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What makes people more or less likely to succeed upon release?
We’ve curated below virtually all of the research about reentry and recidivism available online.
Readers looking for recidivism data should note that relying too much on rates of recidivism (as opposed to other indicators of success after prison) can result in incomplete conclusions, because recidivism data is skewed by inconsistencies in policing, charging, and supervision. Furthermore, perfect outcomes are often difficult-to-impossible for people leaving incarceration, as evidenced by the overwhelming prevalence of homelessness,unemployment, and poverty among formerly incarcerated people.
You can also see a selection of our best original research on reentry (and the impact of incarceration on someone's life post-release) on our Collateral Consequences page.
Implementing the Medicaid Reentry Waiver in California Key Policy and Operational Insights from 11 Counties Justice System Partners, October, 2024“Most people detained in [California] jail will meet the Medi-Cal eligibility criteria. Counties estimate that approximately 80% of detainees will meet the additional CalAIM JI [pre-release Medicaid] health criteria.”
Access to Care and Outcomes With the Affordable Care Act for Persons With Criminal Legal Involvement A Scoping Review James Rene Jolin, Benjamin A. Barsky, Carrie G. Wade, & Meredith B. Rosenthal, August, 2024“[In this meta-analysis,] the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was associated with an increase in insurance coverage and a decrease in recidivism rates among people with criminal legal involvement.”
"Expected to happen": perspectives on post-release overdose from recently incarcerated people with opioid use disorder Pryce S. Michener, Elyse Bianchet, Shannon Fox, et al, July, 2024“This study provides novel insights into the perceptions of post-release overdose risk from people with OUD who have experienced incarceration in Massachusetts jails and received MOUD while incarcerated.”
The Perils of Late-Night ReleasesSandra Susan Smith, June, 2024“Within 185 of the 200 most populated cities in the United States, there are 141 jails. Of the 141 jails, 131 release during the late night and only 10 do not.”
Eight Key Considerations for Successful Implementation of New Medicaid Reentry PoliciesHealth and Reentry Project, June, 2024“Successful implementation of these policies requires that correctional facilities have data and IT systems that can share eligibility, enrollment, and pertinent patient clinical information across community and correctional systems.”
End-of-Life Care Planning: Perspectives of Returning Citizens Paywall :(Erin Kitt-Lewis & Susan J. Loeb, April, 2024“Most of the participating returning citizens [in the qualitative study] did not have even a basic understanding of advanced directives/care planning.”
Medicaid's New Role in Advancing Reentry: Key Policy Changes Health and Reentry Project, March, 2024“The minimum services states must provide to be approved for a waiver are: case management, medication assisted treatment (MAT), and a 30-day supply of medications upon release. States can go above and beyond these three services...”
The problem with criminal records: Discrepancies between state reports and private-sector background checks Sarah Lageson & Robert Stewart, February, 2024“Based on this analysis of criminal records, 60% and 50% of participants had at least one false-positive error on their regulated and unregulated private sector background checks, and nearly all had at least one false-negative error.”
Pathways to Wellness: Health Needs of Black Women After Incarceration National Black Women's Justice Institute, November, 2023“The Black women in this study want to take preventative measures to address and improve their health and wellness. However, accessing healthcare after incarceration remains challenging.”
Still Not Free When They Come Home: How Wisconsin's Criminal Legal System Harms Democracy and the Black Community on Milwaukee's North Side Center for Popular Democracy and BLOC, October, 2023“People released from prison did not know that their voting rights are restored after completing their sentences, received disinformation telling them they were ineligible to vote, or were too overwhelmed...to figure out voting right away.”
Housing security among people with criminal records: A focus on landlords Dr. Lucius Couloute and Kacie Snyder, September, 2023“These data suggest that landlord decision-making processes may be structured by broadly stigmatizing ideas around the incompetence or dangerousness of criminalized applicants, even when such stereotypes are unsubstantiated or disproven.”
Finding Home: Removing Barriers to Housing for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals Megan Moore and Angie Weis Gammell, September, 2023“Formerly incarcerated individuals have reported that Fair Chance Housing ordinances may actually further complicate their search for housing because they get further in the process, spending additional time and money, before ultimately being rejected.”
Criminal record stigma, race, and neighborhood inequalityLaura M. DeMarco, July, 2023“The criminal record effect is estimated to be twice as large in gentrifying compared with nongentrifying neighborhoods and stronger in communities where the relative size of the Black population is shrinking.”
Breaking Ground: How California is Using Medicaid to Improve the Health of People Leaving Incarceration Health and Reentry Project, May, 2023“Incarcerated adults who are enrolled in Medi-Cal and meet specific criteria and all Medi-Cal/CHIP-enrolled youth in youth correctional settings will qualify for Medi-Cal pre-release services.”
Building Connections to Housing During Reentry: Results from a Questionnaire on DOC Housing Policies, Programs, and Needs Council of State Governments Justice Center, April, 2023“For almost half [of respondents], if housing is not identified prior to release, people must remain incarcerated until an address is approved.”
Race-Specific Risk Factors for All-Cause, Natural, and Unnatural Deaths Among Individuals Released from [Minnesota] State Prison Minnesota Department of Corrections, March, 2023“Both all-cause mortality and mortality due to specific causes of death were much higher among individuals released from [Minn.] state prison than among the general population.”
How a Medicare rule that ends financial burdens for the incarcerated leaves some behindPrison Policy Initiative, January, 2023“For people released from prison after January 1, 2023, there are new Medicare enrollment rules that create a 12-month Special Enrollment Period during which recently released people can enroll in Medicare Parts A and B without any financial penalties....”
Homelessness and Contact with the Criminal Legal System among U.S. Combat Veterans: An Exploration of Potential Mediating Factors Paywall :(Ugur Orak et al, December, 2022“A large proportion (53.6%) of the association between homelessness and criminal legal system involvement was accounted for by indirect associations, most notably via drug use disorder (22.1%), moral injury (11.4%), and alcohol use disorder (10.7%).”
Why states should change Medicaid rules to cover people leaving prisonPrison Policy Initiative, November, 2022“Legislation like [the Medicaid Reentry Act] would vastly expand access to healthcare after incarceration, closing the dangerous healthcare coverage gap and reducing preventable deaths and health problems that occur shortly after release.”
Jail-based reentry programming to support continued treatment with medications for opioid use disorder: Qualitative perspectives and experiences among jail staff in Massachusetts Atsushi Matsumoto et al, November, 2022“Coordination of medications for opioid use disorder post-release continuity of care requires training supporting staff in reentry planning...and bridging partnerships between in-jail MOUD programs and community providers.”
The Impacts of Length of Prison Stay on Recidivism of Non-Violent Offenders in OregonMark G. Leymon, Christopher M. Campbell, Kris Henning, and Brian C. Renauer, September, 2022“In the few places significant results are present, [length of stay] increased the probability of recidivism at some points, and in other cases, it slightly decreased the probability of rearrest.”
Employment Application Criminal Record Questions and Willingness to Apply: A Mixed Method Study of Self-Selection Paywall :(Mike Vuolo, Lesley E. Schneider, and Eric G. LaPlant, September, 2022“[Job] applicants may self-select out rather than divulge their record...In interviews, participants described self-selecting out due to anticipatory stigma, often resulting in long-term burnout. Still, some respondents would apply...”
Racial equity in eligibility for a clean slate under automatic criminal record relief lawsPaywall :(Alyssa C. Mooney, Alissa Skog, and Amy E. Lerman, August, 2022“In California, one in five people with convictions met criteria for full conviction relief under the state's automatic relief laws. Yet the share of Black Americans eligible for relief was lower than White Americans...”
Race, work history, and the employment recidivism relationshipSimon G. Kolbeck, Paul E. Bellair, and Steven Lopez, August, 2022“Our findings imply that employment contributes to racial disparities in recidivism via racialized barriers to labor market participation rather than via differential effects.”
Inmate Assistance Programs: Toward a Less Punitive and More Effective Criminal Justice System Murat C. Mungan, Erkmen Giray Aslim, and Yijia Lu, July, 2022“The cost savings from reducing sentences...can be used to finance [Inmate Assistance Programs] without significantly affecting deterrence due to the ineffectiveness of lengthy imprisonment sentences.”
Older Offenders in the Federal SystemUnited States Sentencing Commission, July, 2022“The proportion of older offenders in the federal system has been relatively steady across the past five fiscal years, accounting for no more than 14 percent of all federal offenders sentenced in any given year.”
The Limits of Recidivism: Measuring Success After Prison Richard Rosenfeld and Amanda Grigg, eds., National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, May, 2022“We must move beyond the recidivism rate to adequately measure post-release criminal behavior, which will require reversing the polarity of recidivism from failure to success.”
Reducing Barriers to Reentry for Older Adults Leaving IncarcerationJustice in Aging, May, 2022“Policies that improve timely access to Social Security and SSI for the reentry population would help everyone reentering our communities and could particularly help reduce income inequities for people of color, people with disabilities, and older adults.”
Evaluation of Changes in US Health Insurance Coverage for Individuals With Criminal Legal Involvement in Medicaid Expansion and Nonexpansion States, 2010 to 2017 Benjamin A. Howell, Laura Hawks, Emily A. Wang, and Tyler N. A. Winkelman, April, 2022“Medicaid expansion was associated with a 14.9-percentage point increase in insurance coverage...for low-income adults with recent criminal legal involvement.”
Providing Identification for Those Released from IncarcerationNational Conference of State Legislatures, April, 2022“Approximately 17 states have laws aimed at helping previous offenders get identification either at release or immediately following. But these laws vary.”
Housing Instability Following Felony Conviction and Incarceration: Disentangling Being Marked from Being Locked Up Brielle Bryan, April, 2022“Conviction, independent of incarceration, introduces [housing] instability into the lives of the 12 million Americans who have been convicted of a felony but never imprisoned.”
Reducing the Health Harms of IncarcerationAspen Health Strategy Group, April, 2022“Incarceration is a primary source of poor health for individuals, families, communities, and our nation as a whole. The consequences of these various sources of harm continue long after release, with higher rates of mortality and morbidity.”
Criminal History, Race, and Housing Type: An Experimental Audit of Housing Outcomes Paywall :(Peter Leasure, R. Caleb Doyle, Hunter M. Boehme, and Gary Zhang, March, 2022“Results showed several statistically and substantively significant differences among the criminal record, race, and housing type conditions.”
Recidivating Patterns of Individuals Commuted in 2020Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, March, 2022“18 percent (48 individuals) were arrested within one year of their commutation, 8 percent (20 individuals) were convicted of a new misdemeanor or felony crime, and 2 percent (6 individuals) were reincarcerated.”
The High Cost Of A Fresh Start: A State-by-State Analysis of Court Debt As a Bar To Record Clearing National Consumer Law Center and Collateral Consequences Resource Center, February, 2022“In almost every jurisdiction we studied, outstanding court debt is a barrier to record clearing in at least some cases, either rendering a person entirely ineligible for relief or making it difficult for them to qualify.”
Opioid Overdose Deaths Among Formerly Incarcerated Persons and the General Population: North Carolina, 2000-2018 Paywall :(Shabbar I Ranapurwala et al, February, 2022“While nationwide opioid overdose death rates declined from 2017 to 2018, OOD rates among North Carolina formerly incarcerated people increased by about a third, largely from fentanyl and its analogs.”
Barred from employment: More than half of unemployed men in their 30s had a criminal history of arrest Shawn Bushway et al, February, 2022“By age 35, approximately 50% of the black men in the [survey] have been arrested, 35% have been convicted, and 25% have been incarcerated.”
Waiting for Relief: A National Survey of Waiting Periods for Record Clearing Margaret Love and David Schlussel, Collateral Consequences Resources Center, February, 2022“The waiting periods for felony convictions range from as high as 10 or 20 years in North Carolina to as low as 0-2 years in California, with most states falling at the lower end of that range.”
Recidivism of Federal Violent Offenders Released in 2010United States Sentencing Commission, February, 2022“Over an eight-year follow-up period, nearly two-thirds (63.8%) of violent offenders released in 2010 were rearrested, compared to more than one-third (38.4%) of non-violent offenders.”
Association Between Assistance With Medicaid Enrollment and Use of Health Care After Incarceration Among Adults With a History of Substance Use Marguerite E. Burns et al, January, 2022“After implementation of [Medicaid] enrollment assistance, the likelihood of any outpatient visit increased by 7.7 percentage points, a relative change of 47.8% receiving this service within 30 days of release.”
Justice-Involved Individuals and the Consumer Financial MarketplaceConsumer Financial Protection Bureau, January, 2022“People exiting jail or prison face frequent fees for the prepaid cards they often have no choice but to receive...even market-rate fees on a prepaid product would burden this vulnerable class of people relative to receiving cash or checks.”
Incarceration and subsequent risk of suicide: A statewide cohort study Paywall :(Erin Renee Morgan et al, January, 2022“Suicide risk was 62% higher among previously incarcerated individuals compared with the general population.”
The Proliferation of Criminal Background Check Laws in the United StatesPaywall :(David McElhattan, January, 2022“Panel analyses provide the strongest support for a model of racial classification, with the rate of background check adoption increasing as African-Americans represent larger shares of state criminal record populations.”
From Reentry to Reintegration: Criminal Record Reforms in 2021 Collateral Consequences Resource Center, January, 2022“The title of this report emphasizes the continuum from reentry to the full restoration of rights and status represented by reintegration.”
Research roundup: The positive impacts of family contact for incarcerated people and their families Prison Policy Initiative, December, 2021“As with visitation, family phone calls are shown to reduce the likelihood of recidivism; more consistent and/or frequent phone calls were linked to the lowest odds of returning to prison.”
Access, Success, and Challenges in College-in-Prison Programs within the State University of New YorkHigher Education for the Justice-Involved, State Univ. of New York, December, 2021“It is difficult for newly released prisoners to continue their education, and our data indicate that few do. Most face immediate challenges in securing housing, jobs, transportation, and identification, let alone stress in [reentry adjustment].”
Reducing Missed Appointments for Probation and Parole Supervision: a Randomized Experiment with Text Message Reminders Charise Hastings, Chris Thomas, Michael Ostermann, Jordan M. Hyatt, & Steve Payne, December, 2021“The best attendance of scheduled probation/parole meetings was found in the treatment group assigned to late text reminders 1 day before the appointment. That group had 29% fewer no-shows and 21% fewer cancelled appointments than the control group.”
Employment of Persons Released from Federal Prison in 2010Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2021“A third (33%) of persons in the study population did not find employment at any point during the 16 quarters after their release from prison from 2010 to 2014.”
Georgia: Monitoring Data Trends after 2017 Justice Reinvestment Initiative Reforms Council of State Governments Justice Center, November, 2021“The reduction in the active felony probation population resulting from Georgia's Justice Reinvestment policies has allowed officers to focus time and resources on people at the highest risk to recidivate.”
Protective State Policies and the Employment of Fathers with Criminal RecordsPaywall :(Allison Dwyer Emory, November, 2021“Consistent with research linking policies regulating access to records to racial discrimination, black men living in protective states reported this employment penalty even if they did not have criminal records themselves.”
The Effect of Prison Industry on Recidivism: An Evaluation of California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA) James Hess and Susan F. Turner, Center for Evidence-Based Corrections, November, 2021“CALPIA participants were significantly less likely to be arrested at one, two and three years post release [compared to waitlisted people].”
Realignment and Recidivism Revisited: A Closer Look at the Effects of California's Historic Correctional Reform on Recidivism Outcomes Paywall :(Mia Bird, Viet Nguyen, and Ryken Grattet, November, 2021“All groups [of types of offenders] experienced decreases in reconviction, which gives credence to the idea that a significant reprioritization of who should be in prison can positively affect public safety.”
Treatment Combinations: The Joint Effects of Multiple Evidence-Based Interventions on Recidivism Reduction Paywall :(Ming-Li Hsieh et al, October, 2021“Those who participated in three types of treatment combinations consisting of basic skills, vocational training, and cognitive behavioral treatment were more likely to reduce postrelease reconvictions.”
Driver's License Suspension for Unpaid Fines and Fees: The Movement for Reform Joni Hirsch and Priya Sarathy Jones, Fines and Fees Justice Center, September, 2021“In Florida, 72% of all driver's licenses suspension notices are issued for nonpayment of fines and fees. That is nearly 1.2 million suspension notices in Florida alone.”
Recidivism Rates: What You Need to Know Council on Criminal Justice, September, 2021“This brief summarizes the key takeaways from the most recent [recidivism] report, released in July 2021, and analyzes them in the context of previous findings.”
Beyond The Record: A Justice-Oriented Approach to Background Checks John Jay College Institute for Justice and Opportunity, September, 2021“This guide contains information about the negative impact of a conviction record, and how background checks often perpetuate the racial disparities within our country's criminal legal system.”
Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 24 States in 2008: A 10-Year Follow-Up Period (2008-2018) Bureau of Justice Statistics, September, 2021“Almost half (49%) of released prisoners had a probation or parole violation or an arrest for a new offense within 3 years that led to imprisonment.”
Custodial Sanctions and Reoffending: A Meta-Analytic Review Damon M. Petrich et al, September, 2021“Beginning in the 1970s, the United States began an experiment in mass imprisonment...Skeptics argued that imprisonment may have a criminogenic effect. The skeptics were right.”
Do Exonerees Face Housing Discrimination? An Email-Based Field Experiment and Content Analysis Jeff Kukucka et al, September, 2021“Consistent with prior work on racial bias and discrimination, our findings suggest that exonerees and ex-offenders not only experience overt prejudice when seeking housing, but also some subtler prejudices within the responses they do receive.”
Justice-involved Individuals in the Labor Market since the Great RecessionKeith Finlay and Michael Mueller-Smith, September, 2021“While [justice-involved] groups did experience some improvement in economic outcomes during the recovery, their average outcomes remain far below even those of a reference cohort of adults...”
Custodial Sanctions and Reoffending: A Meta-Analytic Review Petrich, Damon et al., September, 2021“Compared with noncustodial sanctions, custodial sanctions, including imprisonment, have no appreciable effect on reducing reoffending. The studies tend to show that placing offenders in custody has a slight criminogenic effect.”
The Relevance of Women's Economic Marginalization to RecidivismPaywall :(Merry Morash and Deborah A. Kashy, August, 2021“This study examines whether changes over time in women's criminogenic needs, particularly their financial needs, predict recidivism...Women whose financial needs decreased were less likely to be rearrested and convicted relative to other women.”
Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 34 States in 2012: A 5-Year Follow-Up Period (2012-2017) Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2021“Nearly half (46%) of prisoners released in 2012 returned to prison within 5 years for a parole or probation violation or a new sentence.”
Detention Diversion Advocacy Program (DDAP) EvaluationMoira DeNike, July, 2021“The findings very clearly indicate that DDAP participants had a lower likelihood of any subsequent justice referrals and of any subsequent felony referrals as compared with a similarly-situated set of non-DDAP-served youth.”(DDAP is a juvenile diversion program in San Francisco, operated by the nonprofit organization, the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice.)
Sticky Stigma: The Impact of Incarceration on Perceptions of Personality Traits and Deservingness Paywall :(Bridget Brew et al, July, 2021“Members of marginalized groups who are most likely to experience incarceration or have an incarcerated loved one continue to face informal social exclusion and the attendant consequences long after the formal punishment.”
Voices for Reform in DC: Recommendations for improving reentry following long prison terms Justice Policy Institute, July, 2021“This report's observations and recommendations reflect the realities faced by individuals three years after the passage of Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act (IRAA) legislation.”
Sentence Length and Recidivism: A Review of the Research Elizabeth Berger and Kent Scheidegger, June, 2021“While some findings suggest that longer sentences may provide additional deterrent benefit in the aggregate, this effect is not always consistent or strong.”
A New Lease on LifeSentencing Project, June, 2021“People convicted of homicide and other crimes of violence rarely commit new crimes of violence after release from long-term imprisonment.”
Prison Visitation and Concerns about Reentry: Variations in Frequency and Quality of Visits are Associated with Reentry Concerns among People Incarcerated in Prison Paywall :(Thomas Baker, Meghan M. Mitchell Jill A. Gordon, May, 2021“The impact of visitation on incarcerated people's concerns about reentry has received little empirical attention.”
Doing Double Time: Women, Incarceration and Employment Discrimination Diane van den Broek, Prudence Black, Nicki (identity protected), April, 2021“Her [Nicki's] story presents a portrait of a woman at the frontline of post-incarceration and employment, where vulnerability and insecurity prevail.”
A Better Path Forward for Criminal Justice: A Report by the Brookings-AEI Working Group on Criminal Justice Reform The Brookings Institution, American Enterprise Institute, April, 2021“The essays in this volume are intended to provide...research-grounded guidance and insight on core issues and strategies that can sustain bipartisan support for critically needed criminal justice reforms.”
Beyond Recidivism and DesistancePaywall :(Susan Starr Sered, Maureen Norton-Hawk, April, 2021“Conventional measures of recidivism and desistance tend to...(3) overly focus on individual choices and narratives in contexts where freedoms are constrained by structural and institutional policies and practices.”
The Reincorporation of Prisoners into the Body Politic: Eliminating the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy Mira K. Edmonds, March, 2021“Elimination of the [policy] furthers the bipartisan criminal legal system reform focus on reducing recidivism through effective reentry.”
New data: The revolving door between homeless shelters and prisons in Connecticut Prison Policy Initiative, February, 2021“1 in 5 people who used homeless shelters in the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness' network had been released from prison in the past three years.”
Prisons and Penny-Pinching: Finding Budget Savings in the Time of COVID-19 Texas Public Policy Coalition, January, 2021“Even a small percentage reduction in the number of annual revocations can potentially yield millions in annual cost savings.”
America's Paper Prisons: The Second Chance Gap Colleen Chien, December, 2020“Among a host of petition-based second chance opportunities, to shorten sentences, restore one's vote, and clear one's criminal convictions, only a small fraction (less than 10 percent) of those eligible for relief actually received it.”
The U.S. Sentencing Commission's Recidivism Studies: Myopic, Misleading, and Doubling Down on Imprisonment Nora V. Demleitner, December, 2020“The overly broad definition of "recidivism" and the focus on easily measurable and static risk factors, such as prior criminal record, create a feedback loop.”
Understanding Violent-Crime RecidivismJ.J. Prescott, Benjamin Pyle, and Sonja B. Starr, September, 2020“Although estimates vary, our synthesis of the available evidence suggests that released violent offenders, especially homicide offenders who are older at release, have lower overall recidivism rates relative to other released offenders.”
What you should know about halfway housesPrison Policy Initiative, September, 2020“Very little data about halfway houses has been available to the public, even though they are a major feature of the carceral system.”
Pardons and Public Safety: Examining A Decade of Recidivism Data in Pennsylvania Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity, August, 2020“Of the 3,037 people who applied for a pardon, only 2 (0.066%) were later convicted of a crime of violence.”
Expungement of Criminal Convictions: An Empirical Study J.J. Prescott and Sonja B. Starr, June, 2020“What has been missing from the debate is hard evidence about the effects and true potential of conviction expungement laws...It leaves policymakers almost entirely in the dark.”
No Excuses: Governors Must Pursue Decarceration Along With Investments in Reentry Services The Justice Collaborative Institute, June, 2020“Meaningful reentry services are available and can be expanded by building upon a large network of existing programs.”
Barred from working: A Nationwide Study of Occupational Licensing Barriers for Ex-Offenders Institute for Justice, May, 2020“Six states--Alabama, Alaska, Nevada, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Vermont--were tied for last, receiving a zero on a 100-point scale for their lack of protections for felons seeking licenses.”
Trauma and Loss During Reentry: Early Findings from a Multi-State Trial Florida State University Institute for Justice Research and Development, May, 2020“47% of our participants experienced at least one traumatic event in the 8 months after their release from incarceration.”
Helping People Transition From Incarceration to Society During a PandemicHealth in Justice Action Lab, Data for Progress, and the Justice Collaborative Institute, May, 2020“66% of respondents, including 61% of those identifying as Republican, support a program that would help those reentering society obtain work, training and/ or education to ensure they are able to provide for themselves.”
Recommendations for Rapid Release and Reentry During the COVID-19 PandemicNYU Marron Institute of Urban Management, April, 2020“[The assumptions and recommendations in this report] provide guidance to agencies supporting rapid release from incarceration and community reentry in response to COVID-19.”
Large scale releases and public safetyPrison Policy Initiative, April, 2020“Large-scale releases have been common throughout U.S. and international history for a variety of legal, political and health reasons.”
Rikers 6-A Early Release Program: Results After One Month of Operations Center for Court Innovation, April, 2020“After one month of operations, only 7 of the 312 released individuals--2.2 percent--have been re-arrested while in the program. Of these, 4 were for alleged misdemeanor offenses.”
Laying the Groundwork: How States Can Improve Access to Continued Education for People in the Criminal Justice System Council of State Governments Justice Center, February, 2020“These findings highlight how far all states have to go to adopt the statewide postsecondary education policies and practices necessary to help incarcerated people transition to leading productive lives in the community.”
Employment and Health Among Recently Incarcerated Men Before and After the Affordable Care Act (2009-2017) Carmen M. Gutierrez and Becky Pettit, January, 2020“After ACA implementation, uninsurance decreased by 26 percentage points among recently incarcerated, unemployed men.”
Successful Reentry: A Community-Level Analysis The Harvard University Institute of Politics Criminal Justice Policy Group, December, 2019“Our research showed that several dynamic risk factors - namely health, employment, housing, skill development, mentorship, social networks, and organization type - significantly affect the success of reentry.”
Los Angeles County Office of Diversion and Reentry's Supportive Housing Program A Study of Participants' Housing Stability and New Felony Convictions RAND Corporation, August, 2019“LA County ODR's supportive housing program improved housing stability and reduced criminal justice involvement. 86% had no new felony convictions after 12 months.”
The Effect of Public Health Insurance on Criminal RecidivismErkmen Giray Aslim, Murat C. Mungan, Carlos Navarro, and Han Yu, July, 2019“Exploiting administrative data on prison spells, we show that the ACA Medicaid coverage expansion significantly reduces the probability of returning to prison for violent and public order crimes among multi-time reoffenders.”
The Gendered Burdens of Conviction and Collateral Consequences on EmploymentJoni Hersch and Erin E. Meyers, June, 2019“Licensing restrictions, stigma, and perceived risk in hiring decisions in female-dominated occupations and industries, along with barriers to childcare subsidies are all likely to exert a heightened burden on women.”
Recidivism of Felony Offenders in CaliforniaPublic Policy Institute of California, June, 2019“We find that rearrest and reconviction rates have declined for felony offenders released from October 2011 to October 2015.”
Racialized Re-entry: Labor Market Inequality After Incarceration Bruce Western and Catherine Sirois, June, 2019“Qualitative interviews suggest that whites more than blacks and Hispanics find stable, high-paying jobs through social networks.”
Snapping Back: Food Stamp Bans and Criminal Recidivism Cody Tuttle, May, 2019“This paper provides evidence that denying drug offenders SNAP benefits has increased their likelihood of recidivism.”
Improving Long-Term Employment Outcomes: Promising Findings from New York State Center for Employment Opportunities, February, 2019“12 months post-enrollment [Center for Employment Opportunities] participants were 52% more likely to be employed than their counterparts in the comparison group.”
Return to Nowhere: The Revolving Door Between Incarceration and Homelessness Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, February, 2019“People experiencing homelessness are 11 times more likely to face incarceration when compared to the general population, and formerly incarcerated individuals are almost 10 times more likely to be homeless than the general public.”
Investing in Futures: Economic and Fiscal Benefits of Postsecondary Education in Prison Vera Institute of Justice, January, 2019“Expanding access to postsecondary education in prison is likely to reduce recidivism rates, resulting in a decrease in incarceration costs across states of $365.8 million per year.”
Reducing Barriers to Reintegration: Fair chance and expungement reforms in 2018 Collateral Consequences Resource Center, January, 2019“In terms of sheer volume of new laws, 2018 marks the high point of recent state efforts to restore rights and status to people with a criminal record.”
Measuring Change: From Rates of Recidivism to Markers of Desistance Cecelia M. Klingele, 2019“This Article suggests that, however popular, recidivism alone is a poor metric for gauging the success of criminal justice interventions or of those who participate in them.”
The Minimum Wage, EITC, and Criminal RecidivismAmanda Y. Agan and Michael D. Makowsky, September, 2018(This report finds that the average minimum wage increase of $0.50 reduces the probability that men and women return to prison within 1 year by 2.8%.)
Repairing the Road to Redemption in CaliforniaCalifornians for Safety and Justice, September, 2018(This report highlights the lifetime consequences of having a conviction in California for individuals, families, and communities and includes recommendations to increase legal remedies and remove unnecessary restrictions.)
Nowhere to Go: Homelessness among formerly incarcerated people Prison Policy Initiative, August, 2018“Formerly incarcerated people are almost 10 times more likely to be homeless than the general public.”
The Changing State of Recidivism: Fewer People Going Back to Prison The Pew Charitable Trusts, August, 2018“The share of people who return to state prison three years after being released dropped by nearly a quarter over a recent seven-year period.”
Out of Prison & Out of Work: Unemployment among formerly incarcerated people Prison Policy Initiative, July, 2018(This report calculates that 27% of formerly incarcerated people are looking for a job, but can't find one.)
Understanding Risk and Needs in Misdemeanor Populations: A Case Study in New York City Center for Court Innovation, June, 2018“Despite the low-level nature of most criminal behavior, many defendants have serious needs for treatment and services that, if left unmet, can lead to a revolving door of more low-level arrests and re-arrests.”
You Get What You Measure: New Performance Indicators Needed to Gauge Progress of Criminal Justice Reform Harvard Kennedy School, May, 2018(This report argues that we need new performance measures that shed light on correctional population composition and recidivism by risk in order to gauge the effectiveness of reform efforts.)
Workers With Criminal RecordsSociety for Human Resource Management and the Charles Koch Institute, May, 2018(74 percent of managers and 84 percent of HR professionals nationwide said they were willing or open to hiring individuals with a criminal record.)
Integrated Health Care and Criminal Justice Data Viewing the Intersection of Public Safety, Public Health, and Public Policy Through a New Lens: Lessons from Camden, NJ Harvard Kennedy School, April, 2018(This study suggests that we should shift from reacting to immediate health & crime crises as distinct events to focusing on holistic approaches that result in better individual outcomes, increased public safety, and reduced system costs.)
Recidivism Reconsidered: Preserving the Community Justice Mission of Community Corrections Harvard Kennedy School, March, 2018(This report argues that when recidivism is used as the sole measure of effectiveness, it misleads policymakers & the public, encourages inappropriate comparisons of dissimilar populations, & focuses policy on negative rather than positive outcomes.)
Work and opportunity before and after incarcerationBrookings Institution, March, 2018“The combination of high rates of incarceration and low employment rates among exprisoners implies that roughly one third of all not-working 30-year-old men are either in prison, in jail, or are unemployed former prisoners.”
Investing Justice Resources to Address Community NeedsUrban Institute, February, 2018(This report provides an overview of a Colorado based program designed to coordinate the flow of resources to community-led organizations providing direct services to formerly incarcerated people navigating the reentry process.)
An Overview of Offender ReentryNational Institute of Justice, 2018“The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of the offender reentry literature, offender outcomes, and the reentry initiatives that may work to improve public safety.”
Recidivism in Delaware: An Analysis of Prisoners Released in 2011 through 2013 Delaware Criminal Justice Council Statistical Analysis Center, December, 2017(This report finds in 2011-2013, between 71-78% of people released from prison in Delaware are arrested again within 3 years.)
Second Chance Reforms in 2017: Roundup of new expungement and restoration laws Collateral Consequences Resource Center, December, 2017“In 2017, 23 states enacted laws aimed at reducing barriers faced by people with criminal records in the workplace and elsewhere.”
Aging Out: Using Compassionate Release to Address the Growth of Aging and Infirm Prison Populations Vera Institute of Justice, December, 2017“This report examines the challenges states face in using compassionate release mechanisms to reduce these populations and related costs.”
The impact of residential change and housing stability on recidivism: pilot results from the Maryland Opportunities through Vouchers Experiment (MOVE) David S. Kirk, Geoffrey C. Barnes, Jordan M. Hyatt, and Brook W. Kearley, December, 2017“Rearrest was lower among the treatment group of movers than the non-movers, and was also lower for non-movers who received free housing versus non-movers who did not receive housing.”
A Place to Call Home: A Vision for Safe, Supportive and Affordable Housing for People with Justice System Involvement Prisoner Reentry Institute, October, 2017(This document makes the case for providing digni ed housing that meets the needs of those with criminal justice histories, and providing it as quickly as possible upon reentry.)
Forgiving and Forgetting in American Justice A 50-State Guide to Expungement and Restoration of Rights Collateral Consequences Resource Center, October, 2017“This report catalogs and analyzes the various provisions for relief from the collateral consequences of conviction that are now available in each state.”
Criminal Justice Debt Costs and Consequences The Fortune Society, October, 2017“In the United States today, people owe local, state, and federal governments billions of dollars in unpaid debt related to contact with the criminal justice system.”
Parole Revocation in Connecticut: opportunities to reduce incarceration Samuel Jacobs Criminal Justice Clinic, September, 2017(The Connecticut Board of Pardons and Paroles revoked parole and imposed a prison sanction in 100% of the hearings observed by the Samuel Jacobs Criminal Justice Clinic in November of 2015.)
The impacts of incarceration on crimeOpen Philanthropy Project, September, 2017“The best estimate of the impact of additional incarceration on crime in the United States today is zero. And, while that estimate is not certain, there is as much reason overall to believe that incarceration increases crime as decreases it.”
Compassionate Release Policy Reform: Physicians as Advocates for Human Dignity Andreas Mitchell and Brie Williams, September, 2017“Physicians can help generate political momentum toward policy analysis and change, contribute medical expertise toward the structuring of scientifically sound compassionate release policies, and advocate directly for their incarcerated patients.”
Opening Doors: How to develop reentry programs using examples from public housing authorities Vera Institute of Justice, September, 2017“This guide is designed to support PHAs and other agencies that are beginning to develop new housing strategies and programming to meet the needs of formerly incarcerated people.”
California Probation in the Era of ReformPublic Policy Institute of California, August, 2017(California's public safety realignment shifted the management of lower-level offenders from state prison and parole to county jail and probation. This report discusses how these changes affected local corrections systems.)
Less Is More: How Reducing Probation Populations Can Improve Outcomes Harvard Kennedy School, August, 2017(The decline in the number of people on probation supervision in the U.S. should not only be sustained but significantly increased, with a goal of reducing the number of people under probation supervision by 50 percent over 10 years.)
Ban the Box and Beyond Ensuring Individuals with a Criminal Record Have Access to the Labor Market Center for American Progress, July, 2017“Fair chance hiring policies, including ban the box, can ensure that employers evaluate candidates not on their criminal history but instead on their ability to do their jobs successfully.”
Sense of self and responsibility: a review of learning from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Prison Reform Fellowships " Part 5 Institute for Criminal Policy Research, Birkbeck, University of London, June, 2017“This report profiles interventions which encourage imprisoned people to develop a positive sense of self and a sense of responsibility for their own lives and towards others.”
Making People's Transition from Prison and Jail to the Community Safe and Successful A Snapshot of National Progress in Reentry Council of State Governments Justice Center, June, 2017“This brief from the National Reentry Resource Center highlights advancements made in state and local governments' approaches to reentry and reducing recidivism since the passage of the Second Chance Act in 2008.”
Peer relations: Review of learning from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Prison Reform Fellowships " Part 4 Institute for Criminal Policy Research, Birkbeck, University of London, June, 2017(This briefing examines the importance of positive peer relations for promoting desistance and providing moral and practical support to people in prison and on release.)
Criminal Background Checks and Access to Jobs: A Case Study of Washington, DC Urban Institute, June, 2017“Examining local regulations and DC's labor market reveals that justice-involved people-- whether formally incarcerated or not-- face significant challenges finding work in the city.”
Mentoring as a Component of Reentry Practical Considerations from the Field Council of State Governments Justice Center, June, 2017“This publication from the National Reentry Resource Center offers five broad, field-based practical considerations for incorporating mentoring into reentry programs for adults.”
Back to Business: How Hiring Formerly Incarcerated Job Seekers Benefits Your Company The Trone Private Sector and Education Advisory Council to the American Civil Liberties Union, June, 2017“Research by economists confirms that hiring people with records is simply smart business. Researchers have found that “employees with a criminal background are in fact a better pool for employers.””
Building Communities, Changing Lives The NYC Justice Corps Community Benefit Projects Prisoner Reentry Institute, June, 2017“When justice system-involved young adults seek an opportunity to change, too often they expe- rience continued stigmatization, including barriers to education, employment, and housing.”
Reducing Recidivism: States Deliver Results Council of State Governments Justice Council, June, 2017“This brief from the National Reentry Resource Center profiles seven states in which recidivism has significantly decreased over the last decade according to several different measures.”
Leading with Conviction: The Transformative Role of Formerly Incarcerated Leaders in Reducing Mass Incarceration Columbia Law School, May, 2017“This report documents the roles of 48 formerly incarcerated leaders engaged in work related to reducing incarceration and rebuilding communities.”
Getting Tough on Spending: An Examination of Correctional Expenditure in Massachusetts MassINC and the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, May, 2017“DOC [Department of Corrections] and county facilities combined, the state budget allocation per inmate rose 34 percent between FY 2011 and FY 2016. Over this period, education aid per student increased by only 11 percent.”
Using Time to Reduce Crime: Federal Prisoner Survey Results Show Ways to Reduce Recidivism Families Against Mandatory Minimums, May, 2017“An estimated 45 percent of federal prisoners have mental health and behavioral problems...Two-thirds of prisoners who responded to our survey said they had not received mental or behavioral health counseling while in federal prison.”
Supervision in the Community: Probation and Parole Michelle S. Phelps and Caitlin Curry, University of Minnesota, April, 2017“In the United States, the number of adults on probation and parole supervision increased from one million in 1980 to a peak of nearly 5.1 million in 2007, more than double the number of inmates in local, state, and federal jails and prisons.”
One Strike to Second Chances Using Criminal Backgrounds in Admission Decisions for Assisted Housing Housing Policy Debate, April, 2017“Many public housing authorities have not updated their admission policies for using criminal backgrounds and still adhere to the one-strike philosophy.”
The Voting Rights of Ex-Felons and Election Outcomes in the United StatesTilman Klumpp, Hugo Mialon, Michael Williams, March, 2017“The changes in felony disenfranchisement laws examined are evidence of a growing consensus that lifelong voting bans are not only ethically problematic, but also stand in the way of efforts to reduce recidivism.”
The Affordable Care Act, Insurance Coverage, & Health Care Utilization of Previously Incarcerated Young Men: 2008-2015 Tyler N.A. Winkelman, HwaJung Choi, and Matthew M. Davis, March, 2017“Uninsurance declined significantly among previously incarcerated men after the 2014 ACA implementation (-5.9 percentage points), primarily because of an increase in private insurance.”
Ban the Box and Racial DiscriminationUrban Institute, February, 2017“When information about a person’s criminal history is not present, employers may make hiring decisions based on their perception of the likelihood that the applicant has a criminal history.”
Accounting for Violence: How to Increase Safety and Break Our Failed Reliance on Mass Incarceration Vera Institute of Justice, February, 2017“[J]ust as it would be wrong to excuse people’s actions simply because they were previously victimized, it is also wrong to ignore someone’s victimization because the person previously broke a law or committed harm in the past.”
Shackled to Debt: Criminal Justice Financial Obligations and the Barriers to Re-entry They Create Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice, January, 2017“[T]his form of sanction can, if left unchecked, have long-term effects that significantly harm the efforts of formerly incarcerated people to rehabilitate and reintegrate...”
Reinstating Common Sense: How driver's license suspensions for drug offenses unrelated to driving are falling out of favor Prison Policy Initiative, December, 2016“Our criminal justice system should not set people up to fail. Yet that is exactly what mandatory driver's license suspensions do: they introduce new legal, economic, and social barriers for people who are in the midst of reentry.”
Helping Moms, Dads, & Kids To Come Home: Eliminating Barriers to Housing for People with Criminal Records Legal Action Center, December, 2016“America’s “revolving-door” approach to mass incarceration is inextricably linked to the problem of homelessness.”
How Tough on Crime Became Tough on Kids: Prosecuting Teenage Drug Charges in Adult Courts The Sentencing Project, December, 2016“The ability of states to send teenagers into the adult system on nonviolent offenses, a relic of the war on drugs, threatens the futures of those teenagers who are arrested on drug charges, regardless of whether or not they are convicted.”
Punishing Poverty: The high cost of probation fees in Massachusetts Prison Policy Initiative, December, 2016“Despite evidence that many probationers come from the poorest areas of the state, and the court's ability to waive probation fees, the state manages to collect $20 million per year in fees.”
Beyond Second Chances: Returning Citizens' Re-Entry Struggles and Successes In The District of Columbia Council for Court Excellence, December, 2016“The population of D.C. Code offenders is starkly homogeneous. Although slightly fewer than half of all D.C. residents are black, more than 96 percent of D.C. Code offenders incarcerated at BOP facilities are black.”
Helping Moms, Dads, & Kids To Come Home: Eliminating Barriers to Housing for People with Criminal Records Legal Action Center, December, 2016“America’s “revolving-door” approach to mass incarceration is inextricably linked to the problem of homelessness.”
How Many Americans Are Unnecessarily Incarcerated?Brennan Center for Justice, December, 2016“Nearly 40 percent of the U.S. prison population — 576,000 people — are behind bars with no compelling public safety reason.”
Excessive Revocations in Wisconsin: The Health Impacts of Locking People Up without a New Conviction Human Impact Partners, December, 2016“Revocation -- being incarcerated for breaking the rules of a supervision arrangement (like parole, probation, or extended supervision) -- feeds the mass incarceration cycle in the United States.”
Connecticut Employer Survey Practices and Attitudes: The Hiring of Formerly-Incarcerated Persons and Recommendations for Driving Better Outcomes Malta Justice Initiative Inc., December, 2016“4 in 10 respondents have no experience in hiring ex-offenders and a quarter say their company has a policy against it. Very few (3%) are actively hiring individuals with a criminal record.”
Violent Crime Arrests of Youth in California: Expected to Decline Through 2020 Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, October, 2016“Based on the declining rates of youth arrest over the last several decades, California can expected continued decline and historically low rates of violent felony arrest of youth through 2020.”
Ban The Box In Employment: A Grassroots History All Of Us or None (Legal Services for Prisoners With Children), October, 2016“Today, between all of the states and localities that have Ban the Box, over 185 million Americans now live in areas that have adopted fair chance hiring policies.”
Responsible Prison Project: Reshaping The Texas Prison System for Greater Public Safety Aaron Flaherty, David Graham, Michael Smith, William D Jones, and Vondre Cash, October, 2016“It has often been said that those who are closest to a problem are closest to its solution. That is no less true for those who are in prison.”
Use of Electronic Offender-Tracking Devices Expands SharplyThe Pew Charitable Trusts, September, 2016“In 2015, manufacturers reported that about 88,000 GPS units were being used for supervision of accused and convicted offenders, a thirtyfold increase from the roughly 2,900 reported a decade earlier.”
A New Era for Expungement Law Reform? Recent Developments at the State and Federal Levels Temple University, Beasley School of Law, August, 2016“This article evaluates the recent flurry of state-level legislation relating to expungement remedies for publicly available criminal record information, including both conviction and arrest records.”
Racial Profiling in Hiring: A Critique of New National Employment Law Project, August, 2016“Ban-the-box is working, both by increasing employment opportunities for people with records and by changing employer attitudes toward hiring people with records.”
The effect of prison visitation on reentry success: A meta-analysis Meghan Mitchell and Kallee McCollough, July, 2016(Results indicate that prison visitation generates modest reductions in post-release offending, which is moderated by gender, visitation type, time at risk, and recidivism measures.)
Ban the Box, Criminal Records, and Statistical Discrimination: A Field Experiment Amanda Agan and Sonja Starr, June, 2016“Our results confirm that criminal records are a major barrier to employment, but they also support the concern that BTB policies encourage statistical discrimination on the basis of race.”
Justice in Review: New Trends in State Sentencing and Corrections 2014-2015 Vera Institute of Justice, May, 2016“In 2014 and 2015, 46 states enacted at least 201 bills, executive orders and ballot initiatives to reform at least one aspect of their sentencing and corrections systems.”
By the Numbers: Parole Release and Revocation Across 50 States Robina Institute, April, 2016“The Data Profiles in this report are designed to provide a statistical snapshot of the relationships and movements between prison and parole supervision populations in each state.”
Multi-Site Family Study on Incarceration, Parenting, and PartneringAssistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, March, 2016“Fathers with younger children rated their parental warmth and their relationship quality with their children more highly than did fathers of older children, and they also engaged in more activities with their children.”
Recidivism Among Federal Offenders: A Comprehensive Overview United States Sentencing Commission, March, 2016“This report provides a broad overview of key findings from the United States Sentencing Commission’s study of recidivism of federal offenders.”
Jobs After Jail: Ending the prison to poverty pipeline Alliance for a Just Society, February, 2016“For the 70 million adults with a serious misdemeanor or felony arrest or conviction record and the hundreds of thousands more each year released from prison, their record can be a life sentence of poverty and low wages.”
Special Committee on Re-entryNew York State Bar Association, January, 2016“The cost of re-incarceration and the cost to victims of recidivism are far greater than the cost of providing the programs described in this report.”
Transforming Prisons, Restoring Lives: Final Recommendations of the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections, January, 2016“Sentencing reform and other policy changes will reduce our reliance on prison and cut costs as we reconsider which people truly need to be behind bars and for how long.”
Separation by Bars and Miles: Visitation in state prisons Prison Policy Initiative, October, 2015“Less than a third of people in state prisons receive a visit from a loved one in a typical month.”
Does Prison Crowding Predict Higher Rates of Substance Use Related Parole Violations? A Recurrent Events Multi-Level Survival Analysis PLoS ONE, October, 2015“Prison crowding predicted higher rates of parole violations after release from prison. The effect was magnitude-dependent and particularly strong for drug charges.”
Multistate Criminal History Patterns of Prisoners Released in 30 StatesBureau of Justice Statistics, September, 2015“After the 5-year follow-up period, the recidivism rate based on in-state and out-of-state criminal history information (77%) was higher than the recidivism rate based on in-state criminal history information only (72%).”
Federal Drug Sentencing Laws Bring High Cost, Low Return: Penalty increases enacted in 1980s and 1990s have not reduced drug use or recidivism Pew Charitable Trusts Public Safety Performance Project, August, 2015“From 1980 to 2011 (the latest year for which comparable statistics are available), the average prison sentence imposed on drug offenders increased 36 percent.”
Recidivism of Adult Sexual OffendersOffice of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking, July, 2015“The researchers found a sexual recidivism rate of 5.3 percent for the entire sample of sex offenders, based on an arrest during the 3-year followup period.”
Prisons of Poverty: Uncovering the pre-incarceration incomes of the imprisoned Prison Policy Initiative, July, 2015“We found that, in 2014 dollars, incarcerated people had a median annual income of $19,185 prior to their incarceration, which is 41% less than non-incarcerated people of similar ages.”
San Francisco Justice Reinvestment Initiative: Racial and ethnic disparities analysis for the reentry council The W. Haywood Burns Institute for Juvenile Justice Fairness & Equity, June, 2015“Black adults are 7.1 times as likely as White adults to be arrested, 11 times as likely to be booked into County Jail, and 10.3 times as likely to be convicted of a crime in San Francisco.”
Parole Perspectives in Maryland: A Survey of People Who Returned to Prison from Parole and Community Justice Policy Institute, May, 2015“A new analysis from the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) shows the connection between efforts to reduce prison populations, connect people to work, and address the challenges of Baltimore's distressed communities”
Evaluation of Offenders Released in Fiscal Year 2011 That Completed Rehabilitation Tier Programs Texas Department of Criminal Justice, April, 2015“Five of the nine programs tracked showed a lower recidivism rate than the comparison group after the two year follow-up and seven showed a lower recidivism rate after three years.”
Boxed Out: Criminal History Screening and College Application Attrition Center for Community Alternatives, March, 2015“This means almost two out of every three applicants who check "yes" to the felony conviction question do not complete the application process and are never considered for admission.”
Do Private Prisons Distort Justice? Evidence on Time Served and Recidivism University of Wisconsin - Madison, March, 2015“My final result is that there is no reduction in recidivism for prisoners in private prison despite the additional time they serve, suggesting that either the marginal returns to incarceration are low, or private prisons increase recidivism risk.”
Degrees of Freedom: Expanding College Opportunities for Currently and Formerly Incarcerated Californians Renewing Communities Initiative, February, 2015“Our colleges and criminal justice agencies must break out of their silos and share a commitment to high-quality education for all students whether they are learning in prison, jail, or the community.”
Risk Tells Us Who, But Not What or How: Empirical Assessment of the Complexity of Criminogenic Need to Inform Correctional Programming Criminology & Public Policy, February, 2015“The emphasis that is placed on managing offenders based on static risk or a global risk-need score that is primarily driven by static risk detracts attention from the specific criminogenic needs that should be identified.”
Advancing a Federal Fair Chance Hiring Agenda: Background Check Reforms in Over 100 Cities, Counties, & States Pave the Way for Presidential Action National Employment Law Project, January, 2015“More than 100 jurisdictions, including 13 states, the District of Columbia, and 96 cities and counties, have adopted”
When All Else Fails, Fining the Family: First Person Accounts of Criminal Justice Debt Center for Community Alternatives, January, 2015“Debt is paid not only by those convicted of crimes, but also by their families (or friends) who are the last stop before re-incarceration.”
Seattle's Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD): Program Effects on Recidivism Outcomes Susan E. Collins, Heather S. Lonczak, Seema L. Clifasefi, 2015(Findings indicated positive effects of the Seattle's Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program on criminal recidivism over shorter six-month and longer evaluation-wide timeframes.)
Realignment and Recidivism in CaliforniaPublic Policy Institute of California, 2015“California’s historic public safety realignment has had a modest effect on the state’s persistently high recidivism rates, varying across groups of offenders and counties.”
Safer ReturnUrban Institute, 2015“Despite implementation challenges, Safer Return was able to improve reentry outcomes for participants relative to comparisons who did not participate, though not as much as had been hoped for.”
Bringing it all back home: Understanding the medical difficulties encountered by newly released prisoners in New Orleans, Louisiana William Lee Vail, Anjali Niyogi, Norris Henderson, and Ashley Wennerstrom, 2015“Most FIPs face significant barriers to access of healthcare, including lack of insurance, funding, knowledge of community services and social support. Importantly, there is an overall distrust of institutions and medical care systems.”
Breaking Down Barriers Experiments into Policies That Might Incentivize Employers to Hire Ex-Offenders RAND Corporation, 2015(This report argues that employers would be more likely to consider hiring ex-offenders if hiring agencies provided replacement workers, if ex-offenders provided proof of positive work performance histories, and if increased tax credits were available.)
Relief in Sight? States Rethink the Collateral Consequences of Criminal Conviction, 2009 - 2014 Vera Institute of Justice, December, 2014“In recognition of the damaging effects these collateral consequences can have, 41 states have enacted legislation since 2009 that allows certain individuals to move beyond their convictions.”
Poverty and Opportunity Profile: Americans with Criminal Records Sentencing Project; Half in Ten, December, 2014“As a result, between 70 million and 100 million--or as many as one in three Americans--have some type of criminal record.”
One Strike and You're Out: How We Can Eliminate Barriers to Economic Security and Mobility for People with Criminal Records Center for American Progress, December, 2014“Estimates put the cost of employment losses among people with criminal records at as much as $65 billion per year in terms of gross domestic product.”
Paroling people who committed serious crimes: What is the actual risk? Citizens Alliance on Prisons & Public Spending, December, 2014(People who commit homicides or sex offenses have extremely low re-offense rates. This report argues that parole decisions should take into account this reality & aim to better repare people for release, not incarcerate them needlessly.)
Sex Offender Law and the Geography of VictimizationJournal of Empirical Legal Studies, December, 2014“We find that, all else equal, reported sex offense victimization risk is generally (although not uniformly) lower in neighborhoods where more RSOs live.”
The Justice Reinvestment Initiative Experiences from the Local SitesUrban Institute, November, 2014“Seven sites adopted strategies that expanded jail diversion (e.g., deferred prosecution programs) and jail programming (e.g., inmate transition programs) as well as increased access to employment and education services.”
The Returning Prisoner and the Future of WorkNorthwestern Law Bluhm Legal Clinic's Program for Prisoner Reentry Strategies, November, 2014(But perhaps correctional employment-related reentry programs fail to demonstrate effectiveness because they lack duration, intensity, or the focus on specific skills that businesses insist are necessary to prepare workers for skilled jobs.)
Treatment Industrial Complex: How For-Profit Prison Corporations are Undermining Efforts to Treat and Rehabilitate Prisoners for Corporate Gain American Friends Service Committee; Grassroots Leadership; Southern Center for Human Rights, November, 2014“Most for-profit prison corporations have dismal records in terms of safety, cost, and quality of the prisons that they manage.”
Evaluation of the Allegheny County Jail Collaborative Reentry Programs Findings and Recommendations Urban Institute, October, 2014(Impact analyses suggest that both Reentry1 and Reentry2 reduce rearrest among participants and prolong time to rearrest, particularly after the first 90 days, indicating that initial and continued program efforts to stabilize clients are effective.)
Improving Recidivism as a Performance MeasureUrban Institute, October, 2014“Recidivism is not a single measure of success or failure, and states should move away from using one uniform definition. Making recidivism a meaningful performance measure demands that states employ a wide range of reoffending metrics.”
The Debt Penalty: Exposing the financial barriers to offender reintegration John Jay College of Criminal Justice, August, 2014“Paradoxically, criminal justice systems sometimes spend more on debt collection and punishing offenders who are behind on their payments than they are likely to recoup from enforcing the financial obligations of ex-offenders.”
The Effect of Collateral Consequence Laws on State Rates of Returns to Prison University of Maryland, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, July, 2014“Surprisingly, these analyses give some indication that collateral consequences may be related to lower rates of returns to prison for technical violations, however future research is needed to confirm this relationship.”
Reentering Women: The Impact of Social Ties on Long-Term Recidivism Kelle Barrick, Pamela K. Lattimore, and Christy A. Visher, July, 2014“Results from this study suggest that in-prison family contact and post-release family support are protective whereas in-prison non-family contact is a risk factor.”
Public Ideology, Minority Threat, and Felony Collateral Sanctions: A State-Level Analysis University of Delaware, Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice, July, 2014“States with large minority and conservative populations are more likely to have more stigmatizing collateral sanction that can affect recidivism.”
Punishment Without EndJohn Jay College of Criminal Justice Research & Evaluation Center, July, 2014“By year five, the probability of arrest for 16 year olds arrested for burglary was equal to that of 16 year olds not arrested for burglary.”
Fewer Prisoners, Less Crime: A Tale of Three States The Sentencing Project, July, 2014“Studies consistently find that expediting prisoners' release from prison has no or minimal impact on recidivism rates.”
Reducing Recidivism States Deliver Results The Council of State Governments Justice Center and the National Reentry Resource Center, June, 2014“This report focuses on statewide recidivism data for adults released in 2007 and 2010 with a three-year follow-up period, offering a current snapshot of criminal justice outcomes in these states.”
Is Public Safety Realignment Reducing Recidivism in California?Public Policy Institute of California, June, 2014“Realignment's success depends largely on efforts addressing recidivism among former prison inmates and other convicted offenders diverted from prison as a result of the reform.”
2010 Inmate Releases: Three Year Post Release Follow-up State of New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, June, 2014“43% of the offenders released by the Parole Board during 2010 were returned for rule violations within three years and 8% returned for new felonies.”
Mandatory Reentry Supervision Evaluating the Kentucky Experience Pew's Public Safety Performance Project, June, 2014“Inmates released to supervision under the policy had 30 percent fewer returns to prison for a new crime and 11 percent fewer violations of their supervision rules than the pre-policy group.”
Max Out The Rise in Prison Inmates Released Without Supervision Pew Charitable Trusts, June, 2014“a large and increasing number of offenders are maxing out—serving their entire sentences behind bars—and returning to their communities without supervision or support.”
Measuring Juvenile Recidivism Data collection and reporting practices in juvenile corrections Pew's Public Safety Performance Project, May, 2014“...a recent survey of these agencies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia found that 1 in 4 does not regularly collect and report recidivism data, and fewer than half use measures that provide a comprehensive picture of youth reoffending.”
Predicting Crime through Incarceration: The Impact of Rates of Prison Cycling On Rates of Crime in Communities National Institute of Justice, May, 2014(The study found strong support for the impact of prison cycling on neighborhood crime rates, i.e., when resident removal rates due to incarceration were high, crime rates decreased; when reentry rates were high in a neighborhood, the crime rate increased.)
Female Realignment Report: An Examination of Female Offenders Released from State Prison in the First Year of Public Safety Realignment California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, May, 2014“...data shows that there is very little difference between female offenders and their outcomes following release after completing their State prison term pre- and post-Realignment”
Collatoral Damage A Roadmap to Restore Rights and Status After Arrest or Conviction National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, May, 2014“NACDL recommends a broad national initiative to construct a legal infrastructure that will provide individuals with a criminal record with a clear path to equal opportunity.”
Recidivism Among Offenders Receiving Retroactive Sentence Reductions The 2007 Crack Cocaine Amendment United States Sentencing Commission, May, 2014“This publication reports on recidivism of crack cocaine offenders who were released immediately before and after implementation of the 2007 Crack Cocaine Amendment, and followed in the community for five years.”
Examining Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Probation Revocation Summary Findings and Implications from a Multisite Study Urban Institute, April, 2014“Black probationers were revoked at higher rates than white and Hispanic probationers in all study sites.”
Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 30 States in 2005: Patterns from 2005 to 2010 Bureau of Justice Statistics, April, 2014“Overall, 67.8% of the 404,638 state prisoners released in 2005 in 30 states were arrested within 3 years of release, and 76.6% were arrested within 5 years of release.”
Criminal Stigma, Race, Gender, and Employment: An Expanded Assessment of the Consequences of Imprisonment for Employment Arizona State University School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, February, 2014“A key feature of a successful (crime free) return to society is employment... But prior research shows that the majority of prisoners - particularly blacks and Hispanics - face significant employment hurdles.”
The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice Disposition Matrix: A Validation Study Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, February, 2014“The recidivism rate of low risk to re-offend youth placed outside of the Disposition Matrix suggestions is 114% higher than the rate for low risk youth placed within the suggestions.”
A Program Evaluation of In-Prison Components The Colorado Department of Corrections Sex Offender Treatment and Monitoring Program Central Coast Clinical and Forensic Psychology Services, Inc., January, 2014“Many sexual offenders who could successfully be managed in the community, had they effectively participated in treatment, may instead spend additional years in prison. This will represent a great cost to the Colorado taxpayer...”
Realignment Report An Examination of Offenders Released from State Prison in the First Year of Public Safety Realignment California Department of Corrections And Rehabilitation, December, 2013“...the one-year return to prison rate was substantially less post-Realignment, since most offenders in this cohort were ineligible to return to prison on a parole violation.”
The Impact of Parole in New JerseyPew Charitable Trusts, November, 2013“About 25 percent of parolees released in 2008 committed new crimes and returned to prison within three years, compared with 41 percent of offenders who maxed out their sentences, were released without supervision, and subsequently committed new crimes.”
The Choice is Yours: Early Implementation of a Diversion Program for Felony Offenders Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center, October, 2013“As of June 30, 2013, of consented participants in the The Choice is Yours (TCY) who progressed beyond orientation and into the full enrollment phase, 4.6 percent (N=3 of 65) have been rearrested”
A Second Chance Charting a New Course for Re-Entry and Criminal Justice Reform Leadership Conference Education Fund, October, 2013“...the United States currently incarcerates ...more than 2.2 million individuals. And that's just people who are physically in jail or prison. If we count people on parole and people on probation, that number jumps to almost 7 million.”
Three Quarter Houses: The View from Inside John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Prisoner Reentry Institute, October, 2013“Illegal evictions derail recovery and reintegration and can lead to relapse, street homelessness, unemployment, and violations of parole mandates that can result in re-incarceration.”
Progress Report: Three Strikes Reform (Proposition 36) Stanford Law School Three Strikes Project and NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, September, 2013“Fewer than 2% of the prisoners released under Prop 36 have been charged with new crimes, according to state and county records. The average recidivism rate over a similar period of time for non-Prop 36 inmates leaving California prisons is 16%.”
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional Education A Meta-Analysis of Programs That Provide Education to Incarcerated Adults RAND Corporation, August, 2013“On average, inmates who participated in correctional education programs had 43% lower odds of recidivating than inmates who did not, and the odds of obtaining employment postrelease was 13% higher than those who had not participated.”
Re-Entry Policy Study Commission report Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council Re-Entry Policy Study Commission, August, 2013“Employment was the number one predictor of recidivism. The recidivism rate among the unemployed offenders was 42.4%; recidivism among the employed offenders was 26.2%.”
Recidivism in Delaware: An Analysis of Prisoners Released in 2008 and 2009 Delaware Criminal Justice Council, July, 2013“Recidivism rates are generally higher for Blacks than for Whites, and higher for males than for females. Additionally, recidivism rates were lower for those who had longer prison sentences (i.e., lengths of stay).”
Wanted: Accurate FBI Background Checks for EmploymentNational Employment Law Project, July, 2013“About 1.8 million workers a year are subject to FBI background checks that include faulty or incomplete information. 600,000 of those workers may be prejudiced in their job search when reports do not include up-to-date/accurate information.”
Risk of Recidivism Facing Offenders upon their Return to CommunityMichigan Justice Statistics Center, June, 2013“The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth, dynamic examination of the recidivism experiences of a small sample of 39 male parolees to Lansing, Michigan.”
The Pennsylvania Juvenile Justice Recidivism Report: Youth with a 2007 Case Closure  Pennsylvanie Juvenile Court Judges' Commission, April, 2013“Youth with only one written allegation in their juvenile offending history (i.e., first time offenders) reoffended at a rate of 13%. Conversely, juveniles with four or more previous written allegations re-offended at a rate of 37%.”
Communities, Evictions & Criminal Convictions Public Housing and Disparate Impact: A Model Policy Formerly Incarcerated & Convicted People's Movement, April, 2013“The focus of this report is to isolate and clarify one element of housing discrimination: excluding people with criminal records, and their whole families, from public housing.”
The National Institute of Justice's Evaluation of Second Chance Act Adult Reentry Courts: Program Characteristics and Preliminary Themes from Year 1 National Institute of Justice, March, 2013“Characteristics common across most NESCAARC sites include the emphasis on post-release service delivery, relevant services, case management, court hearings for the purpose of monitoring progress, drug testing, and a team approach to decision-making.”
Making the Transition: Rethinking Jail Reentry in Los Angeles County Vera Institute of Justice, February, 2013“The most common hurdles that people held in the jail expected to encounter upon release were related to employment, housing, and substance use. Only six people (out of the 80 people interviewed) reported receiving reentry services while in the jail.”
Recidivism Report 2013Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, February, 2013“...the 1-year reincarceration rates of releases from 2005 to 2011 for those who were paroled to the street were consistently lower than for those paroled to a Community Corrections Center.”
Lifer Parole Recidivism ReportCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, January, 2013“Lifer parolees receive fewer new convictions within three years of being released to parole (4.8 vs. 51.5%, respectively). They also have a markedly lower return to prison recidivism rate than non-lifer parolees (13.3 vs. 65.1%, respectively).”
Criminal Records, Race, and RedemptionNew York University Journal of Legislation and Public Policy, 2013“...poor individuals of color disproportionately shoulder the weight of a criminal record.”
Putting How to Reform Texas' Expensive, Ineffective State Jail System Texas Public Policy Foundation, November, 2012“State jails were designed to be a low-cost alternative to prison, with dual goals of reducing prison populations and reducing recidivism rates in low-risk defendants. Unfortunately, state jails are universally failing in their objective.”
Restoration of Rights ProjectNational Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, October, 2012“54 jurisdictional profiles include provisions on loss and restoration of civil rights and firearms privileges, legal mechanisms for overcoming or mitigating collateral consequences, and provisions addressing non-discrimination in employment and licensing.”
The Family And RecidivismVera Institute of Justice, September, 2012“Among the inmates surveyed, 84 percent reported that their families were supportive during their incarceration.”
States Report Reductions in RecidivismCouncil of State Governments Justice Center, September, 2012“This brief highlights significant statewide recidivism reductions achieved in Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, and Vermont.”
The Price to Call Home State-Sanctioned Monopolization in the Prison Phone Industry Prison Policy Initiative, September, 2012“The prison telephone market is structured to be exploitative because it grants monopolies to producers, and because the consumers- the incarcerated persons and their families- have no comparable alternative ways of communicating.”
Lifetime Lockdown How Isolation Conditions Impact Prisoner Reentry American Friends Service Committee, August, 2012“ADC policies limiting visitation and prohibiting maximum-security prisoners from participation in education, treatment, and employment have a negative impact on these prisoners' reentry prospects.”
Supportive Housing for Returning Prisoners Outcomes and Impacts of the Returning Home-Ohio Pilot Project Urban Institute, August, 2012“The Returning Home-Ohio program resulted in clear reductions along several key recidivism measures while also increasing state‐billable service use; the latter outcome is arguably a benefit of program participation.”
Families and Reentry Unpacking How Social Support Matters Urban Institute, June, 2012“Our analysis [...] shows that while family members' reported that number of activities performed together increases significantly over time, as formerly incarcerated persons are in the community for longer the number of hardships [...] also increases.”
The Continuing Challenge of CORI Reform Implementing the Groundbreaking 2010 Massachusetts Law The Boston Foundation and The Crime and Justice Institute at CRJ, May, 2012“This report provides information about reactions to whether the implemented elements of the CORI reform law have had the intended impact, and what the public should expect going forward.”
Which Components of Transitional Jobs Programs Work Best? Analysis of Programs for Former Prisoners in the Transitional Jobs Reentry Demonstration Urban Institute, May, 2012“TJ program participants who spent 30 workdays or more in a transitional job during the first six months of the follow-up period were 14 percent more likely than other TJ program participants to obtain an unsubsidized job in the subsequent six months.”
The Post-Release Employment and Recidivism Among Different Types of Offenders With A Different Level of Education: A 5-Year Follow-Up Study in Indiana Indiana Department of Corrections and Ball State University, April, 2012“Offenders who had a lower level of education not only had a higher recidivism rate, but also such uneducated/under-educated offenders were likely to be re-incarcerated earlier than those offenders who had a higher level of education.”
Housing as a Platform for Formerly Incarcerated PersonsUrban Institute, April, 2012“While housing for formerly incarcerated persons is a source of necessary shelter and residential stability, it can also serve as the literal and figurative foundation for successful reentry and reintegration for released adults.”
The Impact of CA's Probation Performance Incentive Funding ProgramPew Center on the States, February, 2012“In the first year of implementation, the state probation failure rate declined from 7.9 percent during the baseline years of 2006-2008 to 6.1 percent in 2010, a 23 percent reduction in revocations.”
The Effects of Prison Visitation on Offender RecidivismMinnesota Department of Corrections, November, 2011“Using multiple measures of visitation and recidivism, the study found that visitation significantly decreased the risk of recidivism. The results also showed that visits from siblings, in-laws, fathers, and clergy were the most beneficial...”
2011 Adult Institutions Outcome Evaluation ReportState of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, November, 2011(Participation in in-prison substance abuse programs, combined with post-release community-based aftercare results in recidivism rates (29.3 %) that are much lower than those that did not participate in any substance abuse treatment program (65.3 %).)
Close To Home: Building on Family Support for People Leaving Jail Vera Institute of Justice, October, 2011“Among incarcerated people, 84 percent reported that their family members continued to be supportive.”
Motivation for Treatment Among Women Offenders in Prison-Based Treatment and Longitudinal Outcomes Among Those Who Participate in Community Aftercare National Institutes of Health, September, 2011“Participants who completed the aftercare program, or who had longer treatment duration, and those who had participated in an in-prison program prior to parole had reduced risk of recidivism.”
Risks of Drug-Related Death, Suicide, and Homicide During the Immediate Post-Release Period Among People Released From New York City Jails, 2001-2005 New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, August, 2011“...formerly incarcerated people in NYC were 8 times more likely to die of drug-related causes and 5 times more likely to die from homicide during the first 2 weeks after release than were nonincarcerated NYC residents in the same 2-week period.”
Inmate Fees as a Source of Revenue Source of Challenges Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, July, 2011“[A]dditional fees would increase the number of inmates qualifying as indigent, increase the financial burdens on the inmate and their family, and jeopardize inmates' opportunities for successful reentry.”
Due South Looking to the South for Criminal Justice Innovations Justice Policy Institute, May, 2011“Recognizing the significant costs associated with [...] high incarceration rates, a number of [Southern] states have recently implemented innovative strategies for reducing their prison populations and ensuring better outcomes [...].”
Reentry and the Ties that Bind: An Examination of Social Ties, Employment, and Recidivism Justice Quarterly, April, 2011“In fact, the results suggest that good quality social ties may be particularly important for men with histories of frequent unemployment.”
State of Recidivism The Revolving Door of America's Prisons Pew Center on the States, April, 2011“The most recent of those reports, which tracked offenders released from state prison in 1994, concluded that a little more than half of released offenders (51.8 percent) were back in prison within three years...”
65 Million The Case for Reforming Criminal Background Checks for Employment The National Employment Law Project, March, 2011(Too often, employers, staffing firms, and screening firms disregard civil rights and consumer protections, categorically banning people with criminal records from employment.)
Piloting a Tool for Reentry A Promising Approach to Engaging Family Members Vera Institute of Justice, March, 2011(To facilitate productive conversations about incarcerated individuals' positive social supports, the Vera Institute of Justice's Family Justice Program helps agencies implement the Relational Inquiry Tool (RIT) for use by corrections reentry staff.)
Sex Offender Registries: Fear without Function? University of Chicago, February, 2011“The results from all three data sets do not support the hypothesis that sex offender registries are effective tools for increasing public safety.”
Probation And Parole In The United States, 2009Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2010“During 2009, the number of offenders on probation or parole-community supervision population declined (down 0.9%) for the first time since the BJS began its Annual Probation Survey and Annual Parole Survey in 1980.”
The Use of Criminal History Records in College Admissions ReconsideredCenter for Community Alternatives, November, 2010“A majority (66%) of the responding colleges collect criminal justice information, although not all of them consider it in their admissions process. Private schools and four-year schools are more likely to collect and use such information.”
The Intersectionality of Race, Gender, and Reentry Challenges for African-American Women American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, November, 2010“African-American women offenders face collateral attacks on their motherhood, on their ability to secure housing and employment, and on their ability to reintegrate. Reentry programs must have a race and gender focus that confronts intersectionality.”
Communities Inmates Released to in 2009Massachusetts Department of Correction, October, 2010“Massachusetts Department of Correction Releases to the Street 2009: Top Ten Release Address (Cities/Towns)”
Juvenile Transfer Laws: An Effective Deterrent to Delinquency? Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, June, 2010“This Bulletin provides an overview of research on the deterrent effects of transferring youth from juvenile to criminal courts[.]”
State Recidivism StudiesSentencing Project, June, 2010“This database provides references for 99 recidivism studies conducted between 1995-2009 in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.”
Drawing Blood from Stones: Legal Debt and Social Inequality in the Contemporary United States Alexes Harris, Heather Evans, and Katherine Beckett, University of Washington, May, 2010“[F]indings suggest that monetary sanctions create long-term legal debt and significantly extend punishment's effects over time.”
2009 Annual Report Massachusetts Department of Correction Massachusetts Department of Correction, December, 2009“2009 Releases to the Street from Massachusetts Department of Correction: Top 10 Cities”
Michigan Breaks the Political Logjam A New Model for Reducing Prison Populations ACLU, November, 2009“[Michigan's] new policies are designed to provide offenders with individualized programing in prison, and re-entry services upon release, that are most likely to assure success on parole, based on evidence of what works to reduce crime and save money.”
Back on Track Supporting Youth Reentry from Out-of-Home Placement to the Community Sentencing Project, November, 2009“Presents promising practices and recommendations for federal leadership on youth reentry.”
Investigating Prisoner Reentry: The Impact of Conviction Status on the Employment Prospects of Young Men National Institute of Justice, October, 2009“Across teams, a criminal record reduced the likelihood of a callback or job offer by nearly 50 percent (28% vs 15%).”
Prisoner Reentry Experiences of Adult Males Characteristics, Service Receipt, and Outcome of Participants in the SVORI Multi-Site Evaluation Pamela K. Lattimore, Danielle M. Steffey, Christy A. Visher, September, 2009“SVORI program participation greatly increased the likelihood of receiving a wide range of services, but levels of participation were less than reported needs.”
Denying parole at first eligibility How much public safety does it actually buy? Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending, August, 2009“Substantially increasing the rate of parole on the earliest release date would reduce the prisoner population without threatening public safety.”
'Redemption' in an Era of Widespread Criminal Background ChecksNational Institute of Justice, June, 2009“Thus, our analysis showed that the younger an offender was when he committed robbery, the longer he had to stay clean to reach the same arrest rate as people his same age in the general population.”
Sex Offender Registration and Notification Limited Effects in New Jersey National Institute of Justice, April, 2009“Convicted offenders and their offense types in this study were similar before and after Megan’s Law was passed.”
The APPD Randomized Controlled Trial in Low Risk Supervision: The Effect of Low Risk Supervision on Rearrest First Judicial Court of Pennsylvania, October, 2008“There was no difference in either the rate of any arrest or an arrest for a serious offense between low risk offenders supervised in large caseloads and low risk offenders supervised in standard caseloads.”
Inmate Social Ties and the Transition to Society: Does Visitation Reduce Recidivism? Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, June, 2008“Visitation of many types, including both family and friends, was associated with reduced and delayed onset of recidivism, with spousal visitation producing a more pronounced reduction in recidivism.”
Health and Prisoner Reentry: How Physical, Mental, and Substance Abuse Conditions Shape the Process of Reintegration Urban Institute, February, 2008“Nearly all returning prisoners—8 in 10 men and 9 in 10 women—had chronic health conditions requiring treatment or management.”
Probation and Parole in the United States, 2006Bureau of Justice Statistics, December, 2007“The number of adult men and women in the United States who were being supervised on probation or parole at the end of 2006 reached 5,035,225. In 2006 the combined probation and parole populations grew by 1.8% or 87,852 persons.”
Repaying DebtsJustice Center, October, 2007“Financial pressures and paycheck garnishment resulting from unpaid debt can increase participation in the underground economy and discourage legitimate employment.”
Evidence-Based Practice to Reduce Recidivism: Implications for State Judiciaries National Institute of Corrections, August, 2007“There is today an enormous body of sophisticated research proving that unlike incarceration, which actually increases offender recidivism, properly designed and operated recidivism-reduction programs can significantly reduce offender recidivism.”
One Year Out: Experiences of Prisoners Returning to Cleveland Urban Institute, April, 2007“[D]escribes the lives of nearly 300 former prisoners at least [1 year] after release, including their ability to find stable housing and reunite with family, and identifies factors associated with getting a job, and avoiding substance use and [recidivism]”
The Housing Landscape for Returning Prisoners in the DistrictUrban Institute, March, 2007“This report examines the housing landscape of prisoner reentry in the District of Columbia through an analysis of neighborhoods that had high rates of returning prisoners and a survey of housing-related providers.”
Impact and Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Maryland Reentry Partnership Initiative Urban Institute, February, 2007“This study evaluates the impact of the Maryland Reentry Partnership Initiative (REP) on crime in Baltimore between 2001 and 2005.”
Informing and Engaging Communities Through Reentry MappingUrban Institute, January, 2007“This brief is designed to equip organizations with strategies for effectively disseminating local reentry-related mapping and analysis findings and engaging community members on the topic of reentry.”
Parole, Desistance from Crime, and Community IntegrationNational Research Council, January, 2007“Cognitive-behavioral treatment programs reduce recidivism; Peak rates of committing a new crime/violating the terms of parole occur soon after release; Deaths among releasees are very high in the first weeks after release.”
Barriers to Employment: Prison Time Employment and Training Institute, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2007“The stigma of being an ex-inmate alone and the limitations it places on those released and expected to become gainfully employed are compounded by further legal sanctions placed on those who have spent time in correctional facilities.”
Access Denied in OregonPartnership for Safety and Justice, November, 2006“The astronomical growth of incarceration in the U.S. over the past 25 years has created a wide range of social challenges, not least of which is how to respond to formerly incarcerated people upon their re-entry into the community.”
Mapping Prisoner Reentry: An Action Research Guidebook Urban Institute, November, 2006“This guidebook provides information on how interested parties can understand and address prisoner reentry at the local level through mapping and data analysis.”
Governor's Ex-Offender Final ReportGovernor's Ex-Offender Task Force (Florida), November, 2006“Within three years of release, over a quarter of those people will go back to prison for a new crime. This rate of recidivism is unacceptably high and unacceptably expensive.”
Prisoner Reentry: Addressing the Challenges in Weed and Seed Communities Urban Institute, September, 2006“This report [illustrates] the various ways that Weed and Seed sites are focusing on prisoner reentry and working with partner organizations to reduce recidivism and create safer, healthier communities.”
Cleveland Prisoners' Experiences Returning HomeUrban Institute, September, 2006“This research brief is intended to serve as a foundation for policy discussions about how released prisoners can successfully reintegrate into their communities, whether in Cleveland or in similar cities around the country.”
Instituting Lasting Reforms for Prisoner Reentry in PhiladelphiaUrban Institute, June, 2006“The report consolidates existing data on incarceration and release trends, and presents a new analysis of data on Philadelphia prisoners released between 1996 and 2003.”
Understanding California CorrectionsCalifornia Policy Research Center, May, 2006(An overview of the current trends in the California corrections system, with recommendations.)
Re-Entry and Reintegration: The Road to Public SafetyNew York State Bar Association, Special Committee on Collateral Consequences of Criminal Proceedings, May, 2006“Countless families are affected: over ten million children have parents who were imprisoned at some point in the children's lives. In addition, disparate racial and economic impacts are well-documented.”
Understanding California CorrectionsCalifornia Policy Research Center, May, 2006(An overview of the current trends in the California corrections system, with recommendations.)
Prisoner Reentry and Community PolicingUrban Institute, April, 2006“[D]espite the fact that correctional spending has increased from approximately $9 billion to $60 billion during the past 20 years, prisoners are less prepared for reentry than in the past...”
Does Parole Supervision Work? Research Findings and Policy Opportunities Urban Institute, March, 2006(This article begins with an argument for why we should study supervision and concludes with some thoughts about policy opportunities for the field, arguing that the current focus on prisoner reentry provides a timely opportunity to "reinvent" parole.)
Ohio Prisoners' Reflections on Returning HomeUrban Institute, January, 2006“The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction released 28,177 individuals from prisons across the state in 2004, nearly six times the number of prisoners released in 1980.”
From Prison to Work: The Employment Dimensions of Prisoner Reentry Urban Institute, October, 2005
Texas Prisoners' Reflections Returning HomeUrban Institute, October, 2005“In 2002, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice released 58,949 people from prisons and state jails across the state, nearly six times the number of prisoners released in 1980.”
Does Parole Work?: Analyzing the Impact of Postprison Supervision on Rearrest Outcomes Urban Institute, March, 2005
Adult Drug Courts: Evidence Indicates Recidivism Reductions and Mixed Results for Other Outcomes United States Government Accountability Office, February, 2005
Chicago Prisoners' Experiences Returning HomeUrban Institute, December, 2004“We present key findings on a range of reentry challenges and describe the factors related to postrelease success or failure[.]”
They're Coming Back: an Action Plan for Successful Reintegration of Offenders That Works for Everyone The Philadelphia Consensus Group on Reentry & Reintegration of Adjudicated Offenders, February, 2003
A Better Life- A Safer Community: Helping Inmates Access Federal Benefits Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, January, 2003
Education as Crime Prevention: The Case for Reinstating Pell Grant Eligibility for the Incarcerated Bard Prison Initiative, 2003“This report illustrates the overwhelming consensus among public officials that postsecondary education is the most successful and cost-effective method of preventing crime.”
Reentry Trends in United States Inmates returning to the community after serving time in prison Bureau of Justice Statistics, October, 2002
Parole Practices in Massachusetts and Their Effect on Community Reintegration Boston Bar Association Task Force on Parole and Community Reintegration, August, 2002(a 1991 precursor report is here http://www.bostonbar.org/gr/adhoc/parolehd.htm#cr1)
Trends in State Parole, 1990-2000Bureau of Justice Statistics, October, 2001“Forty-two percent of State parole discharges were successful”
Three State Recidivism StudyCorrectional Education Association, September, 2001(Methodologically strong study on the effect of prison education programs on reducing recidivism)
The Effect of Community Reintegration on Rates of Recidivism: A Statistical Overview of Data for the Years 1971 Through 1985 Massachusetts Department of Corrections, July, 1988“individuals who had experienced a furlough prior to release from prison had significantly lower rates of recidivism than did individuals who had not experienced a furlough prior to release.”
Explorations in Inmate-Family RelationshipsNorman Holt, Donald Miller, California Department of Corrections, January, 1972“The central finding of this research is the strong and consistent positive relationship that exists between parole success and maintaining strong family ties while in prison.”
