The Limits of Recidivism Measuring Success After Prison (2022) / Chapter Skim
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5 The Path Forward
5 The Path Forward
Pages 193-200
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From page 193... ...
The study committee strongly recommends that their experiential knowledge and expertise inform the design and implementation of each of the following recommendations. Ensuring that the perspectives of all key stakeholders are taken into consideration throughout research development is critical to increasing the relevance and effectiveness of any resulting intervention programs and can help to empower populations that have been stigmatized, marginalized, and ignored.
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From page 194... ...
Viewing any return to crime as failure obscures how cessation of criminal behavior actually occurs and fails to recognize positive progress, such as longer time elapsing between crimes or fewer serious crimes committed. For example, using existing measures of recidivism, someone previously convicted of armed robbery who is arrested or convicted on a misdemeanor charge for shoplifting would be labeled a recidivist.
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From page 195... ...
A more meaningful conception of success views post-release outcomes through the lens of healthy adult development across multiple life domains in addition to criminal involvement: education, employment, housing, family and social support, and mental and physical health. Such a broad conception of success involves a heightened sense of personal well-being, which is not generally captured in administrative records.
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From page 196... ...
How do local or state policies and practices impede progress and eventual desistance from criminal behavior? Given persistent racial and ethnic inequalities in health, housing, education, and employment -- and the disproportionate incarceration of Black, Brown, and Indigenous populations -- how is post-release success for historically marginalized groups shaped by structural inequalities within each of these systems and the community at large?
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From page 197... ...
To be sure, such data linkages would need to be carefully designed and monitored, with input from individuals with a history of incarceration, both to protect privacy and to avoid coercive surveillance leading to repeat encounters with the criminal legal system.1 Conclusion 4: The existence of community-level and policy facilitators of and barriers to success can be documented in studies that link data on post-release success and local socioeconomic conditions, policies that restrict access to employment, housing, and public benefits, and structural inequalities that disproportionately affect persons of color. Recommendation 3: Researchers should review and, as needed, develop new measures of facilitators of and structural barriers to post-release success that link data across multiple domains, including personal well-being, education, employment, housing, family and social sup ports, health, civic and community engagement, and legal involvement.
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From page 198... ...
Conclusion 5: National standards for measuring success among indi viduals released from prison would augment the comparability of pro gram evaluations and the utility of administrative and other data across multiple policy domains. The development of a website containing core measures and instruments would hasten the eventual development of national measurement standards.
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From page 199... ...
The eventual development of uniform national standards for measuring post-release success. CONCLUSION Five overarching themes emerged from the committee's deliberations on improving the measurement of success among persons released from prison: 1.
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From page 200... ...
Our recommendations for improving the measurement of post-release success, if implemented, can inform the development of effective policies to increase the health, safety, and security of formerly incarcerated persons and their communities.
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