The Limits of Recidivism Measuring Success After Prison (2022) / Chapter Skim
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3 Beyond Recidivism: Toward a More Comprehensive Understanding of Reentry Challenges and Successes
3 Beyond Recidivism: Toward a More Comprehensive Understanding of Reentry Challenges and Successes
Pages 69-138
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From page 69... ...
In addition to understanding the extent to which criminal behavior persists after release from incarceration, it is important to understand why changes do or do not occur. These explanations are most robust when they are grounded in theory and supported with empirical evidence.
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The following section first focuses on research findings and theories related to post-release criminal offending, before proceeding to measures of desistance from crime and alternative conceptions of reentry success. We do not distinguish between different methods of measuring post-release offending, although readers are encouraged to bear in mind that studies are highly variable with respect to whether post-release offending is measured from self-report instruments or criminal history repositories; whether it is defined 1 The risk paradigm is prominent among scholars and practitioners in the correctional field, where risk instruments are commonly used to match returning individuals to particular supervision conditions or to particular treatment services, based on their predicted likelihood of recidivism.
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From page 71... ...
. Personal Risk Factors Among the so-called "static" risk factors -- static because they are either not subject to change or are not amenable to intervention -- age and criminal history are among the most salient correlates of post-release criminal behavior (Andrews et al., 1990; Gendreau et al., 1996)
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. Two examples of dynamic risk factors include substance use or abuse and serious mental illness, both of which have been the subject of studies of post-release criminal offending.5 Substance use is a major correlate of criminal offending in general (see Tonry and Wilson, 1990, and 2 A complication is that criminal history is also correlated with sentencing -- individuals with more extensive or more serious prior records are sentenced to longer lengths of confinement, other things equal.
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. In summary, existing research finds that both static and dynamic risk factors are reliable correlates of post-release criminal behavior.
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According to this view, some post-release criminal offending results from societal reactions to the incarcerated individual. The act of the criminal legal system 9 Evidence related to the confinement experience is also available from studies comparing the use of custodial sanctions versus probation or some other form of diversion on post-release criminal offending (for informative reviews, see Nagin, Cullen, and Jonson, 2009; Petrich et al., 2021)
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From page 75... ...
refers to this as the development of "criminal capital" that might not be easily shed by returning individuals.10 Research on the prison environment supports the possibility that prisons can be "schools of crime." For example, there is some suggestion that individuals who have committed the same type of criminal offense experience reinforcing peer effects, thus increasing the chance of post-release criminal offending with that offense type after release (Bayer, Hjalmarsson, and Pozen, 2009; for null peer effects, see Harris et al., 2018)
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From page 76... ...
Ecological Influences Ecological frameworks for explaining post-release criminal behavior focus attention on characteristics of communities to which individuals return. Individuals reentering the community from prison concentrate in neighborhoods characterized by higher-than-average levels of economic disadvantage, residential instability, and racial heterogeneity.12 And just as crime rates are correlated with these indicators of local ecology, criminal offending of formerly incarcerated individuals tends to correlate with neighborhood context.
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Coercive mobility thus implicates the criminal legal system itself in the perpetuation of structural disadvantages facing individuals returning from prison (Clear, 2007; Rose and Clear, 1998; Sampson and Loeffler, 2010)
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to which individuals return play an important role in shaping their lives, including their likelihood of engaging in further criminal behavior. Supervision Regimes The theoretical discussion to this point emphasizes forces that act on returning individuals in ways that affect their risk of engaging in criminal behavior, with different theoretical traditions pointing to different facets of the reentry experience.
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. Today, many analysts are calling for "a paradigmatic shift" in criminal justice practices that would better align with contemporary theories of desistance from crime (Bersani and Doherty, 2018; Bushway and Uggen, 2021)
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. In both control-based and identity-based models, however, desistance theory and research typically link particular roles and statuses of life course development -- such as education, employment, housing, family transitions, and civic participation -- to subsequent criminal behavior.
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. Social Reintegration and Well-Being Although facilitating desistance from crime is a key goal of prison reentry programs, people with criminal records are, of course, human beings who are more than the sum of their recidivism risks.
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That is, incarceration, monetary sanctions, and other civil disabilities actually impede successful reintegration. Formerly incarcerated people and those with felony-level criminal records face severe restrictions on their work, family, and civic participation due in part to the "invisible punishment" (Travis, 2002)
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. In addi tion, due to federal policies and local practices that deny assistance to individuals convicted of a drug felony offense, many criminal legal system-involved individuals face unique barriers to obtaining housing assistance.
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Criminal legal institutions, reentry programs, and other agencies that serve individuals returning from prison can thus be evaluated, in part, based on their success in improving participant and victim outcomes in a set of domains central to overall well-being. The following section reviews existing research on key domains of support and strain in the reintegration process.15 Effective programming and services support successful reentry in each of these domains by implementing validated assessments, effective cognitive-behavioral therapy and treatment, individually tailored case plans, behavioral incentives, and graduated sanctions.
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From page 85... ...
Multiple leaders noted that their offices are moving away from a sole em phasis on recidivism and focusing on measures of stability and progress in terms of stable housing, regular employment, educational attainments, prosocial involvement with family and community, and participation in drug treatment and other behavioral health services, to name a few metrics that were commonly high lighted. The individuals we spoke with also saw value in the inclusion of subjective assessments from individuals released from prison, such as how successful they believe they will be upon release, and how they feel they have been treated by program and service providers post-release.
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From page 86... ...
Research indicates that formerly incarcerated individuals who are employed have a lower likelihood of post-release criminal offending (Berg and Huebner, 2011; Griffin and Armstrong, 2003; Huebner and Cobbina, 2007; Link, Ward, and Strassfield, 2019; Listwan et al., 2013; MacKenzie and Li, 2002)
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From page 87... ...
. Although it is difficult to disentangle the effects of incarceration from the preexisting characteristics of those who are incarcerated, the criminal legal system itself plays a part in disconnecting formerly incarcerated people from family and other social institutions (see reviews in Kirk and Wakefield, 2018; National Research Council, 2014; Wakefield and Uggen, 2010)
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.17 In a 10-year follow-up study of 400 individuals released from South Carolina prisons, family members were often mentioned as factors that made respondents less likely to engage in criminal behavior. Rebuilding family relationships and being around people not involved in criminal 17 This does not include marital status, which is generally uncorrelated with post-release of fending (Bellair and Kowalski, 2011; Listwan et al., 2013)
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, and family conflict is correlated with higher risk of post-release criminal behavior and substance use (Mowen and Visher, 2015)
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In general, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals have an elevated risk of experiencing a diverse set of chronic health conditions compared with the general population (Massoglia and Pridemore, 2015)
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. Here, as elsewhere, the criminal legal system enmeshes coercion and care, imposing punishment while also providing needed services, including health care (Miller, 2021; Phelps and Ruhland, 2021)
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George Braucht, who heads a peer recovery program consultancy called Brauchtworks in Georgia, noted, "fundamentally what's missing from most re entry programs are people with lived experience who meet with the staff and the returning citizens," whom he called "peer-roes." Jai Diamond, a formerly incarcerated transgender woman working at the New York City Criminal Justice Agency, explained why it is valuable to have pro gram providers from diverse backgrounds: "We need to get the people that work in these institutions to look more like the communities that they're serving. There is too much of a cultural difference between the two to build any trust." Kara Nelson, Director of Public Relations and Development at True North Recovery in Alaska, explained, "those with lived experience need to [be able to]
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. Although some of the association between voting and recontact with the criminal legal system is likely due to preexisting differences between voters and nonvoters, the results suggest a link between political participation and desistance from crime.
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While there has been no comprehensive review of the considerable policy and legislative efforts that have been orchestrated and championed by formerly incarcerated individuals and their supporters, people with histories of incarceration have been intimately involved in advocating for criminal legal system reform initiatives, such as police body cameras, alternatives to incarceration, expanding access to health care and therapeutic services for people in correctional custody, and eliminating parole revocations for technical parole violations (Felsenthal, 2018; Rafei, 2021; Sonnenberg, 2017)
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. Individuals who have participated in Inside-Out have gone on to create programs, pursue post-secondary education in and out of prison, and engage in scholarship to improve the system and enhance the lives of people involved in the criminal legal system by informing policy makers (Wright, 2020)
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From page 96... ...
While much of the work on reentry generally focuses on changing individual attitudes and behaviors, it is limited by ignoring the constraints imposed by social structure and policies. A lack of reentry success is not only a criminal justice problem, it is also an employment problem, housing problem, and mental health problem (Wright, Morse, and Sutton, 2021)
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Our objective here is to draw attention to the shortcomings of "one size fits all" approaches to the measurement of success in research, policy, and reentry programing, and to highlight why it is important to recognize and address reentering individuals' experiences, concerns, and needs in a culturally responsive manner to assess their success. In addition to being more accurate and informative, improved measurement of structural barriers to success has the
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From page 98... ...
. Furthermore, racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities have historically experienced oppression and discrimination not only in the criminal BOX 3-5 Slavery and the Origins of the Criminal Legal System The effects of Black people enslavement transmitted through generations has been labeled by many scholars as the Residual Effects of Slavery (Akbar, 1996; Wilkins et al., 2013)
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. Throughout this era, the police and the criminal legal system played an important part in enforcing Jim Crow laws and segregation (Jett, 2021)
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. Stigma, lack of employment, and lack of family support can serve as barriers to successful integration back into society for Black formerly incarcerated individuals (Williams, Wilson, and Bergeson, 2019)
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ethnic group of incarcerated individuals (Carson and Sabol, 2012; Harrison and Beck, 2002) , face unique cultural and social needs during the reentry process.
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-involved women are more likely to have histories of childhood and adult abuse and have more serious health problems, higher rates of mental health problems, and substance dependencies than criminal legal system-involved men (Bronson et al., 2017; Harlow, 1999; National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2020; Wolff, Shi, and Siegel, 2009)
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From page 103... ...
For women, these factors also reduced recidivism, but were less important than close relationships with family, romantic partners, and friends, along with number of children. Adult social bonds have been found to inhibit criminal offending for both male and female probationers, but the effects are stronger for women (De Li and MacKenzie, 2003)
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Mothers involved with the criminal legal system face particular maternal hardships and additional stigma and discrimination (Mitchell and Davis, 2019; Gurusami, 2019)
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. Thus, women involved with the criminal legal system who avoid everyone and stay at home to avoid criminal involvement weaken networks that are far from adequate.
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A number of service providers noted that existing methods for crime victims to engage in the criminal legal system are often not satisfying, and that even codified crime victims' rights are often not implemented. Facilitated dialogues and restorative justice practices were highlighted by several service providers, who emphasized their success in achieving accountability and healing.
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From page 107... ...
This false dichotomy between criminal offending and victimization has also been formalized through policy and funding structures. For example, in a listening session with the committee, Michelle Garcia of the Washington, D.C., Office of Victims Services and Justice Grants reported that her office had historically been two separate offices referred to in shorthand as "victims" or "perpetrators." Before the offices were combined, victim service providers did not work with individuals with criminal legal system involvement -- Garcia noted that they were not trained or equipped to do so.
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. The false binary of populations viewed as either victims or criminal legal system-involved individuals, coupled with the stigma of having a criminal history, serves as a formidable barrier to healing.
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. The failure to recognize individuals involved in the criminal legal system as victims discourages participation in many victim-oriented services.
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I've almost called it like a detox period. The way people detox from drugs and alcohol they have to detox from the experience of incarceration." SOURCE: Committee on Evaluating Success Among People Released from Prison Meeting #2: Public Information Gathering Session (July 27, 28, 2021)
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. While discussions of mental health in prison generally focus on psychiatric disabilities like bipolar disorder, depression, and schizophrenia, the needs of incarcerated people with intellectual and developmental disabilities have largely been overlooked.
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Only 20 percent of incarcerated people with mental illness receive access to discharge planning services (Dlugacz and Droubi, 2017)
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While poverty is a risk factor for criminal behavior and incarceration for men and women (Van Voorhis et al., 2010) , many individuals returning home from prison will return to families and communities facing similar circumstances that resulted in their incarceration (Belknap, Lynch, and DeHart, 2015)
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Yet to date, standard methods of measuring success among those released from prison have not accounted for the varied, significant, and systemic differences in barriers to reintegration. CONCLUSION In outlining the theoretical rationale for looking beyond recidivism and identifying the barriers to success, the foregoing discussion raises a critical question: What do we know or need to learn about reentry success beyond recidivism?
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From page 115... ...
As this chapter has demonstrated, advancing the measurement of success for individuals released from prison is far beyond a methodological issue. Improving our methods for evaluating success also requires theoretical and conceptual work -- shifting from a recidivism frame to a desistance frame in measuring criminal legal system outcomes and expanding our understanding of success to encompass the life domains central to successful reintegration and overall well-being.
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Looking beyond recidivism as a measure of successful reintegration. The Prison Journal 100, 4, 488–509.
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Women & Criminal Justice 26, 3, 212–231. Baker, D
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. Surveillance and system avoidance: Criminal justice contact and institu tional attachment.
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Criminal Justice and Behavior 42, 10, 977–989. Chamberlain, A.W.
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. Social support as an organizing concept for criminology: Presidential address to the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.
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Criminal Justice Review 28, 2, 278–298.
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Criminal Justice Review 35, 3, 335–353. Fullilove, R.E., Cortes, A., Gamarra, R., and Maxis, H
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. Desistance, persistence, resilience and resistance: A qualitative exploration of how Black fathers with criminal records navigate employer discrimination.
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American Journal of Criminal Justice 44, 3, 353–375. Hipp, J.R., Petersilia, J., and Turner, S
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. Digital Punishment: Privacy, Stigma, and the Harms of Data-Driven Criminal Justice.
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Committee on Evaluating Success Among People Released from Prison Meeting #2: Public Information Gathering Session. Washington, DC: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
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Criminal Justice and Behavior 41, 4, 471–491. Lynch, S.M., DeHart, D.D., Belknap, J., and Green, B.L.
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National Criminal Justice Reference Service. Merton, R.K.
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Com mittee on Evaluating Success Among People Released from Prison Meeting #2: Public Information Gathering Session. Washington, DC: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
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. What Are the Unique Treatment Needs of Women in the Criminal Justice System?
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Committee on Evaluating Success Among People Released from Prison Meeting #2: Public Information Gathering Session. Washington, DC: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
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Luna (Ed.) , Reforming Criminal Justice: Punishment, Incarceration, and Release, 4, 295–323.
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. A former felon leads the way in criminal justice reform.
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Committee on Evaluating Success Among People Released from Prison, Meeting #2: Public Information Gathering Session. Washington, DC: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
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Journal of Criminal Justice 38, 4, 538–544. Western, B
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Metzger (Eds.) , Big Ideas in Criminal Justice Reform.
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. An Examination of Rural Prisoner Reentry Challenges.
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