Life on the Outside

Abstract

With record-high incarceration rates, unprecedented extension of state supervision over individuals leaving prison, and a complex maze of legal barriers to reintegration, more people than ever before are returning home after serving time in prison. These individuals face daunting barriers to successful reintegration. Successful reentry requires strong community support networks and comprehensive services, both of which are lacking in urban areas to which most former prisoners return. Interventions that reflect these principles may hold the greatest promise for success. Yet reentry policies are still quite primitive; researchers are just now beginning to develop an approach to reentry based on evidence of best practices. At this moment, it is critically important that the federal government invest in the development and testing of new ideas and rigorous evaluations to determine which interventions are effective at promoting public safety and prisoner reintegration.

The Effect of Employment on Delinquent Behavior Among Youth in Hidden Situation

“…Suggested by Mortimer (64), the quality of employment affects youths’ psychosocial well-being; poor quality work likely brings about poor mental health and induces delinquent behavior. In addition, some scholars even stated that good jobs were related to other factors, such as housing and affective relationships, which helped further decrease the likelihood of engaging in delinquent behavior (70, 71). All these notions show that the quality of employment, in terms of career development and sense of satisfaction that it brings, matters when discussing its effect on desistance.…”

Criminal Justice Debt During the Prisoner Reintegration Process: Who Has It and How Much?

“…In addition to the many other well-documented reentry obstacles (Visher & Travis, 2003, 2011), it has been argued that debt might act as yet another barrier to successful reintegration (Evans, 2014; Link & Roman, 2017; Roman & Link, 2017). However, little quantitative work has been conducted in this area, even in a descriptive sense.…”

Prison as Punishment: A Behavior-Analytic Evaluation of Incarceration

“…After being released, prisoners face major challenges in obtaining alternative reinforcement in the form of long-term employment, housing, and constructive social relationships (Raphael, 2011;Visher & Travis, 2011). Many employers are unwilling to hire former offenders, and individuals who have been incarcerated are likely to be victims of discrimination in the hiring process.…”