Volunteerism: The Role Of The Participant In Non-Clinical Correctional Programming, H. Daniel Butler, Michael Campagna, Ryan E. Spohn, Katelynn Towne

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Most incarcerated individuals do not participate in prison programming, which may be due to the limited availability of programs or the voluntaristic nature of programming. Most incarcerated individuals are provided the opportunity to select their own non-clinical programming. This voluntaristic approach to program participation provides an opportunity to explore the characteristics of who opts into non-clinical programming when given the choice, an inquiry that acknowledges potential practical and ethical limitations to a non-clinical delivery of programming. In this study, we utilize administrative data from a Midwestern state to understand who volunteers for correctional programming in institutional and community settings. Findings …

Us Helping Us: The Evolution Of A Peer Support Group For Formerly Incarcerated People, Will Boles, Thad Tatum, Jarrod Wall, Lauren Nguyen, Alexandria Van Dall, Claire Mulhollem, Anna Sacks, Ashley Wennerstrom, Bruce Reilly, Anjali Niyogi

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Introduction: Physical, psychological, and emotional trauma experienced while incarcerated influences subsequent mental health outcomes. Upon release, there is a fragmented landscape of mental health services and many of the existing services do not account for the root causes of challenges faced by formerly incarcerated people (FIP). To address the unmet social, psychological, behavioral, and emotional needs of FIP in Louisiana, the Formerly Incarcerated Peer Support (FIPS) Group developed a twelve-unit curriculum in 2019. Methods: We detail the evolution, development, and evaluation of the FIPS Group program. Additionally, we describe the community-driven process for developing the curriculum. Results: The FIPS Group …

A Phenomenological Examination Of Probation Officers' Perception On Black Female Ex-Offenders Transition And Successful Reentry Into Society, Anita Michelle Bryant

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of probation officers who provided supervision in a reintegration program for post-release Black female offenders concerning their efforts to reduce recidivism. The feminist theory guided this research study, as it shed light on the barriers encountered by female offenders in the United States and expounded how they were specifically unique from the barriers faced by male offenders. The research questions were: what are probation officers’ perceptions of how reentry programs contribute to Black female ex-offenders’ successful transition back into the community, what are the probation officers’ perceptions of how …

The Need For Continuity Of Care In The Criminal Justice System, Jason R. Trautwein, Kelly Moore Phd, Ricki Dierenfeldt Phd, Jim Hart, Duane Slone, Jeremy Kourvelas, Jennifer G. Tourville Dnp

SMART Policy Briefs

People with mental health and substance use disorders who would benefit from treatment are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. It has been reported that 63% of individuals in jail and 58% of individuals in prison meet the criteria for having a substance use disorder, and 36% of the population serving a state prison sentence were being treated for a mental health disorder, which is 17% higher than the general population in Tennessee. Justice-involved individuals with mental health and substance use disorders have a higher risk of recidivism, especially when they lack access to medications and behavioral health treatments both …

The Family Connection: Examining The Transitional Impact On Family Members Of Returning Citizens Reentering Society, Leon Rankins

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to define and measure more extensively the personal barriers of family members of returning citizens recently released from incarceration in the United States. Also sought was examining the returning citizen's family members' perspectives of their issues relating to their loved ones in the reintegration process and how their challenges and barriers impacted their desire to provide transitional support to the returning citizen. The theory guiding this study is Bowen's family system theory as it suggests that individuals cannot be understood in isolation from one another, but rather as a part of their …

I Am Not Your Felon: Decoding The Trauma, Resilience, And Recovering Mothering Of Formerly Incarcerated Black Women, Jason M. Williams, Zoe Spencer, Sean K. Wilson

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Black women are increasingly targets of mass incarceration and reentry. Black feminist writers call attention to scholars’ need to intersectionalize analyses around how Black women interface with state systems and social institutions. This study foregrounds narratives from Black women to understand their plight while navigating reentry through a phenomenological approach. Through semi-structured interviews, narratives are analyzed using critical frameworks that authentically unearths the lived realities of participants. Themes reveal that for Black mothers, reentry can be just as criminalizing as engaging crime itself. These women face dire consequences around their mothering that induce them into tremendous bouts of trauma. Existing …

Mental Health Care Transitions From Incarceration, Graham Stratton, Md

Department of Family & Community Medicine Presentations and Grand Rounds

The scope of the problem of mental health and incarceration

• Case & Consideration 1: Severe Mental Illness ○ Brief history of de institutionalization and re institutionalization ○ Philadelphia’s jails at a glance
• Case & Consideration 2: Violence and trauma
• Consideration & Consideration 3: Addiction and substance use
• Models of transitions of care for reentry
• Community teams and resources
• Next steps for a Family Medicine physician

Reimagining Reentry: A Vision For Transformative Justice Beyond The Carceral State, Kemiya Nutter

Ethnic Studies Senior Capstone Papers

Throughout the past decade, mass incarceration has emerged as a buzzword within academic scholarship and public policy discourse that seeks to examine the unparalleled expansion of the contemporary carceral state. With 2.2 million Americans imprisoned and over 7 million under various forms of penal control, the United States maintains the highest rate of incarceration in the world. The unprecedented inflation in the nation’s incarceration rate is a direct manifestation of the 1970’s War on Drugs, which enabled the legislative transformations that permeate modern sentencing policy and procedure. Institutions of policing, surveillance, and incarceration are constitutive features of the carceral system’s …

Reentry Court Judges: The Key To The Court, Christopher Salvatore, Venezia Michalsen, Caitlin Taylor

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Over the last few decades, treatment-oriented court judges have moved away from being neutral arbitrators in an adversarial court process to treatment facilitators. In the problem-solving court model, judges are part of a more therapeutic treatment process with program participants and a courtroom workgroup. The shift from the use of the traditional criminal justice process toward the use of more treatment-oriented models for some populations highlights the need to systematically document key elements of treatment court models. In particular, it is important to clearly document the role of Reentry Court Judges because they are a key component of the Reentry …

“It’S Hard Out Here If You’Re A Black Felon”: A Critical Examination Of Black Male Reentry, Jason M. Williams, Sean K. Wilson, Carrie Bergeson

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Formerly incarcerated Black males face many barriers once they return to society after incarceration. Research has long established incarceration as a determinant of poor health and well-being. While research has shown that legally created barriers (e.g., employment, housing, and social services) are often a challenge post-incarceration, far less is known of Black male’s daily experiences of reentry. Utilizing critical ethnography and semi-structured interviews with formerly incarcerated Black males in a Northeastern community, this study examines the challenges Black males experience post-incarceration.

Race As A Carceral Terrain: Black Lives Matter Meets Reentry, Jason Williams

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

In the United States, racialized people are disproportionately selected for punishment. Examining punishment discourses intersectionally unearths profound, unequal distinctions when controlling for the variety of victims’ identities within the punishment regime. For example, trans women of color are likely to face the harshest of realities when confronted with the prospect of punishment. However, missing from much of the academic carceral literature is a critical perspective situated in racialized epistemic frameworks. If racialized individuals are more likely to be affected by punishment systems, then, certainly, they are the foremost experts on what those realities are like. The Black Lives Matter hashtag …

A Cell Of One’S Own? Incarceration And Other Turning Points In Women’S Journeys To Desistance, Venezia Michalsen

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Research has shown the importance of turning points in desistance from criminal behavior. Using qualitative data from a sample of 100 formerly incarcerated mothers interviewed about their criminal behavior, this article explores their descriptions of transition moments and whether and how those moments affected their criminal behavior. The findings indicate that whereas parenting emerges as a turning point, the practical difficulties of reentry may reduce the impact of mothering on women’s desistance. More self-focused turning points, such as those due to incarceration, arrest, and sobriety appeared to be particularly important to the women’s desistance. This article emphasizes the need for …

Beyond The Employment Dichotomy: An Examination Of Recidivism And Days Remaining In The Community By Post-Release Employment Status, Amanda Marie Bunting, Michele Staton, Erin Winston, Kevin Pangburn

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Criminological research has tended to consider employment in a dichotomy of employed versus unemployed. The current research examines a sample of individuals 1-year post-release to assess the extent to which four distinct employment categories (full-time, part-time, disabled, and unemployed) are associated with reincarceration and days remaining in the community. Findings indicate disabled individuals remain in the community longer and at a higher proportion compared with other employment categories. Furthermore, unique protective and risk factors are found to be associated with each employment category while some risk factors (e.g., homelessness) highlight the importance of addressing reentry barriers regardless as to employment …

Teaching Justice-Connectivity, Michael Pinard

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay conveys the importance of building in law students the foundation to recognize the various systems, institutions, and conditions that often crash into the lives of their clients, as well as the residents of the communities that are just outside law schools’ doors. It does so through proposing a teaching model that I call Justice-Connectivity. This model aims for students to understand and be humbled by the ways in which different institutions, systems, and strands of law converge upon, oppress, isolate, and shun individuals, families, and communities. The ultimate teaching lesson is that individuals, families, and communities are often …

Respect The Hustle: Necessity Entrepreneurship, Returning Citizens, And Social Enterprise Strategies, Priya Baskaran

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This Article addresses a pervasive and growing problem for returning citizens – high rates of economic insecurity – and as a novel solution, proposes the creation of Economic Justice Incubators a new municipally led social enterprise strategy.

Mass incarceration is a national problem and requires comprehensive criminal justice reform. In contrast, the process of reentry is locally focused thanks to a complex web of collateral consequences. An estimated 641,000 people return home from prison each year, many to a limited number of economically distressed communities. Once released, their mobility is limited by the terms of their parole and the collateral …

Community Support Systems For Reentering Young Adults, Samantha Staffin

Honors Scholar Theses

Young adults reentering into society after incarceration encounter a variety of obstacles that make their transition particularly difficult. Recidivism is a threat that becomes increasingly present in an environment that has negative societal pressures. In consideration of this, the presence of a healthy community support system is crucial for this population. In depth interviews were conducted with seven young adult participants of the Reentry Program at Our Piece of the Pie, Incorporated (OPP) to determine the quality of their current community support systems. Based on the information collected from interviews, it is evident that the full needs of the population …

Program Evaluation Of The Federal Reentry Court In The Eastern District Of Pennsylvania: Report On Program Effectiveness For The First 265 Reentry Court Participants, Caitlin J. Taylor

Sociology and Criminal Justice Faculty work

This report describes the latest evaluation of the Supervision to Aid Reentry (STAR) program (hereafter referred to as Reentry Court). The success of the Reentry Court is assessed by comparing the first 265 Reentry Court participants to a group of similarly situated individuals under supervised release. Results indicate that while Reentry Court participation does not appear to influence the likelihood of new arrests, participation is associated with a significant reduction in the likelihood of probation revocations and an increase in the likelihood of employment.

Juvenile Corrections In The Era Of Reform: A Meta-Synthesis Of Qualitative Studies, Anne M. Nurse, Jub Sankofa, Alexandra Cox, Jamie Fader, Michelle Inderbitzin, Laura Abrams

All Faculty Articles

In this article, the authors synthesize knowledge from select qualitative studies examining rehabilitation-oriented juvenile residential corrections and aftercare programs. Using meta-synthesis methodology, the authors extracted and coded content from 10 research studies conducted by five authors across criminology, sociology, and social welfare disciplines. The total number of published works based on those studies analyzed was 18. Collectively, these studies offer insight into three major components of the juvenile correctional experience: therapeutic treatment and evidence-based practices, the shaping of identities and masculinities, and preparation for reentry. This analysis is particularly important as the United States is currently in an era of …

Combating Discrimination Against The Formerly Incarcerated In The Labor Market, Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Ifeoma Ajunwa

Faculty Scholarship

Both discrimination by private employers and governmental restrictions in the form of statutes that prohibit professional licensing serve to exclude the formerly incarcerated from much of the labor market. This Essay explores and analyzes potential legislative and contractual means for removing these barriers to labor market participation by the formerly incarcerated. First, as a means of addressing discrimination by the state, Part I of this Essay explores the ways in which the adoption of racial impact statements — which mandate that legislators consider statistical analyses of the potential impact their proposed legislation may have on racial and ethnic groups prior …

Criminal Employment Law, Benjamin Levin

Scholarship@WashULaw

This Article diagnoses a phenomenon, “criminal employment law,” which exists at the nexus of employment law and the criminal justice system. Courts and legislatures discourage employers from hiring workers with criminal records and encourage employers to discipline workers for non-work-related criminal misconduct. In analyzing this phenomenon, my goals are threefold: (1) to examine how criminal employment law works; (2) to hypothesize why criminal employment law has proliferated; and (3) to assess what is wrong with criminal employment law. This Article examines the ways in which the laws that govern the workplace create incentives for employers not to hire individuals with …

Criminal Employment Law, Benjamin Levin

Publications

This Article diagnoses a phenomenon, “criminal employment law,” which exists at the nexus of employment law and the criminal justice system. Courts and legislatures discourage employers from hiring workers with criminal records and encourage employers to discipline workers for non-work-related criminal misconduct. In analyzing this phenomenon, my goals are threefold: (1) to examine how criminal employment law works; (2) to hypothesize why criminal employment law has proliferated; and (3) to assess what is wrong with criminal employment law. This Article examines the ways in which the laws that govern the workplace create incentives for employers not to hire individuals with …

Unmarked? Criminal Record Clearing And Employment Outcomes, Jeffrey Selbin, Justin Mccrary, Joshua Epstein

Faculty Scholarship

An estimated one in three American adults has a criminal record. While some records are for serious offenses, most are for arrests or relatively low-level misdemeanors. In an era of heightened security concerns, easily available data, and increased criminal background checks, these records act as a substantial barrier to gainful employment and other opportunities. Harvard sociologist Devah Pager describes people with criminal records as “marked” with a negative job credential.

In response to this problem, lawyers have launched unmarking programs to help people take advantage of legal record clearing remedies. We studied a random sample of participants in one such …

Key Factors To Promote Successful Comprehensive Reentry Initiatives, Jeff Mellow, Kevin Barnes-Ceeney

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

From page 22: "In this article we describe key features of CRIs, their goals, and critical implementation indicators identified from the literature and experience that must be considered to ensure the short- and long-term success of high-quality multifaceted reentry initiatives. The factors will provide a roadmap to policy makers, program and initiative developers, and practitioners when they consider the time, resources, and engagement levels to successfully implement a new reentry initiative."