Causes and Effects of Prisoner Reentry

Abstract

 Prisoner reentry is a constant issue since the number of people convicted is increasing, and when the number of people being released decreases because they are returning to prison causes conflict. Throughout the paper the many factors that play a part in the reason why offenders are reentering prison is discussed as well. Moreover, there are ways to help reduce the amount of offenders that are returning by different rehabilitation programs as well as better help once they are released. Everything has a cause and an affect and the paper outlines those causes and effects of prisoner reentry.

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Prisoner reentry happens to be a rather important topic to research and study because plenty of resources are placed into the prisons as well as a good bit of finances that could be beneficial towards somewhere else. The research is needed to try and get a better understanding of why it is that so many of the offenders who get released from prison end up returning to prison again.Furthermore, many different factors come into play when you are discussing why people are sent to prison and why do they return to prison again to serve another sentence after they were already released. Some of those many different factors happen to be race, family support, community treatment, ability to adjust to society and many other factors. The paper covers these factors as well as it addresses the question on what is causing so many inmates to return to prison after they are released as well as what are some of the proposed solutions that could help with these numbers and allow prisoners to be released from prison and not return.

 Before understanding why a person may go to prison again is to understand what caused them to go in the first place and some of the previously listed factors also applies to the reason why a person will be sent to prison. In some communities their happens to be a lack of family which can lead a young and easily influenced person to go down the wrong path and begin breaking the law and doing things, so that they can survive. “Out of the sample of 1,355 cases, 562 (41.5%) were Blacks, 454 (33.5%) were Hispanics, and 274 (20.2%) were Whites.”(Piquero and Robert) In the above quote from the article “Assessing Race” it shows the percentage of offenders based off of their race and the white race has one of the lowest percentages which is very weird seeing as how the white race makes up the majority of the population in the United States. As of 2014 , 77.35% of the total United States population is white which only leaves 22.65% to be the other races such as your Hispanics, African Americans, etc. (Wikipedia ). Race does play a factor in why a person gets sent to prison since the research clearly shows that based off of a person’s race they may have a higher chance of being charged and having to go to court. Moreover, the messed up criminal justice system affects different races in a different way, and it also affects the amount of diversity there is within the prisons especially when comparing it to the number of crimes that are committed.

“Over the last four decades, the United States has undertaken a national project of over criminalization that has put more than two million people behind bars at any given time, and brought the U.S. incarceration rate far beyond that of any other nation in the world. A closer look at which communities are most heavily impacted by mass incarceration reveals stark racial and ethnic disparities in U.S. incarceration rates in every region of the country”(Prison Policy Initiative).

When a person is a minority they have a target on their back constantly and they have to watch their actions, so a lot of times people do expect those minorities who are released from prison to do something to end up having to return and serve another sentence. Prison reentry is a major issue that has been realized and researchers are conducting their research to solve the issues. Moreover, mass incarceration has been crazy high within the United States, and over the years it has decreased in the numbers of people who are ending up in prison, and the community they were in does play a major role as well as many other different factors such as family support and how the family is helping the inmate once they are released from prison and need help getting adjusted to society and back onto their feet.

 Family who has a relative in prison has to be able to be the backbone and the support that is needed once they are released and must start over fresh again. Inmates are tasked with a difficult challenge since after they have committed the crime and they are sentenced to jail, they are isolated from society and take on a new life that they aren’t fully in control of.

“The growth in the number of men and women incarcerated in the United States over the past 20 years has affected an extraordinary number of children and families. And for the men and women returning from prison and jail, family support can be a key factor in successful transition. Most people returning to the community go home to a social network of relatives and close friends. Many reentry initiatives recognize the importance of engaging families and their communities in the reentry process, and the need to address the effects of incarceration on people’s children and other loved ones.”(Families.)

 The family of the loved one are affected since some of the offenders have spouses and children who have a hard time adjusting to not having that family member around anymore in their everyday life. The above quote exemplifies that it has been recognized that involving the families and the community of that loved one in the reentry initiative because it is rather important to not only the offender, but also it is important to the family members.