Lee, Trymaine. “Recidivism Hard To Shake For Ex-Offenders Returning Home To Dim Prospects.” The Huffington Post. Web. 9 June,2012.
Summary:The article essentially states that the main cause of recidivism is the socio-economic circumstances to which many former convicts return. In a society, where no one believes in the rehabilitation of a criminal, we make it harder for those who have paid their debts to society to return as functioning members of society. In doing so, we push them back towards prison. Online background checks have become an easy way for employers to discriminate against former criminals, and along with the unfavorable circumstances in regards to employment, these men have very few sources for other things. They have a lack of access to healthcare, they are often banned from public housing and assistance. and their personal and emotional needs were not met upon their arrival in prison and are certainly not to be met now. When your community has been crippled by the prison system, it leaves you with little to return to, so many end up going right back to what they have come to know and depend on after years in the system.
Kubrin, Charis. Squires, Gregory. Stewart, Eric. "Neighborhoods, Race, and Recidivism: The Community-Reoffending Nexus and its Implications for African Americans. SAGE Publications. 2007. Print. DOI: 10.1177/0307920107073250
Summary:In this study we explore the impact of neighborhoods on criminals and of criminals on neighborhoods with respect to a current pressing problem—prisoner reentry. First, we review the key issues surrounding prisoner reentry in a “get tough on crime” era and describe the multiple challenges ex-offenders face upon release. We pay particular attention to the group affected most by these challenges—young Black males. Second, we examine trends in reoffending and link rising recidivism rates to current criminal justice policies and practices. Third, we determine how recidivism may be linked to the neighborhoods where prisoners return. Using data on a sample of ex-offenders in Multnomah County, Oregon in conjunction with Census data, we show how one critical community characteristic—neighborhood socioeconomic status—accounts for variation in the reoffending behavior of exprisoners that is not explained by their individual-level characteristics. Fourth, we consider whether the linkage between residence and recidivism may be conditioned by race. And finally, we discuss the policy implications by stressing the need to focus on communities as one part of a larger plan for reducing recidivism.
“Emerging Solutions to Help Reduce Recidivism.” Ramsell White. Ramsell Corporation, 2011. Web. 14 November 2015. <http://www.ramsellcorp.com/PDF/Recidivism_White_Paper_July_2011.pdf>.
McKean, Lise. “Current Strategies for Reducing Recidivism.” Center for Impact Research, 1 Aug. 2004. Web. 14 November 2015. <http://www.ramsellcorp.com/PDF/Recidivism_White_Paper_July_2011.pdf>.
Liminal Institutions: What is Wrong & How to Remodel Them
Tonry, Michael. “Remodeling American Sentencing: A Ten-Step Blueprint for Moving Past Mass Incarceration.” Criminology & Public Policy 13.4 (2014): 503ØC533.
Summary: "When and if the will to roll back mass incarceration and to create just, fair, and effective sentencing systems becomes manifest, the way forward is clear. First, three-strikes, mandatory minimum sentence, and comparable laws should be repealed.Second, any three-strikes, mandatory minimum sentence, and comparable laws that are not repealed should be substantially narrowed in scope and severity. Third, any three-strikes, mandatory minimum sentence, and comparable laws that are not repealed should be amended to include provisions authorizing judges to impose some other sentence ”°in the interest of justice.”± Fourth, life-without-possibility-of-parole laws should be repealed or substantially narrowed.Fifth, truth-in-sentencing laws should be repealed. Sixth, criminal codes should be amended to set substantially lower maximum sentences scaled to the seriousness of crimes. Seventh, every state that does not already have one should establish a sentencing commission and promulgate presumptive sentencing guidelines. Eighth, every state that does not already have one should establish a parole board and every state should establish a parole guidelines system. Ninth, every state and the federal government should reduce its combined rate of jail and prison confinement to half its 2014 level by 2020.Tenth, every state should enact legislation making all prisoners serving fixed terms longer than 5 years, or indeterminate terms, eligible for consideration for release at the expiration of 5 years, and making all prisoners 35 years of age or older eligible for consideration for release after serving 3 years.These proposals are evidence-based and mostly technocratic. Those calling for prison population targets and reducing the lengths of sentences being served may seem bold to some. Relative to the problems they address, they are modest and partial. Decreasing rates of imprisonment by half in the United States, a country with comparatively low crime rates, to a level that will remain 3 to 3.5 times those of other developed Western countries, can hardly be considered overly ambitious."
Learn How We Can Prevent Re-Entry into Prisons & Help Individuals Adjust Post-Incarceration Life After Doing Their Time
Wenger, Yvonne. “Woman to run 67 miles to raise money for mediation between families and prisoners.” The Baltimore Sun. Web. 28 November 2014.
Summary:Lorig Charkoudian is a MD resident is a member of a group of volunteers for a nonprofit called Community Mediation Maryland. In 2014, she did a 67 mile run to help raise money for Baltimore families who are unable to afford the costly bus ride to see their incarcerated loved ones. The argument of this article was that the best way for adults to re-enter into society is with the help of their families. Community Mediation works to reunite families and repair bonds that inmates may lose with their loved ones after years behind bars. After being imprisoned and isolated for so long, it is hard for may to imagine the lives that they lived before incarceration. The group’s goal is to help these men “nurture a support system.” By meeting with the former inmates and their families and mediating conversations and arrangements for these people to assimilate back into society, the volunteers have found that they can repair relationships that appear to have died out, and provide the reformed citizens with the comfort and support of their loved ones so that they do not feel as if they are doomed to take on such a difficult task by themselves.
Embry, Venita V. "'Maybe It'll Take My Mind off the Situation': Stressors, Coping, and Social Support for African-American Women with Incarcerated Partners." Diss. Emory U, 2012. Print.
Listwan, Shelley Johnson, Francis T. Cullen, and Edward J. Latessa. "How To Prevent Prisoner Re-Entry Programs From Failing: Insights From Evidence-Based Corrections." Federal Probation 70.3 (2006): 19-25. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.
Other Great Sources & Topics
Nguyen, Mimi. "The Hoodie as Sign, Screen, Expectation, and Force" Vol. 40, No. 4 (Summer 2015), pp. 791-816 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Article DOI: 10.1086/680326 Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/6803262.
Summary:“Asked to look beneath the hoodie to see the distinctive individual, the hoodie confounds her recognition because the hoodie implies the qualities of thugness, or criminality, and imparts them accordingly. Racial subjectivization thus emerges through this interaction between flesh and fabric. Imbued with animative power, Martin’s hoodie not only lends to him the resemblance of criminal behavior and deviant being (because it obscures recognition) but also propels his body physically, expressively, into that other realm of possible activity.” Article states a piece of clothing may be the reason for Trayvon’s death. A black man in a hoodie means a black body hidden. Was it the hoodie or the skin color? It boils down to skin color and the criminality of a dark complexion
Learn About The Generational Transfer of Racism in a America: A country where racism is seen to have as much as a presence as it did in history.
Silva, Eduardo. Racism without Racists: Color-blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003. Print.
Recent Article on Mass Incarceration in Urban Cities Today
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. "The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 14 Sept. 2015. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.
Summary: "At arrest, approximately 50% of men are in a committed heterosexual relationship. Thus, it is important to identify mass incarceration’s indirect effects. This analysis sought to identify unique emotional stressors, coping strategies, and support sources for African‐American women with incarcerated partners." It is important to study the effects both on those in the prison system as well as those who are tied directly to it.
Harcourt, Bernard E. The Illusion of Free Markets: Punishment and the Myth of Natural Order. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2011. Print.
Roberts, Dorothy. "The Social and Moral Cost of Mass Incarceration in African American Communities." Stanford Law Review. Vol. 56, No. 5. 2004
Enns, Peter K. “The Public’s Increasing Punitiveness and Its Influence on Mass Incarceration in the United State.” American Journal of Political Science 58.4 (2014): 857–872.
Summary: "Following more than 30 years of rising incarceration rates, the United States now imprisons a higher proportion of its population than any country in the world. Building on theories of representation and organized interest group behavior, this article argues that an increasingly punitive public has been a primary reason for this prolific expansion. To test this hypothesis, I generate a new over-time measure of the public's support for being tough on crime. The analysis suggests that, controlling for the crime rate, illegal drug use, inequality, and the party in power, since 1953 public opinion has been a fundamental determinant of changes in the incarceration rate. If the public's punitiveness had stopped rising in the mid-1970s, the results imply that there would have been approximately 20% fewer incarcerations. Additionally, an analysis of congressional attention to criminal justice issues supports the argument that the public's attitudes have led, not followed, political elites."