Using Returning Home to Examine the Impact of Father Involvement with Children on Reentry Outcomes

• In Event: Contributions of Longitudinal Studies on Understanding the Process of Desistance: Lessons from 4 Studies

Abstract

In 2002, the Urban Institute launched a multi-site longitudinal study, Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry, which was designed to study the process of reintegration during the first year after incarceration. More than 1200 men about to be released from Illinois, Ohio and Texas state prisons completed a self-administered survey, as did more than 250 women in Texas. Three personal interviews were completed within 15 months after the prisoner’s release. One of purposes of the study was to examine the influence of family ties, both positive and negative, on reentry outcomes. This paper examines the impact of father involvement shortly after release on several measures of reentry outcomes, including employment, criminal activity, and substance abuse, at one year after release.

Author

• Christy Visher, University of Delaware