Incarceration, Reentry, and Social Capital: Social Networks in the Balance (From Prisoners Once Removed: The Impact of Incarceration and Reentry on Children, Families, and Communities, P 313-341, 2003, Jeremy Travis and Michelle Waul, eds. -- See NCJ-205850)

• NCJ Number: 205860
• Author(s): Dina R. Rose; Todd R. Clear
• Date Published: 2003
• Length: 29 pages
• Sale Source: Urban Institute Press
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis; Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS.

Annotation

This chapter discusses how incarceration, when it involves a relatively high percentage of individuals and families in a specific neighborhood/community, undermines the capacity of those neighborhoods to meet the needs of residents, especially children.

Abstract

The chapter begins by reviewing studies of "coercive mobility," the process of removing and returning community residents through incarceration and release from prison. The studies show that as a form of residential mobility, incarceration disrupts social networks in a variety of ways, as it removes people from their familial and friendship ties, leads to remaining family members' withdrawal from community life to cope with financial problems or the stigma of having a family member in prison, and increases the level of economic and social disadvantage in the community overall. A relatively high percentage of formerly incarcerated individuals reentering the community after release can also present problems for a community. Families may disintegrate further under the strain of trying to reabsorb a formerly absent family member. Neighbors may withdraw further from one another out of fear that the returning individual may repeat his/her criminal behavior. The remaining sections of this chapter explore the aggregate impact of offender reentry on community levels of social capital and its effect on children living in these areas. The authors consider the relationship between reentry and social capital by drawing upon recent research from a series of focus group and individual interviews in two high-incarceration neighborhoods in Florida. They then discuss the unique ways in which reentry is expected to impact children who live in these types of areas. The chapter recommends a comprehensive approach to reentry that fosters social capital and collective efficacy in communities with high concentrations of ex-inmates and incarcerated individuals. This involves recognizing that reentry is not just about individuals coming home from prison; it is also about the homes and communities to which ex-inmates return. Only when communities with high concentrations of inmate and ex-inmate families are targeted for services that increase social capital and community resources will the cycle of intergenerational crime be disrupted. 58 references