Digital Commons Network^™

"If She Can Do It, So Can I": An Ethnography Of A Supportive Living Environment For Women In The Criminal Justice System And Their Children, Regina Cardaci

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There are now more women in prisons and jails than at any time in United States history. A large number of these women will be returning to the community. Women returning to the community after release from prison or jail face numerous challenges to successful reentry, e.g., securing housing and employment. In addition, following separation and care of their children by others, women with children struggle to resume their roles as mother.

This dissertation is an exploration of a program that assists women transitioning from incarceration to the community. This program helps women by helping to develop job skills and …

Incarceration And Reintegration: How It Impacts Mental Health, April M. Marier, Alex Alfredo Reyes

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Background: Previous criminal justice policies have been non-effective leading to overpopulated prisons and unsuccessful reintegration. There is a lack of effective supportive and/or rehabilitative services resulting in high rates of recidivism and mental health implications. Objective: This study investigated the perceived impact that incarceration and reintegration with little to no supportive and/or rehabilitative services has on the mental health status of an individual. The emphasis was on participant perception and not on professional reports because of underreporting and lack of attention to mental health in the criminal justice system. Methods: Focus groups in the Inland Empire and Coachella Valley …

No Place For Children: A Case For The Abolition Of Child Imprisonment In England And Wales, Paul Gavin

Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies

This paper provides an argument for the abolition of child imprisonment in England and Wales. England and Wales is not Ireland, but the cultural and social similarities suggest that children face a great deal of the same pressures, difficulties, trials and tribulations regardless of which side of the Irish Sea they live on. Therefore, it may provide a useful analogy for Irish policy makers. The paper argues that the incarceration of children has a wide range of negative effects on children and is provided at an excessive cost to the exchequer. Restorative justice is put forward as a viable alternative …

Immigration Control And The Punitive Turn, Eduardo Batista

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

The “punitive turn” describes the penalizing and disciplinary focus the United States has implemented in regulating problem populations since the late 1970s. This period has welcomed the era of mass incarceration in which the US penal population has exploded to levels not seen anywhere else in the world. The rise in the use of prisons and jails has been accompanied by the retrenchment of the welfare state, attacks on affirmative action policies, continued segregation in education and housing, and a growing gap between the rich and the poor. All of these have essentially erased the gains made by the Civil …

The United States Prison System: A Comparative Analysis, Rachel O'Connor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Throughout history the penal system has been viewed as the paramount means of dealing with criminals, though its function has transformed throughout time. It has served as a pit for detaining suspected criminals, a home for the vagrant, an institution for the insane, a dreaded place of repute, quarters for cleansing and renewal, and an establishment of cataloged charges. The trials and transformations of history have developed and shaped the institution that we recognize today. Presently, the United States prison population far exceeds that of any other country in the world. The political climate, tough on crime policies, determinate sentencing, …

Implications Of The Affordable Care Act's Medicaid Expansion On Low-Income Individuals On Probation, Marsha Regenstein, Lea Nolan

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

Every year, millions of Americans become involved in the local criminal justice system and are held in jails, placed on probation, or some combination of the two. This paper focuses on the probation population, a group of individuals who receive correctional supervision in communities, generally as an alternative to incarceration. Individuals on probation are disproportionately low-income and uninsured; many are likely to qualify for health coverage through state Medicaid expansions and private insurance Marketplaces that are part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Opening up access to affordable health insurance coverage for this vulnerable group of individuals is …

Brief For Constitutional Law Professors As Amici Curiae Supporting Appellee, Brown Et Al. V. Livingston, Leslie C. Griffin

Supreme Court Briefs

No abstract provided.

“A Hidden Part Of Me”: Latino/A Students, Silencing, And The Epidermalization Of Inferiority, Jason G. Irizarry, John Raible

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

Using Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Latino/a Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) as analytical tools, this article examines the experiences of a seven Latino/a high school students at various points of engagement with the school-to-prison pipeline. Building on and extending Franz Fanon’s (1952) concept of the epidermalization of inferiority, the authors demonstrate the nuanced ways that institutional racism and other interrelated forms of oppression function to contribute to a sense of internalized oppression among Latino/a youth. We critically examine the ways in which dialogue and collaborative research undertaken in a supportive classroom atmosphere can help students move from feeling shame and …

Mass Incarceration And Employment, Steven Raphael

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The New Scarlet Letter? Negotiating The U.S. Labor Market With A Criminal Record, Steven Raphael

Upjohn Press

This book explores the difficulties facing ex-offenders as they try to enter and remain in the U.S. labor market.

Post-Release Job Training And Enhanced Access To Employment Opportunities For Released Offenders: Incentives To Reducing Recidivism, Emmanuel Etim Umoh

All ETDs from UAB

Researchers studying the effect of employment on recidivism have shown that offenders who are employed after serving time in prison are less likely to recidivate (Kyvsgaard, 1990). These scholars also indicated that employment for released offenders is positively related to a delay in re-offending. Such findings support the belief that job security increases the interval between release from prison and re-offending. In this study I expand on existing recidivism studies to investigate how post-release job training and greater access to employment opportunities for ex-prisoners affects recidivism. The effect of educational status is also measured to determine whether a high school …

The New Jim Crow? Recovering The Progressive Origins Of Mass Incarceration, Anders Walker

All Faculty Scholarship

This article revisits the claim that mass incarceration constitutes a new form of racial segregation, or JimCrow. Drawing from historical sources, it demonstrates that proponents of the analogy miss an important commonality between the two phenomena, namely the debt that each owe to progressive and/or liberal politics. Though generally associated with repression and discrimination, both Jim Crow and massincarceration owe their existence in part to enlightened reforms aimed at promoting black interests; albeit with perverse results. Recognizing the aspirational origins of systematic discrimination marks an important facet of comprehending the persistence of racial inequality in the United States.

A Good Name: Applying Regulatory Takings Analysis To Reputation Damage Caused By Criminal History, Jamila Jefferson-Jones

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

“We Incarcerate To Set Free:” Negotiating Punishment And Rehabilitation In Jail, Brittnie L. Aiello

Criminology Faculty Publications

Criminology has documented the decline of rehabilitation in the age of get-tough approaches to crime and punishment. Therapy and punishment, however, are not mutually exclusive. Rehabilitation and traditional punishment have long co-existed in penal facilities. In this article, I examine the role of rehabilitation at Northeast Jail, a county jail in the U.S. that adhered to an ideology of rehabilitation. But Northeast Jail was, first and foremost, a penal facility where offenders were confined and punished. While staff and administrators at Northeast Jail routinely invoked a rhetoric of rehabilitation, they adhered to rules and engaged in punitive practices that interfered …

Suicide Within United States Jails: A Qualitative Interpretive Meta-Synthesis, Laura Frank, Regina T. P. Aguirre

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Suicide was the leading cause of unnatural deaths in local jails, accounting for 29% of all jail deaths between 2000 and 2007. Though much literature exists on suicide in jails, very little is qualitative. Additionally, little attention has been focused on how the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide applies to the jail environment. To gain a better understanding of suicide in jails, an interpretive meta-synthesis of three qualitative articles was conducted. The combined sample included thirty-four individuals from three jails. These three articles were analyzed to identify common themes that led inmates to suicide. Three broad categories were identified through constant …

Testing Orthodox Utilitarian And Extrajudical Determinants Of Incarceration In The U.S. At The State-Level, 1980-2005, Pavel V. Vasiliev

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This project is a theory-driven secondary data analysis of state-level incarceration trends in the U.S. between 1980 and 2005. I replicate and advance Smith's (2004) study of the relationship between the socioeconomic, demographic, political, electoral, and criminal justice factors and incarceration rates at the state level. The purpose of this project is to determine the empirical validity of the major explanations of the incarceration trends in the U.S. I advance Smith's (2004) study using important novel elements. First, I extend the scrutinized historic period by a decade by compiling time-series data for 1980-2005. Second, I employ a more sophisticated analytic …

Life After Prison: A Different Kind Of Sentence?, A Forum At The Boston Center For The Arts, Andrea J. Cabral, Daniel Cordon, Lyn Levy, Gary Little, Janet Rodriguez

Trotter Review

In September 2012, the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) hosted a forum on life after prison as part of its series, Dialogue: Social Issues Examined Through the Playwright’s Pen. The forum coincided with performances at the Boston Center for the Arts of The MotherF**ker with the Hat, a play by Stephen Andy Guirgis about prisoner reentry.

Andrea J. Cabral, then sheriff of Suffolk County and secretary of public safety in Massachusetts, moderated the forum in BCA’s Calderwood Pavilion, the same theater where SpeakEasy Stage Company was putting on the play. The four panelists work for nonprofit organizations primarily …

Stop And Frisk: From Slave-Catchers To Nypd, A Legal Commentary, Gloria J. Browne-Marshall

Trotter Review

Today’s “stop and frisk” practices stem from centuries of legal control of Africans in America. Colonial laws were drafted specifically to control Africans, enslaved and free. Slave catchers culled the woods in search of those Africans who dared escape. After slavery ended, “Black Codes” or criminal laws were enacted to ensnare African Americans, including the sinister convict-lease system that existed well into the twentieth century. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled to extend police authority to stop and frisk during the Civil Rights Movement.

Police abuse of stop and frisk has led to tens of millions of people detained and searched …

Gray Matters Behind Bars, Howard Manly

Trotter Review

Forty years ago, the nation got tough on crime. It is now paying the price as the skyrocketing cost of incarcerating aging inmates is haunting state and federal prison budgets.

Inside/Outside: A Model For Social Support And Rehabilitation Of Young Black Men, Harold Adams, Castellano Turner

Trotter Review

This paper first identifies some of the most important problems facing incarcerated young black males. Next, we present an historical analysis that pinpoints the War on Drugs as the primary origin of mass incarceration of that group. Then we describe the major consequences for prisoners as well as collateral problems for their families, friends, and communities. We then outline the types of programs created to address these problems. We summarize research that shows the key to solving high recidivism rates is social support during incarceration and after release. We describe in particular a Boston-based organization, the Committee of Friends and …

Introduction: Lynching, Incarceration’S Cousin: From Till To Trayvon, Barbara Lewis

Trotter Review

The wholesale criminalizing of the black male has been much in the news, put there by the Trayvon Martin case and the Florida verdict. (Incidentally, even though we don’t often think of it, Florida was where the first African slaves were installed in America, back in the 1500s in the city of St. Augustine.) As an academic, which, loosely translated means that I often bury my head between the covers of a book trying to figure out one thing or another, I am thought of as someone who is cautious and circumspect in what I think and write, but I …

Juveniles And College: Inside Out As A Way Forward, Anne M. Nurse

All Faculty Articles

In this article the author argues that the Inside Out model is ideally suited to help incarcerated juveniles considering enrolling in college postrelease. The transition to college can be extremely difficult for such youth who may lack the cultural capital needed to succeed in higher education. This is unfortunate as research suggests that college can have a range of positive effects, including reduced criminality and increased earnings. With some adaptations to its curriculum, Inside Out classes can provide students with much of what they need to succeed. Best practices are described at the end of the article. © 2013 SAGE …

Ex-Prisoners' Perceptions Of The Availability And Effects Of Services In Correctional Settings, Jenna Houston

Honors Program Theses and Projects

The U.S. system of retributive justice drives punitive measures, rather than interventions that could reduce recidivism. If prisoners’ needs are not met while serving time within the penal system, their chances of re-offending are greater (Baillargeon, 2010). The purpose of this study was to gather information about correctional programming from male ex-prisoners who have been involved in community re-entry services at Span Inc. in Boston, MA. Furthermore, this study also examined whether or not the programming contributed to positive coping skills during their incarceration as well as to their adaptation upon reentering the community. Data was collected by conducting ten …

Reducing California's Overcrowded Prison Population, Morgan Macdonald

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

This paper evaluates how “tough on crime” sentencing policies have influenced California's prison population. Several laws which make up the state's strict criminal justice practices were passed over the course of forty years without consideration for their impact on the state's budget and safety. Beginning with the Uniform Determinate Sentencing Act of 1976, the state has created an unsustainable prison system that will dissolve without increased public funding. However, California’s depleted economic condition has forced policymakers to reevaluate the state's criminal justice agenda, while complying with the three- judge court order to reduce its incarcerated population to 137.5 percent of …

Reducing Incarceration For Youthful Offenders With A Developmental Approach To Sentencing, Samantha Buckingham

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

Current sentencing practices have proven to be an ineffective method of rehabilitating criminal defendants. Such practices are unresponsive to developmental science breakthroughs, fail to promote rehabilitation, and drain society’s limited resources. These deficiencies are most acute when dealing with youthful offenders. Incarcerating youthful offenders, who are amenable to rehabilitative efforts, under current sentencing practices only serves to ensure such individuals will never become productive members of society. Drawing on the author’s experiences as a federal public defender, studies in developmental psychology and neuroscience, and the Supreme Court’s recent line of cases that acknowledge youthful offenders’ biological differences from adult offenders, …

Research Brief: "Risk Of Incarceration And Other Characteristics Of Iraq And Afghanistan Era Veterans In State And Federal Prisons", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief examines data from The Health Care for Reentry Veterans (HCRV) to compare the risk of incarceration of veterans in order to identify socio-demographic and clinical characteristics in incarcerated veterans. OEF/OIF/OND veterans appeared to be at lower risk of incarceration than veterans of other service eras, but those who were incarcerated had higher rates of PTSD and would benefit from policies that fund accessible programing aimed at increasing vocational training and increasing educational opportunities. In future studies, researchers should focus on the implementation of PTSD treatment services for the incarcerated veteran population, including the success rate of various programs …

Effective Prison Management: An International Collaboration, Ariana Youmans

The Corinthian

There have been universal efforts to regulate the management of prisons via the United Nations; however, it is important to be aware of cultural differences when it comes to effective prison management. It is not only important to recognize cultural diversity in one’s own country, but it is also important to understand cultural diversity in other countries abroad. This understanding allows for greater understanding in regards to policy implementation and why certain processes and mandates are considered to be effective for these various systems. In addition, it should be realized that what works for one nation may not be applicable …

Captive Markets, Leah A. Plunkett

Law Faculty Scholarship

Today, inmates in county jails nationwide are billed for some or all of the costs of their room-and-board behind bars. Statutes authorizing counties to implement these “pay-to-stay” programs are on the books in roughly 70% of states, yet the financial mechanism on which these programs typically rely is not well understood. Although the pay-to-stay obligation bears some resemblance to familiar citizen-state financial transactions — such as fines and penalties, restitution, taxes, and fees — it in fact usually belongs to a distinct model that this Article calls the “government-imposed-loan.” This Article provides an overview of the landscape of pay-to-stay programs …

The Double-Edged Sword Of Prison Video Visitation: Claiming To Keep Families Together While Furthering The Aims Of The Prison Industrial Complex, Patrice A. Fulcher

Florida A & M University Law Review

Each year, the United States ("U.S.") spends billions to house the country's massive prison population. The need to board over 2.3 million incarcerated human beings has U.S. correctional departments looking for ways to increase revenues and offset costs. According to these correctional agencies, one major expense is prison visitation. In order to reduce spending and alleviate safety concerns, U.S. federal, state, and private correctional facilities have turned to video visitation as an alternative to in-person visits. The use of prison video visitation systems started in 1995. Since then, many private telecommunications companies have professed to have the solution to correctional …

Ex-Prisoners’ Perceptions Of The Availability And Effects Of Programs And Services In Correctional Settings, Jenna Houston

Undergraduate Review

The U.S. system of retributive justice drives punitive measures, rather than interventions that could reduce recidivism. If prisoners’ needs are not met while serving time within the penal system, their chances of re-offending are greater (Baillargeon, 2010). The purpose of this study was to gather information about correctional programming from male ex-prisoners who have been involved in community re-entry services at Span Inc. in Boston, MA. Furthermore, this study also examines whether or not the programming contributed to positive coping skills during their incarceration as well as adaptation upon reentering the community. Data were collected during ten interviews, using a …